This past Thursday, January 8, on a bright and clement winter day, Montrose School enjoyed the special privilege of hosting Boston Archbishop Richard G. Henning for the morning, featuring an all-school celebration of the Holy Mass. Archbishop Henning was installed as the head of the Boston Archdiocese, the fourth-largest in the United States, during October 2024, and has visited many local Catholic schools as part of his ministry. His arrival was anticipated with excitement among the students, faculty, and staff of Montrose, who spent many weeks carefully planning to welcome the Archbishop to campus, from rehearsing hymns to tidying our chapel. During his visit, I was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview the Archbishop about his life and work, as well as his advice for young Catholics.
Archbishop Richard G. Henning was born on Long Island, New York in 1964 and attended Catholic schools as a child. He entered the priesthood in 1992, ministering to a parish in his area for the following five years. Afterwards, he received a doctorate in Biblical Theology from the St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome, later teaching the same subject at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York. Most recently he served as the Bishop of Providence before Pope Francis assigned him to succeed Cardinal Sean O’Malley as the next Archbishop of Boston.
After a student-led tour of the school, Archbishop Henning celebrated an all-school Mass alongside the Montrose chaplains, deacon, and local parish priests. The music program was replete with beloved Christmas hymns, including an arrangement of the Ave Maria as the communion meditation. The Archbishop, wearing the pallium presented to him by Pope Leo XIV, gave the sermon, drawing on themes from the daily readings, as well as his scholarship on St. John’s Gospel. Most surprising was his manner of delivering homilies from the side of the altar instead of the pulpit, without notes. When asked about this practice, his reasoning was: “If I can’t remember it, then no one else will.”
As the Archbishop wished, his sermon would not be one that is easily forgotten. He began by comparing scenes from the Prologue and Last Supper of St. John’s Gospel left unrevealed by standard English translations. During the Last Supper, “[one] of his disciples, whom Jesus loved [or St. John], was lying close to the breast of Jesus,” yet the full meaning of this image, he asserted, could only be understood by going back to the Prologue, if a literal translation of the Greek is used. There, like St. John, “the Word [or Christ] was ‘at the breast’ of God” instead of merely ‘with’ God, as it is commonly rendered. Since St. John’s represents all believers, the Archbishop reminded us this is just how close Christ wants to be with us – at His very breast. Although the world might not view it in this light, love is a great power, and it is one Jesus wants to share with us. As portrayed in manger scenes where the infant Christ’s arms are open wide, He calls out to us “’I trust you!’” — asking us to share in His work and establish the “reign of God” (as the Archbishop phrased it) around us.
The Mass was followed by a reception line for students to greet the Archbishop, and afterwards a special gathering in the M&M to honor our guest. There, Archbishop Henning was formally welcomed and presented with gifts on behalf of the students. These included a Christmas medley of Ave Maria and What Child Is This sung by the Treblemakers, the high school a cappella group, and a spiritual bouquet of prayers presented as paper flowers made by the sixth grade. Finally, he blessed the plans for Montrose’s Campus Renewal Program. He concluded by commending, what he called, the “authenticity of [our] mission.”
It was after this gathering when I was privileged to have a brief interview with Archbishop Henning about his life and ministry. We began with the question: “How did you first experience your call to a vocation, and what was it like to follow it?” He answered that he was first aware of it when a priest came to speak to his fifth-grade class along with many friends, but for him that feeling “never went away.” Although he did not immediately follow this call, going to college before the seminary, as he told me, if God wills it, “it’s going to happen.” His favorite part of being an Archbishop is his ability to “be with the people of God” – “everyone”– in a way that parish-bound laypeople and priests cannot. This, to him, is the “real beauty” of his work.
Archbishop Henning also spoke on his time earning his doctorate in Biblical Theology, the fruits of which were clearly shared in his homily earlier that morning. When first asked to begin his studies so he would be able to teach in a seminary, he found the task very “daunting” due to the many languages he would learn, yet found it to be “wonderful” and a “privilege” in practice. It is something that “overflows into everything you do.”
The Archbishop also shared his thoughts on modern Catholic education, and the differences between this and his own experiences in Catholic schools. For him, the greatest difference is “an energy and excitement for the faith” present today that his education was lacking, feeling like the “odd man out” for his spiritual interests. He also noted the youth-led nature of contemporary Catholic renewal, saying that it is the students who truly “evangelize each other.” His biggest takeaway from his Montrose visit corroborates these ideas, sharing that it is the students who “most touch [his] heart,” particularly their “trust” for and “openness” to the school’s mission of spreading Catholic faith in the world.
His advice for young Catholics seeking to foster a personal relationship with Christ? Interact with the “word of God” – not merely to read it, but also to “listen” to God speak through the text and pray with it as well. The Archbishop also recommends building “friendships with other disciples,” thus creating a community for our faith to grow in.
Also, Boston sports fans, rest assured: our Archbishop has “publicly converted” to be a Red Sox fan and enjoys going to games at Fenway Park.
The visit of an Archbishop leaves many lasting impressions on those fortunate enough to experience it, and inspires a strengthened confidence in the Church’s leadership and the genuineness of their intentions. Although Archbishop Henning originally used this line to praise Montrose, it applies to his own work just as fittingly. It is the “authenticity of [his] mission” that allows the Archbishop to inspire and foster the faith of his flock and to encourage the emerging spiritual renewal he sees as growing in the Catholic youth.
His trust in the beliefs of the Church and his gratitude for being able to “be with the people of God” are qualities all Catholics should admire, if not aspire to themselves. That’s what true discipleship should really be. So, on behalf of the Montrose community, we thank you, Archbishop Henning, for blessing our school with your visit. Know that you are remembered gratefully in our prayers.
By Elisabeth Smith ‘28, Co-Assistant Editor-in-Chief
28esmith@montroseschool.org
