Tag: Archdiocese of New York

Gerald Ryan, no ordinary parish priest in the Bronx

The NY Times published a story, “In Graying Priesthood, New York’s Grayest Keeps Faith in Bronx,” on Monsignor Gerald Ryan, 92, pastor of Saint Luke’s Church (in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, NYC). Monsignor’s the oldest serving Catholic priest serving the Church in New York. A terrific story on man who’s given his all for Christ and the Church.

Read the story and be sure to view the pictures.
Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

Felix Varela’s cause for canonization moves ahead

Felix Varela.jpegThe Congregation for Saints has told Bishop Octavio Cisneros, an auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn that the Servant of God Felix Varela’s cause has been accepted by the Pope as a man of heroic and cardinal virtue. He will be given the title “Venerable Servant of God.” Cisneros is the vice-postulator of Varela’s cause.

Father Varela (1788-1853) was ordained a priest in Havana and came to the USA to serve as a priest. In 1837 he was appointed the Vicar General of New York diocese, the number two in responsibility for a diocese. He founded the first Spanish language newspaper in the USA, the founder of the New York Churches of the Transfiguration and Saint James and was a delegate to Council of Balltimore with Bishop DuBois.
The Cuban American priest worked for the needs of the immigrants, especially the Irish immigrants at time when the Irish were maltreated. Father Varela was an ardent fighter for freedom here in the USA and abroad;  he spoke for the freedom for the Colonies, from slavery and for the religious freedom of the Church.
Let’s pray that God will soon glorify Father Felix to the Altars.

Cardinal Edward Egan preaches Palm Sunday Vespers at St Catherine of Siena Church, NYC


EM Egan et al 1 April 2012.jpgThis afternoon, Palm Sunday 2012, His Eminence, Edward
Cardinal Egan, JCD, preached Solemn Vespers and Benediction. He was the final preacher for our Sunday Vespers highlighting Great Preachers.


His Eminence’s presence among
us, along with his priest secretary Father Brendan Fitzgerald, was a very delightful
experience; it was a joy to hear about things historical and present. Time spent with the Cardinal and Father Brendan a perfect ending to the day and perfect beginning to Holy Week.


EM Egan and Paul Zalonski 1 April 2012.jpg

Cardinal Egan celebrates his 80th birthday. Canonically, he loses his right, responsibility and duty to enter a conclave to elect a pope. He will likely be attending to fewer things in Rome as travel is getting more and more difficult.


The Cardinal’s preaching was a fine opening to Holy Week. Domine, quo vadis? He focussed our
attention on 1 Peter 1:18-21:    

Realizing that you were ransomed from your futile
conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or
gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless
unblemished lamb. He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed
in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from
the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Cardinal Dolan’s church in Rome

OL Guadalupe Rome.jpgThe other day I mentioned that cardinals receive a church in Rome for them to have pastoral solicitude for and to be a parish priest in the Diocese of Rome. The latter is really a fiction because the cardinal rarely has much to do his parish but this a vestige of a time when all cardinals were resident priests of Rome. Cardinal Mahoney never paid too much attention to his Roman church but Cardinal O’Malley shows up to his when he’s in Rome. 

In time long ago the priests of Rome elected their bishop: this remains true, however, in the sense that a cardinal is inscribed as a priest of Rome and the cardinal enters a papal conclave to elect a bishop of Rome. Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan is the Cardinal-Archbishop of New York, a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and a priest of the Diocese of Rome.

Regarding the Roman church aspect of being a cardinal is written about by Sharon Otterman of the NY Times in an article published today, “Cardinal Dolan Is Assigned a Roman Parish Founded by Mexican Refugees” and photo’s by James Hill.
Cardinal Dolan will now, it is hoped, provide some financial assistance to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome as he’s able.

Nuncio takes up work in Ireland

Crd Brady & Abp Martin welcome Abp Brown in Dublin.jpg
The Pope’s man in Ireland, Archbishop Charles J. Brown, arrives to take up his duties. He’s greeted by Seán Cardinal  Brady (Archbishop of Armagh) and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (Archbishop of Dublin). The newly ordained archbishop is a New York native and until recently has been working in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Saint Patrick, pray for Ireland.

Archbishop Dolan on Obama’s healthcare reform law and protecting our religious freedom

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece of New York’s Archbishop, Timothy Michael Dolan, today. You can read the entire op-ed piece of Archbishop Dolan here:  WSJ-ObamaCare-and-Religious-Freedom.pdf


An excerpt follows:


Coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching is an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience. Organizations fear that this unjust rule will force them to take one horn or the other of an unacceptable dilemma: Stop serving people of all faiths in their ministries–so that they will fall under the narrow exemption–or stop providing health-care coverage to their own employees.

The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.

Timothy Michael Dolan, PhD

Archbishop of New York

Wall Street Journal

25 January 2012

Pope speaks to New York Bishops: we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,

As you know, the Pope is meeting for next several months with all the bishops of the United States. Two weeks ago I noted the Ad Limina Apostolorum of the New England bishops; this week the Pope meets with the New York bishops and next week he’ll be meeting with the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bishops. His reflections and leadership on key areas are crucial for all of us to pay attention to right now for the good of the Church. The text of his address to the bishops of these three regions is given below.


Pope with NY bishops.jpg

I greet you all with affection in the Lord and, through you, the Bishops from the United States who in the course of the coming year will make their visits ad limina Apostolorum.

Our meetings are the first since my 2008 Pastoral Visit to your country, which was intended to encourage the Catholics of America in the wake of the scandal and disorientation caused by the sexual abuse crisis of recent decades. I wished to acknowledge personally the suffering inflicted on the victims and the honest efforts made both to ensure the safety of our children and to deal appropriately and transparently with allegations as they arise. It is my hope that the Church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society. By the same token, just as the Church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards.

Continue reading Pope speaks to New York Bishops: we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,