LAWRENCE -- "Oh my gosh!" A pre-K student at Lawrence Catholic Academy exclaimed when Archbishop Richard Henning walked into her classroom. "He's so big!"

Indeed, Archbishop Henning towered over her and her classmates, but he quickly proved himself to be a gentle giant, curious to know what the students were working on.

"That's a good letter," he said when the students explained that they were learning about the letter H.

Archbishop Henning made his first visit to Lawrence, the eighth most populous city in the Archdiocese of Boston, on Nov. 4. He toured LCA with its president, Father Paul O'Brien, and observed the progress being made on the new school building. Thanks to the generosity of various donors, LCA's aging buildings are being replaced with a 42,000-square-foot modern campus, which will accommodate over 600 students. Construction began in March and will be completed in July 2025, allowing students to begin using the new school at the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Archbishop Henning donned a hard hat and shook hands with the architect and construction workers. He was joined by LCA staff members, trustees, and representatives of the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Boston. Archbishop Henning also celebrated Mass for over 300 LCA students at St. Patrick Parish, of which Father O'Brien is pastor.

"I'm just overwhelmed by what I've seen," Archbishop Henning said in his remarks after Mass. "It's wonderful."

The archbishop began his tour of Lawrence with a 7 a.m. visit to the Cor Unum Meal Center, a ministry of St. Patrick's. Cor Unum opened in 2006 to provide free meals in one of the poorest communities in Massachusetts. The average income in Lawrence is $20,800. Paradoxically, housing is expensive and scarce, and most families' incomes are eaten up by rent. Father O'Brien said that 75 percent of children in Lawrence may be going hungry on any particular day. LCA students receive free breakfast daily.

As eggs, bacon, waffles, and home fries sizzled on plates, Archbishop Henning toured the kitchen, took a peek into the walk-in fridge, and greeted the cooks. Most Cor Unum cooks arrive at the facility at 5 a.m., while some arrive as early as 3 a.m. At Christmastime, Cor Unum serves prime rib, offering the warmth of a home-cooked holiday meal to those who otherwise would never experience it.

"It's to make them feel...," a Cor Unum volunteer explained.

"Special," Archbishop Henning said, completing her thought.

"Yeah. Because they are," she said.

Both LCA and the city of Lawrence are overwhelmingly Hispanic, with much of the population being recent immigrants. When Archbishop Henning asked LCA students if they knew Spanish, virtually all of them raised their hands.

The city is "the fentanyl capital of the Northeast," Father O'Brien said, mentioning that several of his first-grade students have had overdoses in their families. Lawrence is also the fastest-growing community in Massachusetts, with a high teen pregnancy rate and a median age of 32. Several students told Archbishop Henning that they have baby siblings on the way. LCA is completely full and families are on waiting lists to enroll their children.

"There's no indication those numbers are going to change for decades," Father O'Brien told Archbishop Henning.

Despite the city's dire circumstances, St. Patrick's and LCA are thriving. The church is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Masses in the lower church are often at full capacity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor Masses filled the parish parking lot even on the coldest days. With great pride, Father O'Brien pointed out the symbolism in the church's 100 historic stained-glass windows, all of which are in the process of being restored or retouched. Father O'Brien said that a reporter for a secular newspaper once visited the lower church, saw a stained-glass window depicting the Eucharist and said "I need to get back to Mass."

"That artist just had his intention fulfilled," Father O'Brien said.

In the upper church, Father O'Brien pointed out a window of St. Michael done in exquisite detail, down to the Devil's gnarled toenails and snakes in his hair. St. Michael, on the other hand, has "perfectly pedicured" nails and nice hair, Father O'Brien explained.

Archbishop Henning celebrated Mass for the kids who Father O'Brien called "375 of the finest Catholic school students in the country."

"Archbishop Henning, welcome to your school," he said.

In his homily, the archbishop used the same imagery he had used in a homily given to senior priests at Regina Cleri in Boston on Nov. 1. He asked the students: "What makes Superman Superman?" Archbishop Henning explained that unlike Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor, who would use superpowers to hurt people, Superman uses his power to help others like Jesus does.

"Jesus only wants to help you, to give you life, to save you," he said. "So Lex Luthor would take power and he would be selfish, right? But Jesus, he's loving, he cares about us. He cares about people who are having a hard time."

He said that since the students are still children, they don't have a lot of power in the world, but they do have the power of God.

"Even now you are capable of loving," he said. "You are capable of helping each other. You're capable of being unselfish and living that dream that Jesus offers."

He asked them to reach out to their fellow students that they see going through hard times.

"Are you going to do that?" he asked. "Would you do that? Then you are going to be super as far as I'm concerned, forever and ever."

Archbishop Henning said that he enjoyed the music provided by the student choir during Mass so much, that by the power vested in him as archbishop, he allowed the students to come to class in casual clothing the next day.

After Mass, he visited LCA classrooms, reading a book called "What is God Like?" to kindergarteners and praying the Hail Mary with them. He also taught them to sing a song about hamburgers.

"That was terrific," Archbishop Henning said. "You guys pray really loud, I like that."

The first graders presented the archbishop with pictures they drew and colored for him.

"I think you gave me more hair than I have," he joked.

He also sat down with fifth, sixth, and eighth graders and took questions from them. The fifth and sixth graders asked him about his responsibilities as an archbishop and how he received the role. He in turn learned about what the students do in school. LCA offers activities ranging from basketball to chess to Dungeons and Dragons. Archbishop Henning told the students to make sure that they are making lasting friendships as they learn.

"In a few years, you guys are going to be running the world, it sounds like," he said. "All these talents, all this learning, all this good friendship, you're kind of ready to go."

The eighth graders asked more complex questions, such as the most selfless thing he ever did in his life.

"Giving myself to the church is probably the biggest thing," he said, "but hopefully I can sit back and look over my life and come up with a few other things."

He said that the hardest thing for him is to trust in God's plan and cede control of his life to him.

"Coming to Boston, I have to do a lot of trusting," he said.

Other eighth graders asked him his favorite food (pasta, he said, though it's hard to pick a favorite), his favorite part of being a bishop ("My favorite part is going to places like Lawrence Catholic Academy and seeing the good things people do"), and whether he will become a saint when he dies ("I do hope for that, and I want the same with you.")

He told the eighth graders that faith should not be blind, and young people should feel free to ask questions. It is especially important, he said, to question their fellow Christians who they see behaving cruelly or selfishly.

Father O'Brien asked the eighth graders to offer advice to the archbishop. They told him to learn from his mistakes and not put too much pressure on himself. Archbishop Henning thanked them for their "young faith" and asked them to pray for him.

"The world can be a difficult place," he said. "People can be selfish and cruel. But you're working to help each other."

He added: "That makes me think the world's going to be just fine."