Reeling as we are in the aftermath of the tsunami that has struck with such ferocity across our entire economic front-while not forgetting the Obama administration's proposed budget that calls for $3.6 trillion dollars in expenditure, which will more than double our national debt and will amount in itself to MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE BUDGETS OF ALL PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS, FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GEORGE W. BUSH COMBINED (and this before proposals are even on the table for the resolution of problems connected with Social Security and Medicare)-any good news that comes our way will be welcome indeed, even if it brings only modest comfort. And good news for sure for New York City's--and America's-Catholic faithful came two weeks ago as the Holy See announced the appointment of a successor to Edward Cardinal Egan, the incumbent archbishop of New York  Next month the unabashedly orthodox and charismatic archbishop of Milwaukee, Timothy Dolan, will be installed as the new Archbishop of New York

   Given that New York is the headquarters of America's media empire and is still even in these parlous times the fmancial capital of the world, the character and personality of the archbishop of New York can be a factor of unique importance in shaping the popular perception of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Dolan, whose friendliness, humility and charm won the hearts of the people of a once troubled archdiocese in the upper Midwest, seems to be well suited to take advantage of the opportunity provided by his new position for "scoring points" for Christ and His Church.

   May I share with you one of the appraisals of the appointment that appeared in the secular press. As usual the most perceptive of the reporting, and the friendliest to the Church, appeared in The Wall Street Journal.
Why the John Paul Generation Will Welcome New York's Next Archbishop
   By Christopher Willcox
   The Wall Street Journal
   Friday, March 6, 2009

   It was no accident that Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan visited St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York, during his first hours on the ground in the archdiocese of some 2.5 million parishioners that, beginning next month, he will lead. Earlier, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, he told a news conference that increasing priestly vocations was his "first mandate."  In archbishop-speak, this means he has his marching orders from Rome.

   His task won't he easy. Vocations are way  down. St. Joseph's will ordain three priests this year, compared with the 30 or more who were ordained yearly at the high-water mark during the 1960s.    To make matters worse, influential dissenters within the Church are heavily invested in the archbishop's failure.

   Advocates for married priests and the ordination of women have not gone away, and they have made it an article of their particular faith that celibacy and an all-mate priesthood are at the root of all church problems, from declining attendance at Mass to the sexual abuse of minors. They have been frozen out of the leadership ranks since John Paul II, the current pope's predecessor, was elected in 1978, but they have "burrowed in" and are thriving at Catholic universities and even a few seminaries. Some, like theologian Richard McBrien, of the University of Notre Dame, have even carved a part-time career out of contradicting the Vatican in the media.  In recent weeks he has been quoted twice by the New York Times, criticizing church efforts to revive the sacramental confession of sins. [Father Richard John Neuhaus, former editor of First Things, remarked not long before his death that "For The New York Times the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic".]

   Nevertheless, Archbishop Dolan has something of a track record as a shepherd of new seminarians.  His current, much smaller, archdiocese of Milwaukee will ordain six priests this year-the most since 1992 The Milwaukee seminary expects to meet or exceed that number in coming years, based on the number of men in its pipeline.

   Archbishop Dolan also spent seven years as rector of the North American College in Rome, where clerical highfliers are sent for advanced study and grooming. He has written a book full of spiritual advice for aspiring clergymen, "Priests for the Third Millennium," which has been used as a textbook in seminaries. But, above all, the people who know him well will say that Archbishop Dolan's charisma and ebullience-in sharp contrast to the reticent manner of Edward Cardinal Egan, the current archbishop of New York-are bound to be a shot in the arm for the Church in its efforts to attract the next generation of clerics.

   The viability of a celibate male priesthood is a centerpiece of the agenda first promoted by John Paul II that continues under Benedict XVI. It is an agenda designed to restore the teaching authority (magisteriurn) of the pope, provide doctrinal clarity and unity, and put an end to the deviations and divisions that sprang up in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. While John Paul and Benedict, until 2005 known as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, never publicly criticized Vatican II itself, they clearly took a dim view of the INTERPRETATION of the council's work by the church's left wing. "Liberation theology," which was often indistinguishable from Marxism, was the first trend to be squelched. Advocacy for women priests and married priests, and calls for doctrinal change that would better reflect secular society's norrns--on issues such as abortion or sarne-sex unions-have been discouraged and resisted at every level. Because personnel moves are policy decisions in any large organization, the past two popes have been scrupulous in appointing bishops with orthodox views. So much so that Father McBrien has stated that John Paul's "most serious deficiency" was "the poor quality" of the bishops he appointed. [Their "poor quality" is manifest in their disagreement with Father McBrien].

   It's not always easy to get the balance right in matters of authority and tradition, as the Vatican discovered recently when it badly fumbled an effort to bring some right-wing rebels back into the fold, including one who had denied the Holocaust. And the almost incalculable institutional damage done by the clerical sex scandal also has emboldened the church left, and more important, created a serious credibility problem with people still in the pews. That so much of the criminality occurred decades ago is hardly a defense or a comfort to the many victims. It will be years before the scandal recedes, and it can't be an easy time to be recruiting for the priesthood anywhere in the U.S.

   One trend favoring the traditionalists-often overlooked in the media but much remarked upon in church circles-is the apparent orthodoxy of the YOUNG priests who are being ordained these days. In contrast to the stereotypical generational split that has older people favoring conservative views and the young advocating change, younger priests often tend to be more in tune with Rome than some of their elders were and are. It's not entirely clear why this is, but observers have suggested that the older generation identified so closely with [the left-wing interpretation of] Vatican II that it has had difficulty adjusting to the leadership of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The youngsters, in fact, have been described as the "John Paul" generation in church publications. Like the Marines, they may be few but they evidently are proud.

   Still, there is a great deal riding on one obviously affable Irish-American from Milwaukee who appears as comfortable talking sports stats as vocations. Based on reports from the field, Archbishop Dolan will be a conciliator who knows where to draw the line. In an email he once sent his priests in Milwaukee, he said he would support the appearance of most speakers at parishes even if they weren't his "cup of tea," but he made clear that Marquette University theologian Daniel C. Maguire, a pro-choice former priest, was off the list.  Mr. Maguire, he noted, was "so radically outside church teaching tha this appearance at any parish would be a grave scandal."

   Mr. Maguire recently returned the compliment in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, declaring Archbishop Dolan a "backslapping autocrat." Autocrat or not, if he can turn the New York program around in coming years, Rome will be pleased and Rome's dissidents will be stymied.
  Let's keep daily in our prayers Archbishop Dolan-and our own Archbishop Nienstedt-in their crucially important mission of promoting vocations to the priesthood.

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