MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Marino Eccher
meccher@pioneerpress.com
In the gospel reading before Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s first homily in the Cathedral of St. Paul, the apostles were sent forth to new places.
They didn’t come from New Jersey and they likely packed lighter than he did — just a single shirt and pair of sandals, according to the reading — but Hebda hinted their charge was not so different than his own: Preach, purify and heal.
The passage “has the consequence,” he said, “that all of us become locals.”
Hebda, appointed by the Vatican in June to help run the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the wake of resignations and legal issues, took a major step toward doing so Sunday in his first Mass here.
“What a joy it is for me to celebrate Mass here in this beautiful cathedral for the first time,” he told the near-capacity crowd of worshippers.
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