August 30: Building Boston

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is August 30th, and our story is Building Boston. Boston needed a cathedral. In 1866, that was priority number one for Bishop John Williams, the newly consecrated shepherd of Beantown. The original Holy Cross Cathedral, designed by famed Boston architect James Bullfinch, funded by both Catholic and Protestant Bostonians, including John Adams, and decorated with the help of Henry Sargent, had grown too small for Boston's exploding Catholic population.

In September 1860, Bishop John Fitzpatrick offered one final mass there and then had the building demolished. Unfortunately, before construction on a new cathedral could commence, the American Civil War began. For the next six years, with money, materials, and men in short supply, Fitzpatrick celebrated Mass in an abandoned theater and former Unitarian church. As soon as William succeeded Fitzpatrick, he set out to change that.

Boston born and bred, Williams knew his diocese well. The diocese's second bishop, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, taught him as a child, and later sent him to Montreal and Paris for seminary. Upon returning to Boston in 1845, Williams served for 12 years as curate and later rector of the cathedral, then as pastor of St. James Church, one of the city's largest parishes. While there, he also acted as vicar general for the diocese, administering Boston's financial affairs for the ailing Fitzpatrick.

With that much knowledge of his diocese, Williams hit the ground running, laying the new cathedral's cornerstone one month after his consecration. Nine years later, he dedicated the new Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Williams would dedicate many more buildings in his 41 years as bishop and, after 1875, Archbishop of Boston. During his tenure, he consecrated 8 to 10 new parishes almost every year. New hospitals and charitable institutions also opened. The diocese's parochial school system began, St. John's Seminary was founded, and more than a dozen religious orders, personally recruited by Williams, came to town.

When Archbishop Williams died on August 30, 1907, he left behind an archdiocese and a city transformed. Where just over a century earlier, priests were outlawed and the mass banned, Catholicism had become the dominant cultural force. Bishop Williams' story encourages us to think long-term, invest in community, and leave enduring legacies that benefit others beyond our lifetime.

Identify one long-term goal for your family, parish, or community. Take a concrete step today to move it forward. Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, August 31st, for another story of faith and courage in America.