CONNECTICUT
Waterbury Republican-American
By Peter Wolfgang
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.
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