Regular readers know that I am a huge fan of Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap, the Archbishop of Boston. What he has accomplished since he arrived in Boston is nothing short of spectacular: A Church that was in free fall is now back on its feet, donations are up, vocations are up, new ecclesial movements are active and engaged. He was vilified unfairly for his decision to preside at the funeral of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy but he stood his ground and showed a grieving family (and a grieving Commonwealth) why the Church is at her best at a funeral, showing the compassionate and merciful face of Christ to those who mourn.
Cardinal Sean, however, also is active in the universal Church. His gift for languages has served him well as an ambassador for the U.S. Church, as well as his prior and on-going intellectual pursuits. He holds an earned doctorate in Spanish literature and evidences a love of Latin culture that is well known throughout South and Central America. This week, he led a delegation to Haiti and said Mass in Creole. His trip reminds us that the needs of that country remain huge. Even though CNN no longer reports from there live, the Church is engaged in the on-going task of rebuilding Haiti.
Pictures from the Cardinal’s visit can be found here. They are heart-breaking but if ever there was a time and a place for one’s heart to be broken, Haiti today is it.
