By Patrick McGroarty
Reporter Staff

Boston's Archbishop Sean O'Malley was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome last weekend, and a couple of Dorchester clerics made the trek to watch their boss trade his friar's frocks for the red hat of a cardinal.

"I had never seen anything like this, and I did feel prompted to show support," said Foley. "O'Malley didn't want anything organized from Boston; this is also not the right time to be having a massive pilgrimage or go to any great expense."

Foley spoke with the Reporter just hours after returning from the Eternal City, and within minutes of the conversation was on the road again, bound for Philadelphia on a trip with the St. Ann's youth group. But despite the grueling week of traveling, he says the journey was well worth it.

"It was such a unique event. I think Cardinal O'Malley was very touched by the people who were there from all the different diocese he had been in."

Foley said that in addition to a respectable number of priests and parishioners from the Boston area, O'Malley also drew supporters from Fall River and New Bedford, places he had previously been assigned.

Bishop Bowles, who resides at the St. Gregory's rectory in Lower Mills, also made the trip to Rome, but did not return in time to comment for this article.

Fr. Foley arrived on Thursday and settled in to his lodgings at the North American College before the official ceremonies commenced the following day. On Friday, he watched as O'Malley and the 14 other new cardinals received their red scull caps from Pope Benedict XVI during a two-hour mass on St. Peter's Plaza.

The following day during a second mass the pope presented each new cardinal with a ring, a symbol of fidelity to the church and of the special bond between the pope, the Holy See, and the cardinals.

On Sunday Sean Cardinal O'Malley said mass at the North American College to a crowd filled with priests and parishioners he's met in the course of 36 years as a priest.

"Lots of Capuchin fathers were there," said Foley, referring to O'Malley's order of the Capuchin Franciscan. "He gave a beautiful homily on God as love."

Foley said that O'Malley's modesty and humility made him a gracious recipient of the new red robes, and that the promotion will have a minimal impact on his focus in Boston.

"Of course he'll have an added prominence among the bishops and by virtue of being a member of the College of Cardinals," said Foley. "But I think in many ways he'll be exactly the same. After all the ceremonies, he was right back in his brown robes the next day, with his red skullcap on."

In between masses and receptions for the cardinal, Foley found time to visit Our Lady of Victory, the "Titular" church for which O'Malley will be officially responsible when in Rome. Each cardinal is ceremonially assigned to one of Rome's more than 900 Catholic churches. Our Lady of Victory is home to a famous Bernini sculpture of St. Theresa in Ecstasy."

The weekend was so hectic that only on his last evening in the city of seven hills did Foley have a chance to sneak away and grab some of Italy's famous ice cream.

"Sunday night, I had to go out and get a lemon gelato before I came home," said Foley. "I took a walk out to Piazza Navona; there was a band playing music, the fountains were going, the whole nine yards. It was quite an experience."