A Combative Leader

THEY WERE the hottest tickets in New York City and the surrounding counties. An invitation only event, with thousands of VIPs seeking to be on the guest list, April 15 was the event for a Catholic to be at. The installation of Timothy Michael Dolan as the new Archbishop of New York at the fabled St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart of Manhattan was marked by all the pomp and circumstance that one might expect for the arrival of the man picked to lead over 2.5 million Catholics in one of the most important dioceses in the world.





Benedict’s choice





Created 159 years ago, the Archdiocese has 395 parishes served by 922 diocesan priests, 913 priests from different religious orders, 3,153 nuns, 1,493 religious brothers and 359 permanent deacons. The Catholic Encyclopaedia describes the see as “the most important in influence and material prosperity of all the ecclesiastical divisions of the Church in Continental United States.” As such when Cardinal Edward M. Egan passed the mandatory retirement age in 2007, speculation about his replacement became the stuff of gossip columns, Catholic blogs and Catholic media throughout the world.



According to all, Pope Benedict’s choice would speak volumes about his papacy, the direction of the Catholic Church in America, and the priorities of a Church confronting a host of perplexing issues around the globe. On February 4, a story in the New York Times about the soon to be announced choice captured the feverish rumour mongering in this way: “The talk has reached a boiling point”. And long before the announcement was made by the Vatican on February 23, the word everywhere was that Timothy Michael Dolan, then Archbishop of Milwaukee, was to be the 13th head of the archdiocese.





Larger-than-life





New York has been the home of some of America’s most famous clerics, cardinals, Catholic charities and lay Catholics, and the in-coming Archbishop seems to fit easily into a tradition of outspoken, assertive, colourful and larger-than-life characters. The compliments that flowed when the announcement was made included ‘open’, ‘gregarious’, ‘adept at dealing with the media’ and ‘extremely comfortable with the pastoral side of job’. After all, this is an Archbishop who has his own television show where he regularly explores and expounds on matters of faith.



Archbishop Dolan was born in 1950 in St. Louis, Missouri, the eldest child of Robert and Shirley Dolan. He has told reporters repeatedly during his life, “I can never remember a time I didn’t want to be a priest.” At 14 he entered a preparatory seminary, and was ordained in June 1976. For the next two and a half decades he would move back and forth between academia and administrative tasks on behalf of American dioceses and Rome.



He did his doctorate at The Catholic University of America, and earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology at the Pontifical North American College and the Angelicum. He served for five years as secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, DC, was Rector of his Alma Mater, the Pontifical North American College, and throughout this period continued developing his keen interest in Seminary Reformation and increasing priestly vocations.





Grave situation





In 1991 Timothy Michael Dolan began his rise in the hierarchy of the American Church when appointed Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis. It was in this position that he began dealing with an issue that dogs him to this day.



At the time the St. Louis Diocese was in the midst of a crisis involving allegations of sexual misconduct by priests. As Auxiliary Bishop, dealing with the matter was a prime responsibility. Bishop Dolan was attacked from all sides, by some for protecting accused priests, by others for conducting a ‘witch hunt’ in dismissing priests. He was also known for holding numerous sessions with victims. He told journalists, “It was impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the situation.” A year later, in 2002, Bishop Dolan was named Archbishop of Milwaukee, and what had been a serious issue was to become much more so. Adding poignancy and perhaps irony to his new position, he was replacing Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who had retired after acknowledging a homosexual relationship.



For the next six and a half years, Archbishop Dolan met with victims, accused, law enforcement officials and lawyers, and approved over 26 million dollars in settlements. At the same time he lobbied hard against proposed changes in the statutes of limitations laws, which might have increased the number of claims, as well as fighting a near scandal over the question of priestly celibacy.





Defence of celibacy





In September of 2003, 160 Milwaukee diocesan priests published an open letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops asking that celibacy be made optional. Archbishop Dolan confronted the issue head on, and in public rejected the link between sexual misconduct and the vow of celibacy. He also wrote that his own personal commitment wasn’t because “as an archbishop and a so-called ‘Vatican loyalist’, I have to support the Church’s tradition of priestly celibacy, but that my heart, as the hearts of most other bishops, is really not in it. This impression is simply wrong. I enthusiastically and confidently embrace my own celibate commitment, and believe it a providential blessing for priests and for the Church.”



This upfront, open defence of Church perspective has been a hallmark of Dolan’s career. In the 2008 US Election campaign he was front and centre in the political battle over Catholic politicians and views on abortion. He squared off with then Senator, now Vice President, Joe Biden, and the Democratic Party Leader Nancy Pelosi, over their attempts to square support of abortion and their status as Catholics. Observers of Archbishop Dolan describe him as solidly conservative, but not extremist, and note that he has always opposed the tactic of some bishops in threatening to deny communion to Catholic politicians if they stray from the Church position. Archbishop Dolan told the New York Times, “Titles of liberal and conservative don’t cut much mustard with me.” Even so, Archbishop Dolan found that issues that had dogged his Episcopal challenges in St. Louis and Milwaukee were to follow him into the top job in the Big Apple.



Even before being installed, Archbishop Dolan found himself engaged in a lobbying battle with the New York State Legislature over a proposed law, similar to the one in Wisconsin, to extend limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Church. Celibacy arose as an issue when retiring Archbishop, Cardinal Egan, mused aloud to a journalist that perhaps it was a custom that had outlived its usefulness, and so the battle Archbishop Dolan had dealt with in Milwaukee was once more on the top of the secular media’s agenda. At the same time, Dolan was required to weigh in on the controversy of whether Notre Dame University had been untrue to its Catholic nature by inviting Barack Obama, considered by many pro-life Catholics to be the most pro-abortion President ever to hold office, to deliver the Convocation Address at the spring graduation ceremony. Never one seemingly to mince words, he told the media that Notre Dame had “made a big mistake.”



New York is a big place, filled with many different faiths and nationalities, something Archbishop Dolan acknowledged in February when his appointment was revealed, and he acknowledge the need for continued interfaith dialogue while also expressing to his new flock, “I am so honoured, humbled and happy to serve as your pastor.” In a goodbye address to a thousand Milwaukee children he indicated his approach to the new job by telling them how he avoids a swelled head: “The attention is about Jesus and the Church, not about me.”