The Archdiocese of Boston has for more than 200 years faithfully served 144 communities, often in the face of adversity. From its earliest missionary work, Boston’s Catholic Church welcomed European immigrants and assisted in assimilating them into our society. This led to a period of great expansion for the Archdiocese following WWII. The changes then introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's further impacted our Church, which for many years afterward reflected the growth, enthusiasm, and challenges of the Church, with new and expanded parishes, new schools, and reinvigorated emphasis on social services.

By the close of the 20th century a host of new challenges arose that greatly impacted the Church on a worldwide scale. When Cardinal Seán O’Malley was installed in 2003 as Boston’s Archbishop, our Church was confronted with many of those same challenges: the clergy sex abuse scandal, parish and school closings, an underfunded clergy and lay pension fund, a Catholic health care system saddled with debt, rapidly changing demographics, significantly decreasing Mass attendance and vocations.

​Today we see the work of Cardinal Seán - together with our bishops, priests, deacons and Catholic lay leaders - bearing fruit.  Our flock is approaching two million and priestly vocations are on the rise. Enrollment in our Catholic schools is holding strong. Assistance to marginalized members of our community continues to be at the forefront of our work. And our Cardinal’s strong stance on upholding the dignity of every human being is reflected in the Archdiocese’s clear position on public policy issues like Physician-Assisted Suicide.

To continue to build an even stronger, more solid Archdiocese of Boston - to spread the Good News and inspire hope for the future - Cardinal Seán has launched the first Archdiocesan-wide capital campaign in two decades and the first-ever he has led in his long career. The Inspiring Hope capital campaign is a $200 million fundraising initiative - one of the largest faith-based fundraising efforts in the U.S. - that will assist Boston’s Catholic Church by helping to address critical needs and leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Leadership, Vision and Unwavering
​ Hope for the Future

As a pastor in the Franciscan tradition and a priest who had long served poor and immigrant communities, Cardinal Seán came to Boston uniquely equipped to face the challenges confronting our Archdiocese and lead us forward. He is one of only nine Cardinals selected by Pope Francis to regularly advise him on matters of the worldwide Catholic Church and is the only North American member of the Holy Father’s Council of Cardinals. Inspired by his love for Christ, his compassion for mankind, and his unwavering hope for the future, Cardinal Seán has worked diligently from the outset of his appointment to revitalize the Archdiocese of Boston. 

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Healing and Prevention

Cardinal Seán immediately and personally asked forgiveness from abuse victims and their families. He has continued to commit himself and the Church to ongoing healing, protection and prevention by instituting a policy of zero tolerance. This includes making pastoral support and care for abuse survivors and their families a primacy, establishing required annual Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) background screenings, reporting all allegations immediately to law enforcement, providing Safe Environment Training for more than 100,000 children each year, and settling over 1,000 abuse claims.

The policies and procedures instituted by the Cardinal have become the pre-eminent model for the protection of minors and have been adopted by many other dioceses. Based in part on his proactive initiatives, our Holy Father Pope Francis in 2013 appointed Cardinal Seán to head the international Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Financial Restructure and Transparency

Through a variety of restructuring efforts and with the help of strong lay leadership, Cardinal Seán has done much to right the financial hardships he inherited in 2003. His actions have reduced the operating deficit and balanced our overall financial condition. His measures have helped stabilize both the clergy and lay pension funds and establish a lay board, management, programs and funding, while reducing risk to the Archdiocese.  Since 2006, as part of his commitment to transparency, he has made annual church financial reports available on the Archdiocesan website – an unprecedented national model for all Dioceses.  
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Focus on Evangelization

Cardinal Seán’s primary focus is on the New Evangelization, which calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Good News. It seeks to bring people back to the Catholic Church and over the past decade he has launched several major initiatives toward accomplishing these goals.

​The first is our parishes. Very directly, the future of our faith rests in robust evangelization activities for people of all ages and it begins within our parishes. With the support and counsel of many lay volunteers and members of the clergy, our Cardinal has been reorganizing parishes into collaborative models, which make the best use of our limited resources of priests and deacons. The collaborative model also places great value and importance on the involvement and greater engagement of lay leadership within our parishes.

Second, assisted by a large cadre of committed business leaders and lay volunteers, Cardinal Seán set in motion initiatives to revitalize Catholic education, implementing new regional and board-led educational models and inspiring many to invest millions in our Catholic Schools. Children are the future of our faith and no other U.S. institution has been as successful in moving people from poverty in to the middle class as the Catholic school system.

Inspiring Hope: A Capital Campaign
​ for the Future

​Looking ahead and planning for the future, Cardinal Seán has made a commitment to broaden and deepen our dedication to the ministries, parishes and schools of the Archdiocese of Boston by prioritizing the following activities:

Educating and Inspiring our Children - Continuing to nurture our religious faith in our children while providing the best, most innovative and technologically advanced Catholic education, taught by energized, faith-filled and supported teachers.​​

Serving the Poor - Expanding and enriching our outreach to the poorest and most vulnerable among us to provide these individuals and families with the love and fundamental support they deserve to help them become independent and self-sufficient members of our communities.

Building the Future of our Faith - Evangelizing the Good News by strengthening our parishes with improved faith formation and increased lay leadership.  Providing parishes opportunities to meet capital and program needs through local campaigns.  Continuing to champion religious freedom and the value and dignity of all stages of life.

Supporting our Priests - Supporting and reinforcing our commitment to the education and lifelong care of the good men responding to Christ’s call to the priesthood.​​

Strengthening our Presence - ​Funds for the interior renovations of our 150 year old Mother Church located in the South End of Boston.

All of this work requires financial resources. The Inspiring Hope capital campaign is the Archdiocese’s first capital campaign since 2003. The campaign’s success will benefit virtually every part of the Archdiocese, enriching the lives of hundreds of thousands: those worshiping in the parishes, attending our Catholic schools, our current and future priests, and our ability to serve the poor among us.

By coming together to support the short- and long-term needs of the Church, we will not only benefit from our partnership with one another, but also be true to the tremendous legacy of those who built our churches and schools and established faith formation and social justice programs that have enriched our lives.

You, the Faithful

Cardinal Seán is the first to say he is not alone responsible for the amazing strides the Church has made since 2003. You, the faithful, are. The thousands of you who have stood by our Church, who have raised your hands, stepped forward, donated your valuable time and financial resources, opened your hearts, and your voices; the thousands of you who have volunteered, in parishes, schools, hospitals, prisons, shelters and food pantries. You are the embodiment of what a true community of faith is and your continued commitment to the future of our Church is everything.

​We prayerfully invite you to join us in Inspiring Hope as we seek the support of every member of the Church in Boston.