The Catholic University of America (CUA), in Washington DC, has announced the creation of a new endowed chair that will honor the contributions of Cardinal Seán O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston. Titled the Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley Endowed Chair for Hispanic Ministry and Evangelization, the position will be a part of the university’s School of Theology and Religious Studies.
The announcement was made in an open letter penned by university president Peter Kilpatrick, who highlighted the cardinal’s long history with CUA.
Cardinal O’Malley actually attended the school in the 1960s, when he was still a Capuchin seminarian, earning a master’s degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese Literature. He would return to CUA in 1969 as a university professor, and in 2016 he served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
“This endowed position is an expression of gratitude for the Cardinal’s robust contributions to the University and reflects his decades of leadership in Hispanic and Latino ministry,” Kilpatrick wrote. “After his appointment here, he served as Executive Director of the Centro Católico Hispano in the Archdiocese of Washington. He was then named Episcopal Vicar for the Hispanic, Portuguese, and Haitian communities.”
Kilpatrick went on to express his belief that Cardinal O’Malley’s “extraordinary example for the Church in America” will have a “lasting impact on the scholastic excellence of our School of Theology and Religious Studies.”
He also noted his hope that the chair will “generate greater evangelical fervor and pastoral expertise in the care of the Hispanic and Latino Catholic communities in the United States for generations to come.”
Cardinal O’Malley, who recently turned 80, has served as the Archbishop of Boston since 2003. Having reached the age limit, he is no longer eligible to vote in the papal conclave, which selects a new pope at the death of the previous pope. But the CUA chair bearing his name will be a lasting testament to the impact of his influence over the last 60 years.
Read more about the Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley Endowed Chair for Hispanic Ministry and Evangelization at CUA.
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