Surprise appointment to replace O’Malley in Boston

The Vatican named Bishop Richard Henning of Providence the seventh Archbishop of Boston.

The appointment surprised many observers because the 59-year-old Henning was only appointed to his present diocese in Rhode Island last year. He previously served as an auxiliary in his home Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York state.

Ordained a priest in 1992, Henning served in a parish for five years before he was sent to study scripture, first at the Catholic University of America where he earned a Licentiate in Biblical Theology and later at the Angelicum in Rome, where he earned a doctorate.

He spent most of his priestly career as a Professor of Scripture at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York and was ordained an auxiliary bishop in 2018, later serving as an episcopal vicar and later as vicar for clergy and pastoral planning. He has worked extensively with foreign-born clergy and on priestly formation.

Henning was named coadjutor Bishop of Providence on 23 November 2022 and he assumed pastoral governance of the diocese in May last year.

The appointment came two days after Cardinal Seán O’Malley OFM Cap celebrated his twenty-first anniversary as Archbishop of Boston. O’Malley turned 80 on 29 June this year.

O’Malley was appointed to Boston in 2003 in the depths of the clergy sex abuse scandal that centred on the archdiocese. His predecessor Cardinal Bernard Law had resigned in disgrace after The Boston Globe published a report detailing his role covering up abuse of minors and the repeated reassignments of offenders. Hundreds protested outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross during O’Malley’s installation.

During his years in the archdiocese, O’Malley became a leader in the fight against clergy sex abuse both in the US and internationally.  

Pope Francis appointed him to head the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors when he established it in 2014, and also named O’Malley as the North American representative to the Council of Cardinals – known as the C9 – meeting several times a year to advise the Pope.

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, O’Malley has been one of the most prominent pro-life and pro-immigrant voices. He has never missed the annual Right to Life March and attended the funeral of its founder Nellie Gray.

As a friar, he had worked with migrants in Washington, DC, founding the Spanish Catholic Centre in the city’s Adams Morgan neighbourhood to offer a range of social services, including instruction in English, job training programmes and free medical and dental clinics.

The Democrat Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey offered “heartfelt congratulations and gratitude” to O’Malley on his retirement, saying she had been “humbled and privileged” to work with him.

“I greatly admire his deep faith and compassion for all,” she said in a statement on Monday. “He will be remembered for his life-saving support for families experiencing homelessness, his advocacy for more affordable housing, his support for victims of human trafficking and his global leadership in the fight against climate change.”

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