Posted Monday, June 30, 2003 at 8:42 a.m. CST

Pope to name Palm Beach's O'Malley as new archbishop of Boston

By John L. Allen Jr.
Rome

More on Palm Beach and Bishop O'Malley In March, NCR profiled the Palm Beach diocese. Read those stories by following these links:     Scandal’s fallout still settling in Palm Beach     New bishop faces old problem More on Boston archdiocese NCR did a retrospective of the Boston archdiocese on June 20. Read the story by following this link:     Meltdown in Boston

Bishop Sean O'Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan with a strong track record of responding aggressively to priest sexual abuse, will be named the new archbishop of Boston this week, Vatican sources told NCR. The appointment will likely be announced on Tuesday, July 1, but could come later in the week.

O'Malley, who turned 59 on June 29, is currently the bishop of Palm Beach, Florida.

The Boston archdiocese has been managed by an interim administrator, Bishop Richard Lennon, since Cardinal Bernard Law's resignation on Dec. 13, 2002. Given that Law had become the leading symbol of the American sex abuse crisis, the Boston appointment has been one of the most anticipated in the history of the American Catholic Church.

In O'Malley, John Paul II has tapped a popular pastor, known familiarly as "Bishop Sean," and an experienced leader on the sexual abuse crisis.

O'Malley was appointed to lead the Fall River, Mass., diocese in 1992, amid the scandal surrounding Fr. James Porter. O'Malley won high marks for meeting with victims and establishing strict guidelines for screening priests, church employees and volunteers.

It was that reputation that led to O'Malley's appointment in Palm Beach one year ago, where two bishops had resigned in five years under the weight of allegations related to the sex abuse crisis. Local sources say O'Malley has been effective in restoring a measure of credibility and stability to the diocese.

O'Malley is also known as a conservative on doctrinal questions, and a champion of the church's social justice tradition. He is regarded as an affable, approachable pastor, generally popular with parishioners.

O'Malley is a member of the Capuchin branch of the Franciscan religious order, and often wears his brown Franciscan habit. He is also one of the few American bishops to sport a beard.

O'Malley was born in 1944 in Lakewood, Ohio. He holds a master's degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese Literature, both from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he taught from 1969 to 1973.

In 1973 he began serving as Executive Director of Centro Catolico Hispano in the Washington Archdiocese before being named Episcopal Vicar for the Hispanic, Portuguese and Haitian communities and Executive Director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry in 1978.

He was ordained Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1984 and the following year became ordinary of the Caribbean diocese upon the retirement of his predecessor.

In June 1992 Pope John Paul II announced the appointment of O'Malley to the Diocese of Fall River.

In 1998 O'Malley was appointed by the pope to the Synod of Bishops for Oceania, which was held at the Vatican from November 22 to December 12. He has also served as apostolic visitor for several seminaries in Central America and the Caribbean.

Vatican sources say O'Malley's appointment will most likely be announced on Tuesday, July 1, but it could come later in the week.

John L. Allen Jr. is NCR's Vatican correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org

National Catholic Reporter, June 30, 2003