By Thaddeus M. Baklinski and John Jalsevac
NEW YORK, February 23, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) – The Vatican announced this morning the appointment of Archbishop Timothy Dolan, currently Archbishop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the new Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York. The announcement puts an end to months of intense speculation about who will succeed Cardinal Egan, who has passed the mandatory age for retirement, in the influential diocese.
The installation mass is scheduled to take place on Easter Wednesday, 15 April, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“I pledge to you my love, my life, my heart, and I can tell you already that I love you, I need so much your prayers and support, I am so honored, humbled, and happy to serve as your pastor,” Dolan, 59, said in a statement addressed to Catholic New Yorkers this morning.
Archbishop Dolan is well known to orthodox Catholics and those active in the pro-life movement for his adherence to and defense of Church teaching on life and the family, and for his dynamism, love and sense of humor.
The bishop has from time to time waded into the fracas, whether in correcting Catholic politicians who support abortion or denouncing in the strongest terms sexual scandal within the Church. However, despite his reputation for solid Catholic orthodoxy, his affable personality has made him well-respected and well-liked by a broad swathe of Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Last year Dolan was one of the U.S. bishops who took to task House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and now VP Joseph Biden, after they both, in separate appearances on NBC’s Meet the Press, claimed that support for abortion is in keeping with Catholic teaching. In an op-ed Archbishop Dolan clarified Church teaching on abortion, and defended the right of bishops to correct Catholics, including politicians, when they misrepresent Catholic teaching.
“When prominent Catholics publicly misrepresent timeless Church doctrine – as Biden and Pelosi regrettably did (to say nothing of erring in biology!) – a bishop has the duty to clarify,” he said. “We cannot be mute on this premier civil rights issue of our day.”
Dolan’s reputation as an effective pastor was cemented by his frank and open treatment of the clergy sex abuse crisis. In an interview with the National Catholic Register in 2002, Bishop Dolan, then Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis, observed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal serves as a warning about the abandoning of the Church’s teachings on chastity. “In a way, thanks be to God that people are horrified by this terrible scandal,” he said. “It is at odds with human decency, it is at odds with the Gospel, it is particularly at odds with everything the priestly vocation stands for.
“It also shows again how far off the mark we’ve gotten when it comes to the Church’s whole teaching on chastity, how far we have strayed from the Church’s beautiful teaching on sexual love. What’s a painful paradox is that many of the people who find this [scandal] most horrible don’t make the connection that so are other sexual aberrations.”
Michael Sean Winters, writing in “America,” a national Catholic weekly magazine, expressed the sentiment of many when he wrote earlier today: “The Church in New York, and indeed all of America, rejoices this morning at the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan to be the next Archbishop of New York.
“It has been easy to applaud most of Pope Benedict’s appointments. But, in choosing Dolan to assume the cathedra at St. Patrick’s, Benedict has made a truly great choice. Dolan will be great with the necessary, if unseemly, task of fundraising. He will be great with the media. He will help build up the morale of his clergy. Ellis once said that Cardinal O’Connor was ‘a lion’ in the mold of the greatest of American bishops such as Gibbons, John Ireland, and John Hughes. Dolan could be another in that tradition, a bishop who is unafraid to love his flock, to defend his Church, and to preach to a culture that is desperately hungry for the Gospel.”
Praise for the announcement also came from Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who said that the choice of Archbishop Dolan was perfect for New York, which is considered to be the most influential diocese in the country.
“What a perfect fit: Archbishop Dolan has the erudition, tenacity, affability and orthodoxy necessary for a leadership role in New York. My dealings with him have been extraordinarily positive.
“In other words, Archbishop Dolan did not hesitate to step up to the plate. He showed leadership from top to bottom. Which is why a man of his character is a perfect fit for New York’s rough and tumble milieu. We look forward to working with him.”
Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Interview with Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jan/04012702.html
US Bishops Denounce False Abortion, Marriage Teaching by “Catholic” Theologian Maguire
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07032301.html