This Village of Valley Stream resident is Boston’s new archbishop

Pope Francis has appointed Richard G. Henning, who grew up in Valley Stream, and is a former auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre and the current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, as the next Archbishop of Boston.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the an-nouncement on Aug. 5, following the resignation of Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who has led the Archdiocese of Boston for more than 20 years.

“I’m very grateful to almighty God for the abundance of life made possible by his love and his grace and I invoke the Lord’s help as I look forward to beginning this new ministry,” Henning said during a news conference about the announcement. “I am also grateful to our Holy Father (Pope Francis) for his confidence and the gift of this call to shepherd the extraordinary Church of Boston.”

Henning, 59, was born in Rockville Centre, and attended the Holy Name of Mary parish in Valley Stream. He graduated from Chaminade High School in Mineola in 1982, and went on to attend St. John’s University, before studying for the priesthood at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington.

He was ordained in 1992 at St. Agnes Cathedral by former Bishop John McGann of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Henning spent the next five years as an associate pastor at the Church of St. Peter of Alcantara in Port Washington, where he ministered to Spanish-speaking Catholics in the area. In addition to speaking English, he is fluent in Spanish and Italian and can read French, Greek and Hebrew.

In 1997, Henning was assigned to attend post-graduate studies in sacred scripture and went on to earn a licentiate in biblical theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. and a doctorate from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.

He would later teach scripture at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception for more than 10 years, while assisting on the weekends at St. Patrick’s parish in Bay Shore. He later provided pastoral work at the Catholic Mission at Our Lady of the Magnificat on Fire Island.

In 2012, when the Diocese of Rockville Centre merged its seminary program with the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York, then-Monsignor Henning was tasked to lead the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception through its transition into the largest retreat house in the Northeast. The ordinaries of all three dioceses also charged him to establish and lead the Sacred Heart Institute for the ongoing formation of Catholic priests and deacons.

Henning was appointed the fourth auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in June 2018, nearly a year after former auxiliary bishop Nelson Perez moved to the Diocese of Cleveland. He would later relocate to Providence, Rhode Island in 2022, after being appointed coadjutor bishop by the Pope, and in May 2023, following the resignation of the Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, he became the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Providence.

“I also want to express my gratitude to the bishops, priests and people of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and Providence, who really have formed me and taught me and uplifted me in the faith,” Henning said. “But I hope you’d understand, those of you in Boston, that I do feel a special tug in my heart today for my beloved Rhode Islanders. This has been an extraordinary year with them. I have only been with them for a brief time, but it’s been a very intense and joyful time, so I will miss the state of hope and its really good people.”

Henning will continue to serve as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Providence for the time being, until his installation in Boston on Oct. 31.

Through the years, Henning has been noted for his work with the Parresia Project, a grant-funded initiative working to improve processes for international priests serving in the United States. He is an active participant in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he serves on the doctrine committee, subcommittee for the church in Latin America and chair of the subcommittee for the translation of the sacred scriptures.

“Rich is our brother and our friend,” the Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said in a letter to the priesthood following the Pope’s announcement. “He has modeled so many beautiful things about the priesthood for us over the years. His passion for the Sacred Scriptures as a seminary professor and formator, his pastoral dedication to our Hispanic community, his evangelizing pastoral charity and creativity were and are great inspirations to us.”

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