BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
August 5, 2024
By Danny McDonald, John R. Ellement, and Shelley Murphy
Braintree – Boston’s next archbishop struck a tone of humility Monday as he was formally named the successor to Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, who will retire thisfall after more than 20 years at the helm of the region’s 1.8 million-member Roman Catholic community.
“I am not worthy of this call,” said archbishop-elect Richard G. Henning, who was tapped by Pope Francis for the role, during an introductory press conference at the archdiocese’s pastoral center in Braintree. “I was deeply shocked and surprised by this call.”
The news of O’Malley’s retirement was not unexpected — he turned 80 in June, and can no longer vote in papal elections as a cardinal — but it represents the end of an era in Boston, the two-decade aftermath of the explosion of the sex abuse scandal here and around the world. After years of settlements, policy revisions, church closings, and efforts to rebuild the church’s financial stability, O’Malley, a distinctive figure in his brown Capuchin robe and white beard, will be replaced by a relatively unknown, much younger man, who has served less than seven years as bishop, not quite two years of which were spent in Providence.
The new bishop will face a raft of issues that are riddling Greater Boston, including a migrant crisis, a housing and affordability crunch, and an opioid scourge, to say nothing of a politically polarized society.
Henning described himself as neither an activist nor a politician, but rather “a sinner in need of grace.” He said he was humbled by the size and history of the Boston Archdiocese.
“I’m not that exciting,” said Henning, 59, who is currently the bishop of Providence.
Henning and O’Malley were peppered with questions on a wide array of topics — immigration, abortion, election politics, clergy sex abuse — during the half-hour news conference. Henning’s rhetoric was plain-spoken and conciliatory.
“I am pro-life because I believe that the Gospel teaches us the sacred dignity of every human life,” he said. “But I know there are people of good will who passionately disagree with that, and I think, as the Holy Father keeps reminding us, we have to kind of take the risk of dialogue. We have to try to listen and hear each other.”
O’Malley, a close ally of Pope Francis, plans to continue to head the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the Vatican’s child protection board. His legacy in Greater Boston will be rooted in his response to the clergy sex abuse scandal that rocked the foundations of the church, both locally and internationally.
Boston was ground zero for what would be a global crisis. More than 1,400 people have come forward to say they were sexually abused by a priest, deacon, or nun in the archdiocese. The church has yet to recover from that institutional scandal, which many believe contributed to the significant reduction in weekly church attendance.
O’Malley succeeded Cardinal Bernard F. Law, whose 19-year tenure as head of the archdiocese ended in his resignation after it was revealed he had failed to remove from the ministrypriests who had sexually abused children. O’Malley made his name as a crisis manager; his main charge has been righting the ship of the archdiocese, culturally and fiscally.
”That was basically his task when he came to Boston,” said Terence McKiernan, who founded BishopAccountability.org, a group that archives the Catholic clergy abuse problem. O’Malley swiftly settled many of the lawsuits. However, when O’Malley issued a list of accused priests in Boston in 2011, there were notable omissions, said McKiernan.
“That list was a suboptimal list from the get-go, and he hasn’t fixed it in the dozen years since it came out,” McKiernan said, who called O’Malley’s record on handling the sex abuse crisis “mixed.”
He said that he hopes that Henning will be different.
”Maybe Francis has a good reason for naming this person, and is someone who might turn over a new leaf,” McKiernan said.
Others were more complimentary of O’Malley’s work on the issue. Attorney Eric MacLeish, the lead attorney in the Boston clergy sexual abuse case who negotiated an $85 million settlement on behalf of 550 victims, said the Catholic church “has a long way to go” in advancing programs to protect children. But he credited O’Malley with being on the forefront of reform.
“O’Malley had credibility in terms of his advocacy and his compassion for victims,” MacLeish said. “I think this will be big shoes to fill for Henning.”
He recalled that in the early 1990s, a group of victims knocked on O’Malley’s door when he was bishop of Fall River and he let them inside and spent hours talking with them.
“I thought that was extraordinary,” said MacLeish, adding that O’Malley resolved issues and showed a great deal of humility.
Count Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented scores of victims of clergy sex abuse from the archdiocese for more than 20 years, among the Henning skeptics. He called Henning “a company man.”
“He has not been a person who’s practiced transparency concerning clergy sexual abuse,” he said, “and he has not done any substantive work that would help protect children and help clergy sexual abuse survivors to heal.”
Henning on Monday disputed the characterization that he was not transparent on clergy abuseduring his past roles, specifically when he was auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y. He said he understood why Catholics were scandalized by the crisis.
“When these crimes and sins were committed, I was also a child. I’m grateful to God that I was not affected by it personally, but people in my generation were,” he said. “They deserve a listening heart.”
In Henning’s current home of Rhode Island, Michael A. Wahl, a theology professor at Providence College, said Henning “has the valuable combination of a keen intellect and a pastoral heart.” He described Henning as an energetic presence during his time in Providence, celebrating Mass at various parishes, attending festivals, visiting Catholic schools.
“He seemed to be everywhere,” said Wahl.
His presence at community events and a genuine interest in the diocese’s communities, said Wahl, “won him a great deal of respect.”
“I expect that he’ll bring this same level of energy, dedication, and joy to the Archdiocese of Boston,” said Wahl.
Another theology scholar, Hosffman Ospino, a Boston College professor, said O’Malley’s departure feels like a loss for the local Catholic community and described him as “a champion” of a diverse array of the region’s cultures, including Latinos. But he said he’s delighted that Henning has been named his successor, as he is someone who understands that “Hispanic Catholicism is growing.”
He said Henning, who speaks Spanish and said Monday he is trying to learn Portuguese, is committed to training leaders in faith communities that are culturally and linguistically diverse.
Advocating for migrants will be a leading challenge in the coming years for the region’s pastoral leaders and Catholic organizations, he said, who need to be outspoken in “affirming the urgency to respect the rights of immigrants and the dignity of every immigrant person and refugee.”
At St. Anthony Shrine in downtown Boston Monday, Ken Curtis, 58, a refrigeration technician at the Hyatt Regency hotel,said he hoped Henning would continue in the tradition of O’Malley, especially in handling clergy sex abuse. He thought the church’s culture has improved, but could still get better through more community engagement.
”I hope the church keeps going in the direction to find a solution to the problems they have [had] in the past,” said Curtis, who prays at St. Anthony’s for 10 minutes each day.
Also at St. Anthony’s was Joyce Dooley, a 53-year-old from South Boston who grew up going to Catholic school. Dooley, who is staying at a homeless shelter because of an oven explosion at her home, hoped Henning would make the archdiocese more involved in helping the homeless.
“The homelessness is heavy in Boston,” said Dooley.
For his part, O’Malley said he plans to split his time between Boston and Washington, D.C., where there is a Capuchin monastery and where he previously worked for years helping immigrants.
“I don’t think I’ll be bored,” he said. “I’m not going to take up golf.”
Erin Douglas and Christopher Huffaker of Globe staff and Globe correspondent Rachel Umansky-Castro contributed.