New Archbishop Shares Pope's Spirit

By Peter Wolfgang
The Waterbury Republican-American
December 25, 2013

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2013/12/25/commentary/773219.txt



Ten years ago this month, I attended the installation of Henry J. Mansell as archbishop of Hartford and wrote an op-ed about it for the Republican-American. Last week, I was back at St. Joseph's Cathedral for the installation of his successor, Leonard Blair, and I was struck by the differences between 2003 and 2013.





Archbishop Mansell became the spiritual leader of the Catholics of our Archdiocese the year after the clergy sex-abuse crisis became known to the nation. He addressed it from his very first homily with skill and sensitivity, and leaves behind a legacy of outstanding social action on behalf of Connecticut's most vulnerable citizens.





But he was archbishop during a time of growing public hostility — hatred, even — toward Catholicism (in large part because of the abuse scandals), and this limited what the Church could reasonably hope to accomplish over the last decade.