Hooray for Archbishop Timothy Dolan

According to news reports, New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan told a New York television station that pro-abortion Catholic politicians will not receive honors at events like the Al Smith dinner.

“Everybody's welcome,” he reportedly said. “There's a difference between being welcome and providing someone who is dramatically, radically, publicly at odds with the Church on a particularly given issue to have a place of prominence and receive an award.”

So that means pro-choice Catholic politicians like New York Governor David Paterson, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, or Congressman Eric Massa - how did I end up with a trifecta? - should not expect any Catholic honors in New York.

At least not until they actually vote and act like responsible Catholics.

Dolan interview - Gotta evangelize

There's an interesting short interview with New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan over at The Wall Street Journal.

He talks about schools - a sore topic here in Rochester - and about vocations and Mass attendance/Church participation among the young:

... he has two other problems that are troubling for the Catholic Church. The first is the growing number of 20- and 30-somethings, raised in the faith, who are not attending Mass or getting married in the Catholic Church. The second is the sharp drop in people choosing Catholic Church vocations.

I asked him what he thinks has gone wrong. For starters, he says, the Catholic Church for too long took for granted the Catholic culture, "when it was presumed that you would go to Sunday Mass, that you would marry a Catholic and be married in the Catholic Church, when it was presumed that you would always remain in the faith, with tons of priests and nuns and Catholic schools to serve you."

Those days are gone, and now he says its time to "recover the evangelizing muscle that characterized the early church." This means putting an end to the "wavering" that has too often characterized the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council and a return to a clear and confident message.

"Very often even the word Catholic even the word church has had a question mark behind it," he says. "Does it know where it's going? Does it know what its teaching? Is it going to be around? There was a big question mark. A young person will not give his or her life for a question mark. A young person will give his or her life for an exclamation point."

This "recovery" in confidence, he says, began under John Paul II and continues under Pope Benedict XVI. In his new role, Archbishop Dolan intends to keep it going. Being a Catholic is an "adventure in fidelity," he insists. The Catholic Church, he says, has "a very compelling moral message. She calls us to what is most noble in our human makeup, dares us to become saints, challenges us to heroic virtue."

I like the optimism, the determination.

We all need to help provide that "exclamation point" for young people. We need to evangelize, to proclaim in unwavering voices the truth of the Church's teachings the way the early Christians did.

(Tip of the hat to Mike at DOR Catholic.)

Archbishop Dolan - Rooting for the Mets!

Archbishop Dolan, a rabid baseball fan, announced that although a Cardinal's fan in his youth, and a transplanted Milwaukee fan for the past few years, as Archbishop of New York he would be a Yankees fan.

Grinding and gnashing of teeth.

But tonight, the Archbishop showed up on television at the Mets/Milwaukeee game wearing a Mets cap (hooray!), and announcing that as Archbishop of New York he would root for the Mets ...

... oh, and the Yankees too.

Archbishop Dolan on Notre Dame's "Mistake"

One of the latest members of the hierarchy to speak up on the Notre Dame mess is Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee - who will soon be the Archbishop of New York.

In a television interview Sunday Archbishop Dolan, when asked if Notre Dame made a mistake when it invites President Obama to speak at and receive an award at its commencement this year, said:

"They did, and I say that as one who loves and respects Notre Dame. They made a big mistake."

He went on to say, "There’s a lot of things that President Obama does that we can find ourselves allied with and working with him on, and we have profound respect for him and pray with him and for him. But in an issue that is very close to the heart of Catholic world view, namely, the protection of innocent life in the womb, he has unfortunately taken a position very much at odds with the Church."

Archbishop Dolan: Life is a "civil right"

"It bothers me if any politician, Catholic or not, is for abortion. Because in my mind, we're talking about a civil right, we're not talking about a matter of Catholic Church discipline. We can't allow the noble pro-life cause to be reduced to a denominational issue." - Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the next Archbishop of New York.

Life is a "civil right"? Gee, that sounds familiar.