Cardinal Cushing

Fr. Peter-Michael Preble offers more thoughts on the recent OCL conference. Fr. Peter writes:

Fr. Peter-Michael Preble

The first point, and I said this in my sermon yesterday, is that I believe the American Orthodox Church is on the cusp of greatness. I think we are standing in the door way of a new something (I can’t seem to find the right word) — generation maybe, era perhaps, explosion…not really sure. I say this because we have some great young leaders emerging in the church. People like Metropolitan Jonah, Fr. Justin Matthews of FOCUS North America and others are injecting new excitement and energy into the American Church.

We are at the threshold of becoming a truly American Church and not just a small immigrant community. I am reminded of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston. The signs used to read “Irish Need Not Apply” Then the church came into her own. The Roman Church under the leadership of visionaries like Richard Cushing of Boston. Cardinal Cushing had a vision for the American Church and built many of the School and Hospitals that the Church in Boston still uses to this day. Cushing was 44 years old when created bishop and was 49 when he became the 3rd Archbishop of Boston. He served the church in that roll for 26 years until his death in 1970. He had a vision to move the church for it’s immigrant roots to a major religious force in America.

Read the entire post on Fr. Peter’s blog.