When Bryan hehir was bought in to run Catholic Charities of Boston, the dissidents from Voice of the Faithful said his coming back to Boston was an “extraordinary coup for the archdiocese.” They were basically right–but its actually a coup OF the archdiocese by Hehir and his chronies that has been and still is underway. That is still accurate.
It appears that a group of people in the Chancery, including James McDonough (Chancellor), and outside the Chancery, including Jack Connors, has put the squeeze on Mr. Landry’s position as Secretary of Development. Why would they do that? Well, since the Sec. of development has been sucessful hitting their fundraising goals year after year in the worst economic climate in a whole generation and those funds pay all of the salaries of people in the chancery among other important programs, it actually makes no sense. Mr. Landry is so good at what hes been doing and has such high integrity and strong orthodoxy that he has been able to attract good people to his office, build solid relationships with donors, and hit the fundraising goals, while hes also running programs that evangelise the faith in his spare time. Why not just let the guy keep doing great work? Is it about power? I dunno. But we have been told by multiple sources over the past month that Scot is being squeezed out of the develpment role while at the same time their is not necessarily another position available to use his capabilities and skills. This situation appears to be comiing to a head. So if he does not have the development role any more and their is not another good job for him soon with resources available to succeed he could be squeezed entirely out. So we were wrong previously, the final squeeze has not happened yet and there is some chance he may still be saved. We hope he stays, and apologize for that incorrect information. As readers hopefully see we document everything and try to maintain the highest journlistic standards.
Here at BryanhehirExposed, we don’t know Mr. McDonough. But we do know that the search team that hired him was led by Neal Finnegan, who is an old chrony of Fr. Hehir from Catholic Charities. And we know that the people who are, lets say, pulling the strings in the archdiocese with the most influence these days are McDonnough, Fr. Hehir, and the likes of Fr. Hehir’s buddy Jack Connors from Catholic Charities. (See Cardinal Sean’s blog for just one example of the Hehir/Connors association). Connors is now remaking parochial schools and involved in all of the education stuff, and the new Pope John Paul II academy is sending their fund-raisers who seems to have missed a bunch of their goals to now take over fundraising for the archdiocese and replace the guy who was actually hitting his goals.
Lest readers think Jack Connors is merely a humble philanthropist with strong Catholic values, quietly giving away his fortune to the poor and needy, look again. In the Boston Globe’s 2007 article The Invisible Hand of Jack he is described as a “Boston power broker” who sits on a $500 million fortune.”
I am not selfless. I have fancy houses. I am not giving it all away.
The article says “Connors remains a man with his hand still firmly on the levers of power” and he is “digging in again at the Catholic Church…Connors was chosen by Cardinal Sean O’Malley to restructure the archdiocese’s school system and turn around its finances. The plan is to reverse years of declining enrollment by building new schools, refurbishing others, and putting the schools in the right places.” When the Globe article was written Connors was planning to raise millions for rebuilding two Brockton schools. It’s not clear though if Connors is actually giving any of his own money to the Church. The article says the biggests gifts of the $7 million in annual Connors Family Foundation donations go “to places closest to the family’s heart: Boston College, Mass. General, Brigham and Women’s, Harvard Medical School, and the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s.” How many of these institutions really need millions more in $$? Hey Jack, how about giving some to Archdiocesan Campus Ministry, or the Little Sisters of the Poor, or the Poor Clares, the Sisters of Life, Daughters of St. Paul, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s order), Brotherhood of Hope, Cor Unum or Sancta Maria House in Boston?
Bottom line is the Chancellor, Secretary of Social Services, and Jack Connors weild most of the power in this palace coup. If Mr. McDnnough, Fr. Hehir, or Mr. Connors or someone else with a logical explanation are reading this and can explain why they are pushing out a solid Catholic with a record of success from his role as Sec. of Development, please feel free to share it and we will be more than delighted to publish it.
If Cardinal O’Malley is permitting or cooperating in this squeezola and it continues as it has been, that has a very good chance of leaving Fr. Bryan Hehir, chancellor McDonough, Jack Connors, and the gang of Fr. Hehir’s chronies running everything. (Hehir is definitely one of, if not the most influential advisor to Cardinal O’Malley, who advises the Cardinal on public policy, the Catholic schools system, hospitals, has pro-life education under him for some reason, and he is also primary troubleshooter for O’Malley. Hehir has been quoted as saying of his role, “the amount of things that I’ve been doing had been growing on an ad hoc basis.“). There is little doubt who is behind the curtain pulling the strings of the puppet so to speak.
We think that is an accurate picture of the current situation. If anyone disagrees or thinks we have something inaccurate please let us know and we will correct. Still most importantly, if you have issues with this situation or with any of the activities of Fr. Bryan hehir we have documented, drop a couple of dimes and faxes to object to this situation and ask that Fr. Bryan Hehir be removed immediately:
3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Begin letters or faxes with “Dear Archbishop Sambi”
Telephone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax from U.S: 011.39.06.69.88.53.03
(note, 011 gets out of the U.S. , 39 is Italy’s country code, 06 is Rome)
Write your own letter and please be respectful but direct, and if its helpful consider attaching the Bryan Hehir chronology page or other posts from this site. Though you will not get a response from writing or calling the Papal Nuncio and Congregation of Bishops, it is the best way to get attention to matters where the bishop is failing to exercise his responsibility to teach, sanctify, and govern. (Decree concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops, Christus Dominus, section 11)
Bryan Hehir Exposed 