Michael Paulson has an excellent piece in today's Boston Globe on J. Bryan Hehir, outgoing president of Catholic Charities of Boston. Highly respected by his brother priests in the archdiocese, there's no exaggeration in suggesting that Bryan Hehir has been gifted with one of the finest intellects in today's Roman Catholic Church. His history as national head of Catholic Charities, as a key consultant to the US Conference of Catholic Charities and as the first Roman Catholic to serve as dean of the the Harvard Divinity School are but highlights in a remarkable resume'.
"The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir will continue to serve as a secretary in O'Malley's cabinet, and as a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, but his primary responsibility will be to advise O'Malley on a variety of public policy matters, including the archdiocese's relationship with the Legislature, its ownership of a struggling hospital chain, and the future of its school system. Hehir also will continue to serve as a primary troubleshooter for O'Malley... Church officials regard Hehir as a pragmatist who is valuable to O'Malley because of his analytical and negotiating skills... He joins the vicar general, the Rev. Richard M. Erikson, and the chancellor, James P. McDonough, in O'Malley's inner circle."As a pastor in an archdiocese still bearing the brunt of the crises of sexual abuse and reconfiguration, those three names (Erikson, McDonough and Hehir) give me hope. In my 34 years as a priest I have never seen such leaders in such powerful positions. (Those looking for change in the church today need to respect the subtlety of such appointments. Change is unlikely to come in headlines but rather in articles like Paulson's which chronicle the shifts that really make a difference.) These three are realists who love the church and who have a decent and pragmatic sense about how to negotiate a limping Church's way through a troubled and thoroughly secular culture.
Also subtle but worthy of note is the appointment of Tiziana Dearing as Hehir's successor. Dearing is a former student of Hehir and since 2003 has been the executive director of Harvard's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. That Dearing will be the first woman to head Boston's Catholic Charities carries its own significance but of equal import is the stamp of approval her appointment imprints on Hehir's controversial tenure in that post.
Of local interest: J. Bryan Hehir once served as a priest "next door" at St. Elizabeth Parish in Acton.
