As I mentioned last week, this is the time of year when we hold a Mass of the Holy Spirit at each of our three seminaries to begin the academic year. So, last Thursday, I went to celebrate the Mass at our Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Brookline.

It was a wonderful celebration with all the seminarians, at which seminarian Gerson Garcia received the rite of candidacy.

Afterward, there was a lovely dinner, where, as always, the seminarians entertained us with their musical talents.

That day also happened to be the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist and the 54th anniversary of my priesthood ordination. So, they were nice enough to have a lovely cake for me.



Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary

The following day, we had the Mass of the Holy Spirit at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston.

We were joined by several members of the Board of Trustees and, of course, the faculty and students. This year, we have about 10 seminarians studying for the Archdiocese of Boston there, which is very encouraging.



Priests gathering

Every year, Father Bob Casey hosts a barbecue for priests on Labor Day weekend.

So, on Sunday, we went to South Boston to join about 60 or 70 priests for the festivities.

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather that day, and it was held outside on the patio behind the rectory. Father Casey is always very gracious in hosting the priests, and everyone enjoyed being together.



Father Andrea Filippucci

On Tuesday, I was visited by Father Andrea Filippucci, a Boston priest on loan to the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Father Andrea has been in the US Virgin Islands for almost three years and is currently the vicar general of the diocese and the pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Frederiksted, St. Croix.

He was visiting with Father Louis Kemayou, a priest from the Virgin Islands, to make mission appeals. They visited two parishes in Cambridge: St. John the Evangelist and St. Peter's.



Visits at the cathedral

This week's theme seems to be episcopal visits because, over Labor Day weekend, I was visited by Cardinal Arlindo Gomes Furtado, the bishop of Santiago in Cape Verde. He was here as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations of his diocese and stopped by the cathedral.

I also had a visit from Bishop Robert Chrzaszcz, the auxiliary bishop of Krakow in Poland, who was here to celebrate the Portuguese Mass as part of the huge celebration for Our Lady of Fatima they hold every year in Ludlow around Labor Day. (It might seem surprising that they invited a Polish bishop to celebrate a Portuguese Mass, but he had been a missionary in Brazil for 15 years.) While he was in the area, he wanted to see the cathedral, so he came by to say hello.