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Catholics call their new cardinal ‘a breath of fresh air’

| 01 Mar 2012 | 10:11
    Photo by Ed Bailey Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, shares a few words with participants following an evening of prayers for the Archdiocesan Stewardship Appeal held last Thursday at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe. The churchís pastor, the Rev. Thomas J. Byrnes, center, looks on.
    Photo by Ed Bailey Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, shares a few words with participants following an evening of prayers for the Archdiocesan Stewardship Appeal held last Thursday at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe. The churchís pastor, the Rev. Thomas J. Byrnes, center, looks on.
    Photo by Ed Bailey There seemed to be few if any conversations with Cardinal Timothy Dolan last week at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe that did not involve a smile or a moment of laughter.
    Photo by Ed Bailey There seemed to be few if any conversations with Cardinal Timothy Dolan last week at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe that did not involve a smile or a moment of laughter.
    Photo by Ed Bailey Cardinal Timothy Dolan shares his thanks to a group of musicians from Monroe-Woodbury High School who played during the archbishop's reception with the faithful at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe.
    Photo by Ed Bailey Cardinal Timothy Dolan shares his thanks to a group of musicians from Monroe-Woodbury High School who played during the archbishop's reception with the faithful at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe.

MONROE — Just two short days after leaving Rome and the Pope behind him, New York’s newly ordained Cardinal Timothy Dolan was conducting a fund-raising service at Monroe’s Sacred Heart Church.

The cardinal, looking spiffy in his new scarlet robes and red silk biretta (hat), exuberantly told the crowd how he felt in Rome when he was made a Prince of the Church on Feb. 18.

“I was feeling good,” he said. “New clothes, hundreds of people who came with me, great bands – I was just floating and feeling good.”

But he noted that those things won’t count for much when he stand in front of God’s judgment. “He won’t call me ‘Your Eminence,’ Dolan said. “He will ask, ‘Have you fed and clothed the poor?’”

It was a huge turnout at Sacred Heart for what was technically a Stewardship Appeal Service for the New York Archdiocese. Funds raised during such services are used to help educate future priests and deacons. The training program offers philosophical, theological, liturgical and spiritual preparation.

Dolan is no slouch when it comes to working a room at a fund raiser. His jovial temperament is infectious. The 62-year-old leader of New York’s 2.6 million Catholics was smiling from ear to ear in Monroe, just as he was when the Pope appointed him to the exalted position.

And everyone wanted to hear all about his time in Rome.

One of the highlights of his seek in Rome was an invitation for him and his American guests to visit the Sistine Chapel.

“Can you imagine?” he ask. “The camera flashes were lighting up the room as we looked at one of the greatest works of Michelangelo.”

The overwhelming consensus of the guests in the room at Sacred Heart was that the new cardinal is a breath of fresh air in the Church.

“His warm personality and good spirits are part of what makes him a good shepherd,” said the church pastor, Father Thomas Byrnes. “We were so privileged and honored that he paid a visit to Sacred Heart.”