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New Archbishop Likes Burgers, Will Be a "Tourist"
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 25, 2009
Modified Feb 25, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 25, 2009
Modified Feb 25, 2009
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The local media continues its coverage of incoming Archbishop Timothy Dolan. The NY Post gave him some Big Apple-themed gifts, including "a Yankees cap and mug, an FDNY T-shirt and a subway map," which Dolan appreciated, noting, "I'm going to be a tourist for one year."
Dolan acknowledged to the Post, "I have to spend the next year listening to people, meeting people and going to events. I need to earn the love and trust of the people," but also appreciated the welcome so far: "The friendliness, the warmth and the radiance of the people of New York - it was genuine and sincere. The people couldn't have embraced me more warmly." And NY1 spoke to Dolan about one topic that has lingered at his current archdiocese in Milwaukee: Sex abuse in the church.
"One of the good facts that has come from this is terrible thing is now we know what we're supposed to do and should have been doing a long time ago. So now, if somebody writes to me or somebody goes to the principal and says a priest abused them or acted improperly, you call the police immediately. You call the police. You call child advocacy. It's out of our hands and rightly so. We'd do the same thing somebody in a public school would do if someone said the janitor followed me into the bathroom and tried to do something bad. They would call the police. And that's what we do."
On a lighter note, he told reporter Dean Meminger, "I like going to ball games. I like going for French fries. I like going for a cheeseburger. I like going out to the cart in front of my house and going for a hot dog and talking with the people there. That's just not a tactic, it's something that flows naturally from me. Are you inviting me out for a beer now?"
It's that casual banter that many church officials hope will attract more men to the priesthood. The NY Times calls him a "guy's guy": The director of vocations for the Congregation of Holy Cross at the University of Notre Dame Rev. Edwin H. Obermiller said of Dolan, "He’s a professional extrovert, a banterer, a sports fanatic. He knows how to talk to young men.”
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archbishop dolan
beer
Catholic Church
guy's guy
timothy dolan
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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