A Week in Rome

This past week I have been in Rome for a meeting of the Vox Clara Committee and as the meetings draw to a close, I am just now catching up with the blog.  The Press Release for the Vox Clara meeting will be posted here in a few hours.

The week began with a day and a half of lectures for ICTE, the sabbatical program at the North American College.  From there we traveled to the Domus Australia, where the Vox Clara reviewed liturgical texts for three days.

On Wednesday evening I was honored to concelebrate Mass with Cardinal O'Malley for the Feast of Saint Theresa of Lisieux at his titular church here in Rome, Santa Maria Vittoria.  It was at this Church that the fourteen year old Theresa Martin prayed that she would be allowed to enter the Carmelite Order.  The Mass was served by Boston seminarians Kevin Leaver, Michael Zimmerman and Kevin Staley-Joyce.

I prayed throughout the Mass for our beloved Carmelites in Danvers and keep remembering the Mass we had there just last week with so many members of the Saint John's community.  

Here's a picture taken in the sacristy before Mass with (from left to right) Monsignor Johnson, me, Cardinal O'Malley, Father O'Leary (Rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross) and Father Briody.


On Thursday morning, several of us joined the throngs of family and friends at the Ordination to the Diaconate of forty-six seminarians from the Pontifical North American College.  The ordination took place at the Altar of the Chair at Saint Peter's Basilica.  

This view is across the sea of concelebrants as Donato Infante, an alumnus of Saint John's Seminary's Pre-Theology Program and a seminarian for the Diocese of Worcester was ordained a Deacon.  Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington D.C., was the ordaining prelate.

This weekend I will be in Assisi for the Feast of the poverello for the first time in my life.  Then, before you know it, I'll be back home at SJS!