Well, it’s official. The Vatican has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan. I’ll confess: Over the last few years, I’ve gotten into the habit of laughing when someone tells me they have the inside scoop on Vatican plans for New York’s Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Last February, he submitted his letter of resignation, as the ordinary of a diocese does when he turns 75. The pope can choose to ignore the letter for a time, or accept it and appoint someone new. No one really expected Pope Francis to accept Dolan’s immediately. And then there were some things to take care of in Rome after Pope Francis died Easter Monday.
I had the feeling last week something was coming, as abuse insurance money and related real-estate sales were in the news.
I did think the Vatican would wait for the new year.
(And this is why I got out of the news prediction business a long time ago.)
There’s much to say about Cardinal Dolan’s tenure and to learn about Bishop Ronald Hicks, who has been the bishop of Joliet, Ill. Aside from the apparent Chicago takeover of the Church, I’m delighted by much I hear about Hicks. Including this, which makes my heart sing — after college, before seminary, he was a missionary, at an orphanage in Mexico:
“I knew that I felt called to the priesthood,” he said. “And I knew that if I was going to be a priest here, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, I needed to learn Spanish. So I said, before I enter the major seminary, I want to learn Spanish.”
Father Robert McLaughlin, then the rector of Niles College, connected Hicks to Father Philip Cleary, a priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago who was leading an orphanage for Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in Mexico. “He not only encouraged me, he really pushed me,” Hicks said.
Hicks spent a year there, living with and caring for the children. It turned out to be a year that changed his life.
“Working with and being in solidarity with the poor — and also seeing people dedicated to this mission from the church — shows how we are all part of God’s family, and we all walk together,” Hicks said.
Cleary and Father William Wasson, the priest who founded Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, “were examples of priests who were spiritual fathers,” Hicks said. “They loved the children, and they loved the people they served. They inspired me, and it showed me that this was a life worth living.”
I sent this to a reporter this morning who asked me about my thoughts as an observer, lifetime New Yorker, sinful daughter of the church, and chair of the cardinal’s Pro-Life Commission:
It will be interesting to see the analysis in coming hours and weeks. I keep reading that Cardinal Dolan was a conservative and his successor may be something else. If you think Dolan, Conservative, you miss the point of his time in New York and of his vocation to the priesthood and the episcopacy of the Catholic Church. The man is Catholic. The man said “yes” to a call from God to serve Him and His people — His creations. That’s not political. That’s Christian. That’s human. And Timothy Michael Dolan has beautiful gifts of presence. I’ve seen the man throughout the world — Rome, Krakow, Washington, D.C., his beloved St. Louis, a political convention after midnight (the year he prayed the closing prayer at both), the Al Smith dinner, and the next-door New York parish. The consistency of the man is clear: Be present to the person in front of you. Know that God created him and help him see that. We need more of that. People, especially in the parishes, react to him as if he is the pope. That’s because he’s the most famous Catholic they are probably ever going to meet. And why would they ever want to meet the pope? Because they believe that’s the closest to Christ they can get in this world. The truth is, the closest you can get to Christ is the Eucharist, and I’ve seen Cardinal Dolan’s conviction about that too. His presence to people is radiating Christ’s presence. All that you are seeing in the media right now about Catholicism being cool? It’s about Christ. Not politics. Not personalities. I read that Cardinal Dolan has a “larger-than-life personality.” I get it. But it misses the point. He points to Christ. His encounters to people open doors to Him. That’s what he’s about. That’s what his time has been about. And that’s what I expect we will see more of from his successor.
In sum: Catholic bishop succeeds Catholic bishop. The transfer happens in early February. See you at Midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which we call America’s parish church. Timothy Michael Dolan has been America’s pastor, in many ways, for the last 15 years.