An ally in the trenches

For the past 15 years, American evangelicals and political conservatives have been blessed that America’s most well-known and well-loved Catholic leader was a sympathetic ally named Timothy Dolan, the cardinal-archbishop of New York. Appointed to the Big Apple by Pope Benedict XVI in February 2009, Dolan embodied the best of Catholic life in the era of Benedict and John Paul II. As he enters retirement, we owe a debt of gratitude to one of the nation’s most persuasive and persistent champions for life, marriage, and religious liberty.

Dolan often refers to his St. Patrick’s Cathedral as America’s parish church, but—as Tim Busch observed recently—he himself acted as America’s parish priest. His avuncular attitude, quick smile and happy laugh, his constant embrace of everyone from children to the Radio City Rockettes to homeless men in a soup line, his everyman persona—drinking beer and talking baseball—in so many ways personified a warm, enthusiastic Catholicism that was a welcome refresh from the dark days of the church’s abuse scandals.

Yet this was a priest with a Ph.D., a parish preacher who was also a former seminary rector (indeed, his collection of homilies from that time, Priests for the Third Millenium, is a wonderful and practical collection of spiritual wisdom). He brought that keen intellect to the pressing issues of our times. He navigated the difficult years of the Obama and Biden presidencies with clarity and conviction, challenging the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage mandate and Obama’s flip-flop on the definition of marriage. At the same time, he has supported President Trump through his two administrations on issues of convergence, for instance by serving on the President’s Commission on Religious Liberty.

Dolan not only preached the dignity of every human life—he prioritized it. For instance, he made a point of visiting those in prison: “Of the many things I do, visiting our correctional facilities is one I treasure most,” he said. Asked why, his answer was simple: “Jesus tells us to.”

For American evangelicals and political conservatives, he was a committed advocate on issues we have in common with conservative Catholics: pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-religious liberty, pro-school choice. And he put his name behind important ecumenical initiatives and institutions, including the Manhattan Declaration and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. As the American hierarchy’s informal liaison with the Jewish community, he was also a steadfast friend of Israel when many Catholic leaders reflect the Church’s historic lean towards the Palestinian cause. And he held all the leading posts within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—president, chairman of the pro-life committee, chairman of the religious liberty committee—ensuring that these offices stayed the course against liberal pressure.

Dolan’s retirement notice to the pope at age 75 was mandated by canon law. He has been replaced by Archbishop Ronald Hicks, whom many see as a protégé of liberal leaning Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. It is part of a larger shift within America’s corps of Catholic bishops, as bishops from the John Paul II-Benedict era depart and the Francis-Leo bishops take over. I am hopeful that Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota will increasingly carry the torch for orthodoxy (his FoxNews.com column on the recent fraud and immigration issues in Minneapolis was quite good), but he will do so without the authority that comes with the cardinal’s red cap or the megaphone of the New York media. He’ll do so in contrast to leading Francis appointees like Cupich, Joseph Tobin of Newark, and Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., who recently cosigned a statement critical of the Trump Administration’s foreign policy.

As Cardinal Dolan exits office as archbishop, I do not expect him to quiet down or slow down. He’s already agreed to serve as co-chief chaplain for the New York Police Department, returning to his roots amid the strongly Irish and Catholic boys in blue. And I am optimistic that he will continue leveraging his unique national profile as a happy warrior for orthodoxy, a role in which has excelled to the benefit of us all.