His Excellency, the Most Rev. Sean Patrick O'Malley, O.F.M., Cap., the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, Mass., will present the keynote address at Providence College's Eighty-Sixth Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 16, 2004  at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in downtown Providence. Bishop O'Malley was installed last July 30 as Boston's sixth archbishop. In his short period as archbishop, he has won praise for his warmth, compassion, and strength, particularly in reaching out to victims of clergy sexual abuse.   

At the time of his appointment in Boston, Bishop O'Malley was less than a year into his appointment as bishop of Palm Beach, Fla. Known as "Bishop Sean," he served as bishop of Fall River, Mass., for a decade beginning in the summer of 1992. From 1985-92, he was the bishop of St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands. 

Bishop O'Malley was born in Lakewood, Ohio, in 1944. He prepared for the priesthood at St. Fidelis Seminary, in Butler, PA, and at the Capuchin College in Washington, D.C.

Ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1970, Bishop O'Malley went on to earn a master's degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature, both at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

In 1973, he began serving as executive director of Centro Catolico Hispano in the Washington archdiocese before being named episcopal vicar for the Hispanic, Portuguese, and Haitian communities and executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry in 1978.

In 1998, Bishop O'Malley was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Synod of Bishops for Oceania, which was held at the Vatican from for three weeks in the late fall. He has also served as apostolic visitor for several seminaries in Central America and the Caribbean.

Bishop O'Malley is a member of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference. In November 2000, he was elected by his fellow bishops to serve as chairman of their Committee on Consecrated Life. Currently, he is also a member of two other committees that oversee aspects of the bishops' work: the Committee on Shrines and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Throughout his years as bishop, he has served on numerous other committees, including on the board of directors for Catholic Relief Services and the Association for the Development of the Catholic University of Portugal.

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