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Sean Cardinal O'Malley, OFM Cap. (born June 29, 1944) heads the Archdiocese of Boston.

Fr. O'Malley was ordained as a priest of the Capuchin Franciscan Order on August 29, 1970. On August 2, 1984, he was ordained a bishop and was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston on July 1, 2003 and was installed on July 30, replacing Bernard Law. Cardinal O'Malley and 14 others were formally installed in a Consistory ceremony at the Vatican on March 24.

Sean Patrick O'Malley was born as Patrick O'Malley in Lakewood, Ohio, the son of Theodore and Mary Louise O'Malley. O'Malley, his sister, and his older brother grew up in Herman, Pennsylvania. At 12 years old, he entered St. Fidelis Minor Seminary, a boarding school for students considering joining the Franciscan order, in Butler, Pennsylvania. While there, in addition to studying the normal high school subjects, he also studied Spanish, Greek, German, and Hebrew. While there, he was active in theater.

In 1965, at the age of 21, O'Malley was professed into the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and took the name Seán in honor of St. John. He was ordained as a Catholic priest on August 29, 1970, at age 26. After graduating from St. Fidelis, he attended Capuchin College in Washington, D.C. and The Catholic University of America. He graduated from the Catholic University with a master's degree in religious education and a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese literature.

He served as a professor at the Catholic University from 1969 to 1973. In 1973, he was asked to minister to Latinos living in the D.C. area. He founded Centro Catolico Hispano (Hispanic Catholic Center), an organization which provided educational, medical and legal help to immigrants. He opened a Spanish-language bookstore and founded the first Spanish newspaper in the D.C. area. In 1978, Cardinal William Baum appointed him episcopal vicar for the Portuguese, Hispanic, and Haitian communities, and became the executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry. He was also given the honorary title of monsignor.

Msgr. O'Malley was appointed coadjutor bishop to to the Diocese of Saint Thomas on May 30, 1984 by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a bishop on August 2, 1984, by Bishop Edward John Harper. He served as coadjutor for one year, until he was chosen to succeed Bishop Harper as Bishop of St. Thomas on October 16, 1985. While in the Virgin Islands, he worked with the homeless, and opened a home for people with AIDS.

On June 16, 1992, Bishop O'Malley was chosen to head the Diocese of Fall River. He was installed on August 11, 1992. While Bishop of Falls River, O'Malley settled 101 abuse claims and initiated a zero-tolerance policy against sexual abuse. He also instituted one of the first comprehensive sexual abuse policies in the Roman Catholic Church. He also worked closely with the Portuguese and Hispanic population, which make up most of the Catholics in the diocese.

After serving in Fall River for ten years, he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida, on September 3, 2002. He was installed on October 19, 2002. The appointment came after the diocese had been rocked by relevations of sexual abuse against two of its former bishops: J. Keith Symons resigned in 1998, after admitting he molested five boys while he was a pastor and his successor Anthony J. O'Connell resigned on March 13, 2002 after admitting to molesting an underage seminarian.

At 59 years old, just nine months after arriving in Palm Beach, Bishop O'Malley was called once again to Boston after he was appointed as Archbishop of Boston on July 1, 2003, and installed on July 30. He replaced Bernard Law after Law resigned over criticism of his management of the sex abuse scandal.

Cardinal

On February 22, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed O'Malley and 14 others to Cardinal during the pope's general audience on February 22, 2006. Archbishop O'Malley was one of two Americas to be promoted (the other was Archbishop William J. Levada, who suceeded the pope as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2005). He and and the others were formally installed in a special consistory on March 24, 2006 during an announcement on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch. Sean Cardinal O'Malley, when installed, will be the 10th Capuchin Cardinal since the founding of the Order in the 16th Century. He is a member of the Capuchin Province of St. Augustine. Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley O.F.M. Cap., archbishop of Boston, U.S.A.: title (titular) of St. Mary della Vittoria.                                       (Image: St. Theresa in Ecstacy, Santa Maria della Vittoria - Our Lady of the Victory, Rome)

Reflection

Some members of the Divine Mercy Secular Franciscan Fraternity of Vero Beach, Florida, including ye webservant, have met (then Bishop) Sean O'Malley. Typically for a Capuchin, he wore his brown habit and just a very plain Pectoral Cross. When he saw I was wearing a Tau Cross, he opened his arms to hug me, and the others. In talking with him, he appeared to be a humble friar and I felt the Franciscan fraternity spirit in his words and laughter. He said (in a subsequent note card) that I would be in his prayers. Now, dear Cardinal, you will be in our prayers.

Revised 3/24/2006 fss