Bishop Richard Henning by Bishop Robert Reed / X
CV NEWS FEED // Bishop Richard Henning, whom the Vatican recently appointed to replace Cardinal Sean O’Malley as the Archbishop of Boston, said of taking the new position during a presidential election season that he wants to help Catholics in the Archdiocese “form their consciences” and emphasized Church teaching regarding lay people’s responsibility to engage in politics.
An Aug. 5 news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Pope Francis appointed Bishop Henning of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, as the new archbishop after accepting the resignation of Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., who has served as archbishop in Boston since 2003. Cardinal O’Malley has been the longest-serving member of the special commission of Cardinals that Pope Francis created at the beginning of his pontificate.
During the Archdiocese of Boston’s Aug. 5 press conference, Cardinal O’Malley introduced Bishop Henning, saying, “The arrival of a new archbishop is always a time of renewal and hope.”
“To the people of the Archdiocese, Bishop-elect Henning brings the heart of a pastor in his new role,” the Cardinal continued:
[Bishop Henning’s] fluency in Spanish will allow him to engage directly with our large Hispanic Catholic population; the archbishop-elect has extensive academic credentials, having received a BA and MA in history from St. John’s University in New York, received his training for priesthood at the Seminary of Immaculate Conception in New York, and following his ordination, in 1992, he earned his licentiate in Biblical Theology at the Catholic University of America, and doctorate from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Following the introduction, Bishop Henning expressed that he is “very grateful to Almighty God, for the abundance of life made possible by His love and His grace, and I invoke the Lord’s help as I look forward to beginning this new ministry.”
“I’m also grateful to our Holy Father, for his confidence and the gift of this call to shepherd the extraordinary church” in the archdiocese of Boston, he added.
Both Cardinal O’Malley and Bishop Henning fielded questions on what lies ahead for both of them. Bishop Henning responded to questions about current political topics and the Church’s response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, among other topics.
In response to a question about how much of an “activist” he anticipates being on topics such as abortion and same-sex “marriage” given that he is taking on the new role during a presidential election year, Bishop Henning explained that his “stance in Providence has been that I’m a pastor and not a politician.” He said that the Church teaches that lay people have the right and obligation to engage in the political process.
“It is really, in the sense, their arena first and foremost, so it’s really not for me to comment on candidates or how people should vote, or things like that,” Bishop Henning noted.
“The Church does advocate for policy matters related to Church teaching, and that’s a host of things, not all of them always end up in public view,” he continued, emphasizing, “there’s a whole host of things that the Church might comment on.”
“So I think what I want to do is to help the Catholics, the faithful, of this Archdiocese, form their consciences,” Bishop Henning said, adding, “and I certainly have opinions. I will vote, you know, as an American citizen. I’ll never tell you for whom I vote. I don’t belong to a party, that’s not my job to advocate for either side.”
Bishop Henning also responded to a question about what his response is to those in the Archdiocese of Boston who have left the Church over their disapproval of how the Church has handled the clergy sex abuse crisis.
“My message to them is, I’ll listen to their pain, their woundedness,” Bishop Henning said.
“I certainly lived through that as well,” he continued. “You know, when these crimes and sins were committed, I was also a child and, I’m grateful to God that I was not affected by it personally, but people in my generation were, so I think those survivors, they deserve, they just deserve a listening heart. In some ways, they often have as much to proclaim to us about the Gospel as we would to them.”
The scandal has “certainly been painful” for him throughout his life, Bishop Henning said, “but it has not made me lose my faith in God, or my faith in the possibility of reconciliation and new life, even in the midst of what may feel devastating.”
“So I would say to them, that if I have failed you, if a leader in the Church has failed you, I’m so sorry. But God has not failed you,” he said. “God is still with you, and it would be tragic for you to lose your relationship with God, the blessings that flow from that, because of my actions or failures, but at the end of the day, all I can do is listen and hope and pray with the person, I think.”
Cardinal O’Malley said that Bishop Henning will be installed as the new archbishop on Oct. 31, after the Synod on Synodality has taken place.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Cardinal O’Malley celebrated his 80th birthday on June 29, marking the end of his eligibility to vote in a future papal conclave, and his eligibility to be elected pope. Cardinal O’Malley has served as the USCCB chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and has served on boards for the Catholic University of America and Catholic Relief Services, among other boards.
When Cardinal O’Malley was asked to reflect on what he believes his legacy has been, the Cardinal responded, “Well, I guess I haven’t been thinking in terms of my legacy. My ministry here was done with the support and the help of so many wonderful people that, if there’s any legacy, it’s a work of a communion of people who are loved the Church, love their faith, and love Christ, and have wanted to be a part of the mission that He has entrusted to us.”
Moving forward, Cardinal O’Malley said that his time will likely be divided between Boston and the Capuchin Monastery in Washington, D.C., noting that he has 20 years of experience working in Washington with immigrants and expects to be involved in that ministry again.
During his days as a priest in Washington, D.C., Fr. O’Malley mastered Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole (spoken in Haiti), to serve the immigrant community.
In the press conference, he also noted that Pope Francis has requested that he continue in his role as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Concluding, Cardinal O’Malley said, “I will try and stay out the new archbishop’s way, but to be available to him if he needs me for anything, but I am so grateful to the kindness, the patience of the people of the archdiocese who have put up with me for 21 years and have always been so kind and loving.”
