Boston magazine reviews Archbishop Sean O’Malley’s first year in office and finds him wanting. The writer, Matt Kelly, says that Catholics are everywhere in Massachusetts, yet the archbishop claims that exile is the best metaphor for the Church today. That leads Kelly to conclude that O’Malley is a backward-looking pessimist. Of course, the archbishop is right because Kelly defines as Catholic anyone who’s ever been baptized, whether or not they practice their faith or live according to the Church’s teachings. Kelly then excoriates Archbishop O’Malley for not being the Great Liberal Hope that so many were looking for after Cardinal Law left.
While activist groups like Voice of the Faithful want a say in how their church operates, O’Malley comes from another perspective: the theologically conservative hierarchy assembled and presided over by Pope John Paul II. In that world, the hierarchy delivers the church to its people, not vice versa.
