BishopAccountability.org
 
  'Archbishop Sean' Has Plans for Toned-down Installation
Plan to Call Him ''Archbishop Sean''

By Eric Convey
Boston Herald
July 18, 2003

While the incoming leader of Boston Catholics has yet to officially announce his preference, Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley has indicated that after his July 30 installation he will continue his practice of asking to be addressed by his first name, colleagues said yesterday.

Speculation also has swirled around O'Malley's other address - where he'll live - but he has yet to resolve the matter.

The Franciscan indicated during a news conference earlier this month that he prefers simpler quarters than the stately archbishop's residence.

O'Malley will take up "short-term" residence there after arriving in Boston next week to prepare for his installation, said the Rev. Christopher Coyne, an archdiocesan spokesman.

The new archbishop will make long-term living arrangements later, Coyne said.

That preference for simplicity will guide O'Malley's installation ceremony, an event rich in symbolism that has, in the past, brought great pomp to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End.

"Bishop O'Malley wants to keep it as simple as possible within protocol," Coyne said yesterday.

So instead of taking the traditional step of inviting all the American cardinals, the archdiocese sent invitations to only three: Bernard Cardinal Law, the former archbishop of Boston; William Cardinal Baum, who headed the Washington archdiocese when O'Malley served there as a priest in the 1970s; and James Cardinal Stafford, who heads the Pontifical Council for the Laity at the Vatican.

All 600 priests of the Boston archdiocese and the 300 priests of the Diocese of Fall River have been invited.

Organizers have scheduled 20 minutes for the procession into the cathedral on the morning of the installation.

Lay groups including the Knights of Columbus and Knights of Malta will attend in their full regalia.

About 800 members of parishes will be invited upon recommendation of their pastors and various religious and political leaders are on the list.

Seats have been allocated for victims of clergy sexual abuse. But as of yesterday, no leader of a victims' group had been invited to take part in the formal welcoming of O'Malley - something some victims had sought.

O'Malley will become archbishop upon sitting in the chair - or cathedra - that has been vacant since Law's Dec. 13 resignation.

An edict from Pope John Paul II will be read, most likely by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the papal ambassador to the United States.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.