BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Friday, March 18, 2005 - Updated: 08:03 AM EST
Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday marked St. Patrick's Day by offering a prayer for peace in Ireland.
At a special Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, O'Malley blessed shamrocks for hundreds of worshippers and addressed Irish Consul-General Isolde Moylan.
``We feel very close to your country . . . and we feel very deeply what happens there,'' O'Malley said. ``We pray that Ireland will achieve not just peace . . . but solidarity.''
The Mass included Gospel readings in both English and Gaelic, and a homily by the Rev. Paul B. O'Brien, who compared St. Patrick's transformation from a life of sin and enslavement to the archdiocese's own metamorphosis through a season of scandal.
``I can't pretend to explain the last five years . . . (but) I believe Jesus Christ loved the Archdiocese of Boston as much as he has loved any people at any time anywhere,'' said O'Brien, pastor of St. Patrick's parish in Lawrence.
``I believe (Jesus) knew and accepted the sexual abuse of children as our sin. I believe he knew and accepted our mismanagement . . . I believe he wanted us to experience the fullness of reconciliation.''