Partisan labels do not apply to the former — or to the new — archbishop of New York.
Partisan labels do not apply to the former — or to the new — archbishop of New York.
D onald Trump and Hillary Clinton prayed together. It was a campaign-season miracle.
It was October 2016, at the famous Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a fundraiser for charities named after the first Catholic to run for president of the United States. But the event, honestly, was painful. The remarks of political candidates in presidential-election years are supposed to be light roasts. The idea is to be self-deprecating and have a little fun. You try to show that you appreciate that there is more to life than politics (something many of us have lost sight of in recent years). And that you also appreciate that you might not be God’s gift to the nation. Trump’s speech, unsurprisingly, was mean-spirited and made the whole event awkward.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who, as the Catholic archbishop of New York, hosted the dinner, revealed what happened behind the scenes. He asked Trump and Clinton if they would pray with him. Not only did they do so, but Trump also paid Clinton a compliment: “You know, you are one tough and talented woman.” Moreover, according to the cardinal, Trump told Clinton that the campaign “has been a good experience, this whole campaign, as tough as it’s been,” to which Clinton responded: “Donald, no matter what happens, we need to work together afterwards.”
Okay, so a lot has happened since. But the fact remains that a pastor guided these two bitter political enemies to humility and prayer — something that would seem impossible unless you know not only that there is more to life than politics but that the American experiment’s success relies on people who understand that. We can’t rely on our own talents alone, as great gifts as they might be, to save the world. A humble servant gets that. Cardinal Dolan gets that.
Dolan is retiring. The incoming archbishop, Ronald Hicks, seems to be a humble priest from Illinois — he grew up in a town near where Pope Leo was raised. Media, however, announced that the new bishop marks a “seismic shift” in the Catholic Church, that the “culture war” era in New York is over, and even that this new bishop appointed by the Vatican is a protégé of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich — who’s considered to be more left than right by those who engage in the malpractice of applying political categories to the church.
Please, for the sake of all that is good and holy: Stop referring to Cardinal Dolan as a “conservative,” because partisan labels don’t apply to the clergy. You will be reminded that most recently, Dolan compared Charlie Kirk to Saint Paul. He wasn’t canonizing Kirk — he doesn’t have that authority. But after Kirk’s murder, Cardinal Dolan familiarized himself with Kirk’s work on college campuses. He saw that Kirk gave people the gift of being present. He listened. He seemed to care. Kirk had an appreciation that life is short — it was maddeningly so in his case — and that we must see where God is at all times so we can be humbly and receptively open to His will.
A number of years ago, Cardinal Dolan and I were speaking at a fundraiser for the high school I attended, Dominican Academy. Amusingly, it was at the Republican Women’s Club, near St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Dolan made a joke about how his extended family would not approve — he came from a time when Catholics were Democrats. Many Catholics started identifying with the Republican Party only when the Supreme Court forced abortion politics on us with Roe v. Wade, and when the Catholics in the Democratic Party abandoned moral principle — and human rights. It was a reality check for many of us. Not everything is political. Eternity isn’t political. Have an appreciation for that, and we might have a shot at healing and restoration.
A pope who’s as comfortable on The Today Show as at a Lenten fish fry may not be what we need right now. Leo, unlike his predecessor, doesn’t seem to have a knack for making headlines. Maybe that’s the shift. Nothing tectonic. Nor political. Just more of the same Jesus — to whom both Dolan and Hicks have given their lives. It’s the only thing that endures.
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.