Originally published at National Catholic Register
I keep in my desk drawer a cherished remembrance of my baptism. It is the thin gold necklace and medallion of the Blessed Mother that was given to me by a former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle. Years earlier, the same Cardinal O’Boyle who baptized me had married my parents, James and Amanda Norris, in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
My parents carefully preserved my precious baptismal gift from Cardinal O’Boyle in its original envelope, including the cardinal’s visiting card and his beautifully inscribed message to the new Norris baby.
My baptismal gift from Cardinal O’Boyle does far more than remind me of my baptism. It points to the work of the Holy Spirit, many years earlier, in connecting the life of the cardinal who baptized me with that of an American Catholic humanitarian who devoted his life, through the Church, to the poor of the world, particularly the world’s refugees.
Today that American Catholic man is also remembered as the only layman chosen to participate in the general debates of the Second Vatican Council and for his historic intervention at the Council on the subject of “World Poverty and the Christian Conscience.”
