“And since word is he’s planning to close about 40 more parishes, it seems unlikely any pastor is going to want to cross him here.”
Personally, I like the Cardinal and I know he’s a friend of our +Methodios, That said, it would appear there is a declining demand for Vatican II style Roman Catholicism in his Archdiocese too.
Suppressed is more like it -- he fought the indult as much as he could: one church in a run-down neighborhood (actually where Law had allowed it) and no parking, then moved it to a western suburb, not really convenient for Boston. And only
one in an archdiocese the size of Boston. Held a compulsory priests' meeting on September 14, the day the MP went into effect and just blithely ignores demands, requests, tears and imprecations for a TLM. He was the same way when he was bishop of Fall River, I hear.
Your +Methodios is probably friends with him because he hasn't requested a TLM!