WHERE IS "TONY?"

By Tim Rohr

A friend recently forwarded a link to a post on the blog of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Cardinal Archbishop of Boston. 

Before moving on to what I want to write about, I will say that the Cardinal gets good marks for his blog. It's not only an excellent medium for keeping in touch with his flock, but also a way to present himself as accountable to that flock as his posts generally highlight his day to day activities as Shepherd. 

I have a past connection with the Cardinal. He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands when I lived and worked there in the early 1980's. While named "Diocese of St. Thomas," the diocese encompasses the whole U.S. Territory of the Virgin Islands which consists of three main islands: St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. I lived on St. Croix.

Moreover, I had something to do with O'Malley's appointment. 

The short story is that I had inadvertently uncovered a drug ring that was operating in the Catholic high school I was teaching at, and it appeared that the ring was operating under the cover and protection of the then-principal, albeit via blackmail. The principal was a favorite of the then-bishop (O'Malley's predecessor), and the principal enjoyed pretty much complete immunity to any complaint brought against him to the bishop. 

I informed a local priest of what I hade learned and suspected, and short story even shorter, the priest immediately took action to remove the principal. In doing so, some things other than the drug ring were uncovered - some rather terrible things - and the bishop retired not long after the principal was removed. (I wrote more about this in 2013.)

O'Malley was then a young "up and comer" and he was sent in to fix the mess, sort of like what happened here in Guam a few years ago. Interestingly enough, O'Malley and Apuron are both Capuchins. There is only one other Capuchin bishop in the U.S., Archbishop Charles Chaput. 

More interestingly, all three are in tight with the Neocatechumenal Way, and especially O'Malley. 

In August, 2016, O'Malley was seen at a meeting seated behind NCW chief, Kiko Arguello, as Arguello characterized the then-new accusations against Apuron as "persecutions." Chuck White wrote about it here.

Here is a screenshot from a news clip showing O'Malley and Apuron sitting together at a meeting in the Vatican in September, 2015. At the time, Apuron had already been under fire for removing Fr. Paul and Msgr. James, John Toves had publicly accused him of molesting his cousin, and the whole Certificate of Title Fiasco regarding the RMS property had been exposed.

For some reason, this screenshot of the two sitting together at the Vatican in September 2015 is our post with the highest number of views, even though it's only a screenshot with no story. As you can see, the post with the next most views is very far behind.

In his blog post of June 14, 2024, O'Malley has two entries about the Neocatechumenal Way: 

1) He visits Boston's Redemptoris Mater Seminary for the institution of new acolytes and lectors (steps toward priesthood); 

and 2) he attends a groundbreaking ceremony for an "expansion project" for the same seminary.

At first I thought "nothing to see here." O'Malley has been pals with the NCW hierarchy for quite awhile. But then it occurred to me that if Apuron has found a hiding place anywhere, it may be with his fellow Capuchin and in a diocese where - with O'Malley's help - the NCW is very strong. 

Just a thought. Maybe more later.