“all of us are sinners. We need mercy and healing that only Jesus can give,” Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan told prisoners today at the Arthur Kill correctional facility on Staten Island, NY. The Archbishop offered the Sacrifice of the Mass for about 75 prisoners and others. The story is here.
Category: Archdiocese of New York
Archbishop Dolan on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes aired Morely Safer’s interview with Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan tonight. Watch Safer on Dolan.
This is a profile of a man who is interesting and does interesting things. He’s affable, joyable, personable, cigar smoking with an eloquent defense of Catholic dogma and belief.
If you want to know more about what the “American Pope” thinks gay marriage, politics, etc, watch 60 Minutes Overtime.
Morely Safer comes at the interview with what I and others will call a secular, modernist viewpoint and is dismissive of the Archbishop without objectivity nor does he evoke from the Archbishop a clarity of thought. Safer, 79, freely admits that as a man and as a Jewish he wants to know more because “these type of men” are good company. Good. I agree. But I had hoped that Safer would have done a better job getting at substantive theological and philosophical foundations of the Catholic Church.
60 Minutes opened a few interesting doors into the person and ministry of the Archbishop of NY. But the report also veered into sentimentality that is thin as gruel. One does not have to sell church! Clear Catholic teaching is not based on polls and trends. Truth stands on its own two feet.
Calling to Continuing Conversion
Earlier this afternoon at St Patrick’s Cathedral, hundreds of people gathered to formally state their intention to receive their sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil. The Church of Saint Catherine of Siena has three men intending to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We joined 67 other parishes in the Archdiocese of New York for the “Rite of Calling the Candidates to Continuing Conversion.”
The Most Reverend Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan, archbishop of New York, presided at an hour long ceremony in which sacred Scripture was proclaimed and preached, prayers of supplication prayed and the candidates prayed over by His Excellency. Calling down the Holy Spirit asking for the grace of conversion was the goal.
Patrick Vincent Ahern, bishop, dead at 92
Today, the Most Reverend Patrick Vincent Ahern, 92, died after a prolonged period of ill health due to age. Bishop Ahern is most known for his love the Little Flower, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
More Bishop Ahern here.
May the Bishop rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd.
Fulton Sheen’s cause on the way–again!
The Bishop of Peoria, Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, has jump-started the canonization process for Fulton J. Sheen. Jenky took a pause in the case when Archbishop Timothy Dolan indicated that he wanted to keep Sheen’s body in the crypt at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and to see the process to completion. Not a good thing, for sure. The halting of the case happened in November, as you recall.
CNA reports the story…
A Fulton J. Sheen website is found here and the canonization cause website is here.
Pro-Life Commission established in the Archdiocese of New York
In his letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of New York on the founding of the new Pro-Life Commission, Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan said,
“These professional men and women, from a variety of backgrounds, fields, and
areas of expertise have generously offered their time and talent to engage in
research, writing, coordination of events, and so much more on behalf of
life. For this I am most grateful, and look forward to working with
them over the years that lie ahead.”
I know several of the members and I am confident that the Commission will do good work for Archdiocese of New York and the greater Church.
Archbishop Dolan’s Letter: Pro-Life Commission Letter Archdiocese of New York.pdf
The Members of the Pro-Life Commission: Pro Life Commission Members, Archdiocese of New York.pdf
Dolan writes to Members of the 112th Congress
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan’s letter to Members of the 112th Congress speaks for itself. As he notes, US Catholics are the largest religious body in the USA. 68 million, 22% of the US population. There are 195 archdioceses and dioceses with one apostolic exarchate. Other interesting statistics can be found here.
Dear Member of
Congress,
As a new Congress begins, I write to congratulate you and to outline
principles and priorities that guide the public policy efforts of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). As President of the Bishops’
Conference, I assure you of our prayers and hopes that this newly elected
Congress will advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all,
especially vulnerable and poor persons whose needs are critical in this time of
difficult economic and policy choices. We continue to seek ways to work
constructively with the Administration and the new Congress and others of good
will to pursue policies which respect the dignity of all human life and bring
greater justice to our nation and peace to our world.
As bishops, of course we
approach public policy not as politicians but as pastors and teachers. Our
moral principles have always guided our everyday experience in caring for the
hungry and homeless, offering health care and housing, educating children and
reaching out to those in need. We lead the largest community of faith in the
United States, one that serves every part of our nation and is present in
almost every place on earth. From our experience and our tradition, we offer a
distinctive, constructive and principled contribution to the national dialogue
on how to defend human life and dignity, promote and protect marriage and
family life, lift up those who experience economic turmoil and suffering, and
promote peace in a world troubled by war and violence.
Continue reading Dolan writes to Members of the 112th Congress
New York College Seminaries to merge in 2011
The Catholic New York announced in today’s edition that the Archdiocese of New York with the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, will merge their college seminary formation programs. A statement was released on January 11, read here.
Pope distinguishes St Patrick’s Old Cathedral as “Basilica”
In solemn rites during second Vespers for the Second Sunday of Advent, Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan formally inaugurated the Archdiocese of New York’s first minor basilica, Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, a community of Catholic faith since 1809. A prior blog post notes the announcement.
Other area churches distinguished with the title of “basilica” are: Saint James Cathedral and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Brooklyn Diocese, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in the Newark Archdiocese, the Church of the Immaculate Conception (Waterbury, CT) in the Hartford Archdiocese and Saint John the Evangelist (Stamford, CT) in the Bridgeport Diocese.
Congrats to Archbishop Dolan and to Monsignor Donald Sakano, rector of the new basilica.
Here’s the NY Times’ article on the event.
CBS News did a spot…
Archbishop Timothy Dolan is new USCCB President; other new officers elected
The new president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.
The office of president of the USCCB is a three year term of service.
The new vice president of the USCCB is Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville.
The new treasurer of the USCCB is Bishop Michael J. Bransfield.
The new chairman of the Office of Canonical Affairs and Church Governance is Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services.
The new chairman of Catholic Education is Bishop Joseph P. McFadden of Harrisburg.
The new chairman of the Committee on Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs is Bishop Denis J. Madden auxiliary bishop of Baltimore.
The new chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis is Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay.
The new chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace is Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of Baltimore.
The new chairman of the Committee on Child and Youth Protection is Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Steubenville.
The important point about the place of a conference of bishops in life of the Church is that they serve rather than replace the authority given to an individual bishop in exercising his office by teaching, serving (governing) and sanctifying the faithful of his diocese. But as Pope Benedict has said on any number of occasions, and which was also reiterated by Francis Cardinal George on Monday in his final presidential address, local churches are not national churches. Hence, priests are ordained bishops for the entire Church and not merely for thus-and-such diocese. Speaking to the Brazilian bishops on their recent ad limina visit (a visit to the Pope, various offices at the Holy See and for prayer at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul) Benedict said: “… the counselors and structures of the episcopal conference exist to serve the bishops, not to replace them.”
For a full theological treatment on bishops’ conferences you ought to read Pope John Paul II’s 1998 Apostolic Letter, Apostolos Suos: On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences.