Articles by Cardinal Timothy Dolan
Greetings from San Diego
Jun 13, 2013 / 00:00 amGreetings from San Diego, where I have joined with my brother bishops from across the country for our annual Spring meeting. I spent last evening catching up on the news from back home, and came across a few items I’d like to share.Yesterday, the online edition of “USA Today” ran an op-ed column from me, as president of the USCCB, expressing our support for the immigration reform bill now before the U.S. Senate. Let me share an excerpt with you:"Immigration reform is an issue close to Catholic hearts. America has wonderfully welcomed generations of immigrant families, and our parishes, schools and charitable ministries have long helped successfully integrate immigrants into American life.Congress will soon debate the most comprehensive overhaul of our nation’s immigration laws in almost 30 years. With the stakes so high, it’s important that Congress craft legislation that balances the legitimate needs of security with our heritage of welcoming immigrants and the gifts they bring to our country."You can read the whole column here.This past weekend, I asked that a letter be shared in the parishes of the Archdiocese of New York on two very important issues: immigration reform, and, here in New York, the provision in the Women’s Equality Act that would expand abortion.There were also two well-written pieces on the Women’s Equality Act. The first opinion piece was written by Greg Pfundstein in the “New York Post.” Pfundstein examines the problems with the abortion provision of the bill. Here is an excerpt from his op-ed:"Gov. Cuomo is trying to sell New Yorkers a bill of goods about his abortion legislation – claiming it would just codify federal law. That’s a lie.The governor and his allies say the bill would merely align state law with Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision.Yet Roe – which effectively constitutionalized abortion on demand up until birth – is no longer the governing federal case on abortion. In 1992, Casey v. Planned Parenthood substantially altered the landscape by explicitly allowing states to impose some sensible restrictions on abortion."Click here to read his whole op-ed.The second piece that I came across is an editorial published in the “New York Daily News” questioning Governor Cuomo’s decision to promote this abortion expansion bill at this time. Here is an excerpt:"The governor triggered the fight by proposing a bill that, he says, is intended only to clarify a woman’s legal right to terminate a pregnancy in New York. But in so doing, he is addressing an issue that has long been settled in both law and practice.This state can rightly be called the abortion capital of America, thanks to the city’s extraordinarily high rate of pregnancy terminations.Women in the city have abortions at a rate more than three times that of the U.S. as a whole, while women in the rest of the state surpass the national average by a small margin."You can read the editorial here.Reprinted with permission from the Cardinal's blog, "The Gospel in the Digital Age."
With a new pope installed, it’s time to come home
Mar 28, 2013 / 00:00 amWell, folks, it’s done, and tomorrow, Friday, I’ll be home, in time for Palm Sunday. As much as I savor Rome, and as much as I have been profoundly inspired by the events of the last three weeks, it’ll be good to be back home with all of you, especially for Holy Week and Easter.Actually, it’s not “done” at all. In fact, it’s just the beginning: the pontificate of Pope Francis promises to be exciting and uplifting. Once again, Jesus came through, keeping his promise to be with His Church always. On February 11, when we heard the somber news that Benedict XVI was leaving the Chair of St. Peter, we wondered who could ever take the place of this erudite, humble, holy man. Our own Marist College, known for the professionalism of its polling research, reported that nearly 90 percent of Catholics in the United States highly appreciated Benedict’s papacy (none of them, unfortunately, write for the major local newspaper, where only bitter “former Catholics” need apply).And now we smile and thank God that Habemus Papam, “we have a Pope,” and an extraordinarily appealing one at that.What I’m about to say might surprise you. Yes, the office of the Successor of St. Peter is essential to the Church. We note that apostolic is one of the marks of the true Church. The Pope assures us that we stay connected to the apostles, especially St. Peter.Yet – and here’s the surprise – the Church is not equated with the Pope, and, the effectiveness of the Church does not completely depend upon the Holy Father. The Church counts, when all is said and done, only upon Jesus. The life of the Church is not synonymous with that of the activities of the Bishop of Rome, however much we love him, listen to him, and are loyal to him. The Church is bigger than our Holy Father.And he’d be the first to tell us that.Yes, Jesus is radiantly alive in the ministry of the Successor of St. Peter, whose teaching, governing, and sanctifying is uniquely effective.But the explosive light and life of Jesus reaches to the ends of the earth through the Church in her fullness, not just through the ministry of its Supreme Pontiff.Next week, we’ll re-live the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the solemn liturgy of Holy Week…Jesus is there!On Palm Sunday, thousands of believers will risk harassment, persecution, harm, and even death as they approach Mass in all parts of the world, in hostile cultures, or under oppressive governments… Jesus suffers!On Monday, Reconciliation Monday, tens of thousands of Catholics in the archdiocese will approach the Sacrament of Penance…Jesus forgives!On Holy Thursday, I’ll help at the breadline at St. Paul the Apostle Church near Lincoln Center, as hundreds of homeless are fed, only one of hundreds of places where the hungry have food, the sick are healed, the aged and infirmed housed, the lost welcomed, the poor consoled, all in His Holy Name…Jesus serves!And that same evening thousands will gather to relive His Last Supper, and then walk in procession with the Holy Eucharist…Jesus is really present!On Holy Saturday, more than 2,000 people in our parishes will enter the Church as new Catholics…Jesus invites!On Easter, approximately 2.2 million of us, just in the Archdiocese of New York alone, will worship at Mass, and receive Him in Holy Communion…Jesus feeds!God’s people pray and believe; God’s Word is preached and accepted; God’s poor are loved and served; God’s life is imparted in the sacraments; and Satan is on the run! That’s the Church! Jesus is there!As I left the conclave last Wednesday, exiting the loggia where our beloved new Pope had just appeared on the balcony, I was eager to get to a phone. I had an urgent call to make, and it had nothing to do with the new Pope Francis. I was expecting very important news.But the phones were still blocked in the Vatican because of the conclave blackout. I was impatient even during the festive meal with the Holy Father, at the Domus Santa Marta where we Cardinals were staying. I tried the phones again with no luck.Finally I got to the North American College, to be exuberantly greeted by cheering seminarians and hundreds of journalists. But the only person I wanted to find was my secretary, Father Jim Cruz, who came pushing through the crowd grinning, holding up his iPad, with the news I really wanted: a photo of a healthy Charles Kenneth Grissom, the new baby of my niece Kelly and her husband Mike, who had been born just the day before, when I had already gone into the secrecy of the conclave.And I’ll baptize Charlie on Easter Monday! Jesus is there, in that marriage of Kelly and Mike, in their new family, and soon in the little soul of Charlie!That’s the Church…that’s God’s goodness…that’s the light and life of Christ. That was as much good news as the election of Pope Francis. God is good to His people.Yes, Jesus teaches, serves, governs, and sanctifies in a uniquely effective way through the Successor of St. Peter, our Pope. Yes, Jesus seems especially present in the simplicity, sincerity, and humility of Pope Francis.But, as Pope Benedict taught us, as Pope Francis tells us, in the end, it’s not about them; it’s not about the Pope; it’s all about Jesus and His Church! Reprinted with permission from the Catholic New York, official newspaper for the diocese of New York. Column originally ran March 21, 2013.
The ultrasound generation
Jan 31, 2013 / 00:00 amAs we mark the solemn 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, I would like to address my column this week to our teens and young adults, who I believe will ultimately prevail in restoring a sense of respect for all human life, including the innocent baby in her mother’s womb. Please feel free to share this column with a young adult in your life, or ask them to look for it at www.cny.org. For much of the 40 years since the Supreme Court’s tragic Roe v. Wade decision ushering in an era of abortion on demand, we in the pro-life community have had little to cheer about. In the battle for hearts and minds, it has at times seemed as though we were losing ground, and fast. We could preach about the sacredness of all human life, about the harm that abortion does to women who are so often coerced by others into doing the unthinkable, and the lifetime of pain and regret so many of them, and the fathers of the aborted baby, face as a result. For a long time we were overwhelmed by even louder voices proclaiming “choice” to be the ultimate right. For too many of my generation, that argument was effective and catchy, and there is no changing their minds.This civil rights issue of our time – the right to life of the innocent baby in the womb – won’t be won by the older generation; it will be won by the young. It is to you that I address this message on this solemn anniversary.Popular culture calls you the “Millennial Generation” because you came of age at the dawn of the Millennium. But I think of you as the “Ultrasound Generation.” You are different than any generation that came before you in that your very first baby pictures were taken not with you in your mother’s arms, but you alive in her womb.Your generation is defined by technology. You have come to expect almost annual revolutionary technological breakthroughs that change the way we live and work. You have seen staggering medical advances that have given doctors wonderful new tools in fighting disease and injury. And you have grown up with ultrasound technology that has opened a window into the womb, allowing us to glimpse preborn babies from the earliest weeks of gestation.You have seen your little brothers and sisters before they were born in these grainy videos and photographs pinned to the fridge. Your mom or your dad has shown you those first images of yourself. Some of you have even seen your own children for the first time with newer, clearer 3- and 4-dimensional ultrasound technology. You have gasped with wonder at the sight of little arms flailing and legs kicking, heads bobbing and hearts beating, mouths sucking thumbs.You have seen, and you believe.Let’s face it, you figured out a long time ago that your parents’ generation isn’t always right. So many have tried to convince you (as they have allowed themselves to be convinced) that an unborn baby is nothing more than a “clump of cells.” College professors, politicians, Hollywood glitterati, and media talking heads have hammered you with the message that the decision to abort has no more moral significance than having a wisdom tooth extracted. To be an enlightened adult, you will be told, you must support the “right to choose.” (They won’t tell you what, or who is being chosen.)You are rightly skeptical. They may believe what they say, but in this matter they are wrong. Think of your first baby picture, the one on the flimsy paper with the dark background and the unmistakable image of you. You know better.You have seen, and you believe.I know it is not easy to go against the prevailing culture. But your generation has not been afraid to be countercultural. Besides, I have good news for you – you are not alone. The pro-abortion movement’s dark secret is that it has been losing the hearts and minds of young people for a number of years. And now the secret is out.Just last month, the head of the nation’s largest abortion advocacy organization, stepped down, citing the need for someone younger to try to engage youth. Interestingly, she seemed to acknowledge that her side is losing you, the “Ultrasound Generation.”“The intensity on that side will not go away,” she told the media. “They come to this issue as young people who want to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they’re going to do everything in their power. That view might change as they grow older and reality hits and personal experience happens, but right now the personal intensity is pretty high on that side.”You know what? She’s right! I have seen that intensity myself in the young New Yorkers who pray at abortion clinics, lobby in Albany and climb onto buses in the pre-dawn darkness to join their fellow pro-lifers at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., as we did last Friday. When I look out into the sea of faces out on the Mall in the shadow of the Washington Monument, I see you. You know who I see when I look at the rallies on the pro-abortion side? I see people my age and older.That pro-abortion leader and others like her are counting on you having some sort of grand epiphany once you get older and, as she said, “reality hits.” But what they aren’t counting on is that when you saw yourself, your kid brother or sister, your own child, in that ultrasound photo, reality did hit. And it hit hard.You have seen, and you believe.But here’s the tough part: It is not enough that you believe. It is not enough that you are sympathetic to the cause. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to know that so many of you in the “Ultrasound Generation” are pro-life. But this can’t be a secret anymore. You need to proclaim it. It can’t come from me or from people my age; our time is rapidly passing. Now is your time.My time has seen 55 million abortions in the United States since 1973. That is almost exactly the population of New York State and California combined. A number that big can seem abstract, but you know intuitively that these 55 million people were your peers, your siblings. One of them could easily have been you.In New York City, four out of every 10 pregnancies end in abortion, double the national average, mostly poor Black and Latino women. In some parts of New York City, the number is 6 in 10. Yet some of our elected officials in Albany are pushing a bill, believe it or not, to expand abortion access even further. It’s as though, in their minds, our state motto, “Excelsior” (“Ever Upward”) applies to the abortion rate!Sometimes, it falls to one generation to clean up another generation’s mess. And I’m afraid we have left you quite a mess. I am asking you, the “Ultrasound Generation,” to set the course right, to change hearts and minds, to change the law so that your children’s generation is given the legal protection that your generation so tragically was not. Ultimately, I am counting on you to change our culture.My faith in you is high. For I have seen, and I believe – in you.Reprinted with permission from the Catholic New York, official newspaper for the diocese of New York.
Christ and his Church are all about salvation
Nov 8, 2012 / 00:00 amWe spent a lot of time at the Synod on the New Evangelization in Rome talking about salvation. On the one hand, I guess this should not shock us, since Jesus came as our Savior, offering us the “good news” of eternal salvation. However, on the other hand, this is a surprise, because, as some Synod participants have chillingly observed, the Church rarely, if ever, speaks of salvation these days, since most of us today presume it, or don’t think we even need it! Think about that…why do we need this New Evangelization at all? I suppose because our own faith has grown listless; or because we lost it all together! Why has it grown lax, or been lost? Because we don’t think we need it! We don’t need Jesus or His Church because we don’t need what He has come to give: life everlasting or salvation. “I came that they may have life, and life to the fullest.” Jesus and his Church are all about salvation, the salvation of souls. Why in the world would anybody not want the eternal life offered by Jesus and His Church? Either because we think we can get it on our own – in other words, that we can save ourselves (which is the ancient heresy of “Pelagianism”) – or because it’s so cheap that we think we’re already assured of it, and hardly need any help from Jesus or His Church. I bring all this up not only because it was a hot topic on the floor of the Synod, but because the month of November invites us to think about eternal salvation. God wants us all to be saved, so passionately that He sent His only begotten Son to be our savior, sharing with us eternal life, earning our salvation by His death and resurrection. However, when Jesus was asked if only a few would be saved, he didn’t reassure us that, don’t worry, almost everyone would make it, but rather: “Try your hardest to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.” (Lk. 13:23-24) On another occasion he made it clear: “Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life and only a few find it.” (Mt. 7:13-14) We know Jesus wasn’t happy about this situation. We knew he wept when he considered the destiny of those who persisted on the wide road. (Lk. 19:41) He is so eager to show us mercy, but first we need to recognize our need for mercy, and humble ourselves to receive it, asking forgiveness, and dedicating ourselves to following Him in His Church. So, we need to recover this somber reality, because we act today like everyone automatically and immediately goes right to heaven. No, we don’t. God our Father forces His salvation on nobody. We can turn Him down. I’m afraid a lot of us do. To accept His invitation to salvation means…guess what? Accepting Jesus in and through His Church. Yes, it’s true that Vatican II teaches that it’s possible, under certain conditions, to be saved without hearing the gospel, but it also clearly teaches (Lumen Gentium, 16) that these conditions are not often met, and that “very often” human beings close their hearts to the grace of God, influenced by the culture, its lies, and our own sin. A couple of months ago, when I was consulting people about this whole concept of the New Evangelization, a shrewd and successful marketing specialist commented, “You got to decide what your product is! You in the Church are supposed to be salesmen! Well, just what are you selling? If people need your ‘product,’ they’ll come!” The Church’s “product” – pardon the marketing vocabulary! – is a Person, Jesus, who is our Savior, who offers us eternal life! The evangelical churches sure know this! The growing, vibrant parts of the Catholic Church in Africa and Asia certainly realize this! That’s why their churches are jammed. But we here don’t! We shrug, no thanks! Who needs a savior? I don’t. I can save myself, thank you! Nor do I need the Church, the sacraments, or the mercy of Jesus, since I’m automatically assured of heaven. So, leave me alone… November reminds us of the faithful departed: all the Saints in heaven (November 1); the souls in purgatory awaiting God’s final act of mercy (November 2); and those of us here on earth preparing for eternity. And eternity is not a “sure thing”! It is a “sure thing” if we admit we need Jesus as our Savior, and live faithfully in His family, the Church. We ignore the clear, cogent teaching of Jesus and His Church at our everlasting peril: at the moment of our death, we will stand before our eternal Judge, and heaven is not assured. This awesome experience will happen again when He comes again in glory at the end of time, the last judgment. That’s the message of the Gospel, like it or not. As St. Francis observed, “Sometimes the Gospel makes me smile, but other times it makes me shiver.” That’s driven home this month of November, as we pray for the faithful departed and contemplate our own mortality. All I know is this: I want to live forever! I want eternal life! I want to be saved! I want to get to heaven! I can’t do it by myself! I need a Savior! God the Father sent me one: his name is Jesus! How do I meet Jesus? How do I share in His gift of eternal life? In and through the Church! That’s the message of the Gospel; that’s the New Evangelization; that’s the invitation of November. Reprinted with permission from the Catholic New York, official newspaper for the diocese of New York.
Cherished saint brought Christ to world around him
Oct 4, 2012 / 00:00 amBefore I leave for Rome tomorrow, and the all-month meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, I wanted to share some thoughts with you on this beautiful feast of St. Francis of Assisi.St. Francis was a completely unexpected man: suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, came a unique figure, perhaps the most Christ-like of saints in the two millennia of Christian history, beloved ever since by peoples across the globe of all creeds or none at all. That a St. Francis could happen at all is a reminder that God is full of surprises – for it was God who raised up this singularly Christ-like figure – and that history often takes unexpected turns.In so many ways, it’s appropriate we find his statue in the middle of our yards and gardens. For he was sure smack-dab in the middle of the world, reverencing life (he would genuflect in front of a pregnant woman, and only walk barefooted on the spring soil lest he crush the fragile new life of nature), serving the poor, seeing the divine hand in the environment, and calling for peace and justice, even traveling to Egypt to confer with the Sultan in the cause of reconciliation.Those Americans who have faith in God, and in His Son, Jesus, and venerate saints such as Francis, also find themselves in the middle of the world, and cherish our freedom to bring the teaching of Jesus, which we hear both in the Good News proclaimed in the Bible and in the life of Francis, to the public square and political process.We’ve certainly been reminded of that these past 10 months, which have seen the religious community in the United States engaged in a major conflict with the administration over the first freedom – religious liberty, our “first and most cherished freedom.” I am deeply grateful to the Catholic people of the United States, to my brother bishops and priests, to men and women of all faiths or none at all, for accepting this challenge, and for rising to the defense of religious liberty in full. In that defense, we stand for every man and woman of conscience; we seek no special favors, but we insist that the inalienable rights of religion be respected and honored in law and federal regulatory practice.In the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” published by the bishops of the United States, we are reminded that, “In the Catholic Tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do.” And so, as I leave for Rome, I want to share with you some of the concerns that I will bring with me to the tombs of the apostles, SS. Peter and Paul, and to Assisi, the town of St. Francis.I am concerned about a culture that has become increasingly callous about the radical abortion license, and a legal system that affords more protection to endangered species of plants and animals than to unborn babies; that considers pregnancy a disease; that interprets “comprehensive health care” in such a way that it may be used to threaten the life of the baby in the womb (and, it should be noted, to exclude the undocumented immigrant as well). I am concerned as well for the infirm and elderly who are nearing the end of life, that they will not be treated with the respect, dignity and compassion that is their due, but instead be encouraged to seek a hasty death before they can become, according to some, “a burden to society.”I am worried that we may be reducing religious freedom to a kind of privacy right to recreational activities, reducing the practice of religion to a Sabbath hobby, instead of a force that should guide our public actions, as Michelle Obama recently noted, Monday through Friday.I am bothered by the prospect of this generation leaving a mountain of unpayable debt to its children and grandchildren, whose economic futures will be blighted by the amounts of the federal budget absorbed by debt service.I am anxious that calls for a fiscally responsible society are met with claims that those calls come from men and women who don’t care about the poor; that we may be tempted to write off the underprivileged as problems to be solved, or as budget woes, rather than treating them with respect and dignity as people with potential and creativity; that we’re at times more willing to cut programs to help the sick, our elders, the hungry and homeless, than expenditures on Drone missiles.I am concerned that our elections increasingly resemble reality TV shows rather than exercises in serious democratic conversation.I am bothered that we are losing sight of voting as an exercise in moral judgment, in which certain priority issues – especially the life issues, with the protection of unborn life being the premier civil rights issue of the day – must weigh heavily on our consciences as we make our political decisions.I am worried by attempts to redefine marriage, and to label as “bigots” those who uphold the traditional, God-given definition of marriage.I am anxious that we cannot seem to have a rational debate over immigration policy, and that we cannot find a way to combine America’s splendid tradition of hospitality to the stranger with respect for the rule of law, always treating the immigrant as a child of God, and never purposefully dividing a family.I am worried about the persecution of people of faith around the world, especially with the hatred of Christians on a perilous incline; and the preference for violent attacks upon innocents instead of dialogue as the path to world peace.I expect that many of you share these concerns. In the words of “Faithful Citizenship,” how we should respond is clear. The document says, “Our focus is not on party affiliation, ideology, economics, or even competence and capacity to perform duties, as important as such issues are. Rather, we focus on what protects or threatens human life and dignity.” As you consider these concerns, I will be praying for you in Rome that the humble, joyful Poverello of Assisi intercede for us, and that Mary Immaculate, patroness of the United States and Star of the New Evangelization, will inspire in us wisdom, prudence, and courage.Reprinted with permission from the Catholic New York, official newspaper for the Archdiocese of New York.
Evangelizing amid sobering statistics
Jul 19, 2012 / 00:00 amDo you agree that we get way too many statistics? Seems as if every time I turn around, I’m looking at “the results of a new survey.” What’s worse, the findings often seem to contradict themselves!