Long Island native Bishop Richard Henning to lead Archdiocese of Boston

Bishop Richard Henning, a Long Island priest and a graduate of Chaminade High School, was named Monday by Pope Francis to head the Archdiocese of Boston, one of the most important seats in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Henning will succeed Archbishop Sean O’Malley, a Franciscan priest who took over Boston in the aftermath of the clergy sex abuse scandal that upended the Catholic Church across the country, including on Long Island.

Henning, 59, is slated to be ordained as archbishop of Boston on Oct. 31.

A native of Valley Stream, Henning was appointed by Pope Francis as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 2018. In November 2022, Francis named him coadjutor bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, which he fully took over on May 1, 2023, after Bishop Thomas Tobin retired.

“I am grateful to His Holiness Pope Francis for his confidence in me and for his conferral of this new mission as Archbishop of Boston,” Henning said in a statement. “I receive this appointment relying upon divine Providence, aware that this is the Lord’s Church and that I am no more than an unworthy servant.”

The Archdiocese of Boston is the fourth-largest archdiocese in the United States, serving more than 1.8 million Roman Catholics. It had operating expenses of more than $350 million in fiscal 2023, and its schools serve more than 46,000 students.

The archdiocese was rocked in 2002 when The Boston Globe broke the story of widespread, decadeslong clergy sexual abuse of minors. The scandal soon spread around the country — and the world — as more exposés emerged, including on Long Island.

Henning said Monday he was "deeply shocked and surprised" by being chosen for his new role. Noting that he was a child at the same time many other children were being abused, he said the clergy abuse scandal has been painful for him but has not made him lose faith in God.

"Those survivors, they deserve a listening heart," he said.

"I am very well aware that I have a lot to learn," Henning also said. "My first job, really, is just to be listener."

The Diocese of Rockville Centre declared bankruptcy in October 2020 due to civil lawsuits filed by hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors under New York State’s Child Victims Act. The law allowed survivors to file lawsuits regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred. Negotiations for a settlement are continuing.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing clergy sex abuse victims on Long Island, said Henning’s elevation “is a concerning and foreboding move. It foreshadows continued legal hardball against scores of brave, wounded abuse victims by callous church officials in that diocese.”

Cardinal O’Malley is a close adviser to Pope Francis and was brought into Boston in 2003 to address the sex abuse scandal, which had prompted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law. O’Malley, now 80, is five years beyond the traditional retirement age for bishops.

Brother Thomas Cleary, president of Chaminade, said many Chaminade alumni “are thrilled” for Henning and his new assignment. “He’s a brilliant guy — just a down to earth, humble shepherd,” he said.

Henning often visits Chaminade and usually celebrates Mass there once a year for the students, Cleary said.

Bishop John Barres, spiritual head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, in a statement called Henning “a creative and pastoral evangelizer, a biblical theologian and teacher, and a seminary formator with great pastoral experience and a deep love for the Hispanic community in the United States.”

Henning has said he first decided he wanted to become a priest in the fifth grade while attending Holy Name of Mary grammar school in Valley Stream. Later, the Marianist Brothers, who run Chaminade, were "a major influence in his faith life and commitment to learning," the Diocese of Rockville Centre said in a statement.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history from St. John's University and then attended the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington.

After his ordination in 1992, he served for five years as an associate pastor at the Church of St. Peter of Alcantara in Port Washington, where he did pastoral work in the parish school and ministered to Hispanics. Besides Spanish, he also speaks Italian and can read French, Greek and Hebrew.

Henning eventually taught scripture at the seminary, which he later headed as it shut down and became the largest retreat house in the Northeast.

As a child, Henning spent summers on the Great South Bay, and developed a lifelong passion for the water, sailing, and kayaking on the bay, he has said.

With AP