Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Kevin ClarkeNovember 16, 2010

Describing himself surprised and humbled by the honor, New York Archbishop Tim Dolan downplayed suggestions that his election represented a break with U.S.C.C.B. tradition. Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas, as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for the expiring term, was widely expected to be elected U.S.C.C.B. president in keeping with a practice that has been consistent over five decades. “It seems to be a surprise,” Archbishop Dolan eventually allowed, “a nice surprise.”

Archbishop Dolan also downplayed the role of what might be described as politicking for the president’s office this year. Conservative Catholic bloggers and news sites were openly calling for anyone but Bishop Kicanas to be elected; e-mails and faxes to the bishops were apparently piling up in the bishop’s Baltimore hotel rooms and there has been a perception on the floor here in Baltimore that an organized campaign was working to promote Archbishop Dolan over Bishop Kicanas. Archbishop Dolan said he did not think bishops would be moved by such efforts, which he described as not uncommon at previous general assembly. “I have felt the heel of blogger attacks myself,” he said.

"We take our autonomy very seriously," Archbishop Dolan said. “I think the bishops usually bristle if they felt any pressure from outside." He added that it was an indication of how seriously the bishops appreciate their responsibility at the general assembly that they did not wish to vote a “shoo-in” into the job as conference president.

The New York prelate added that he intended no dramatic redirection for the U.S.C.C.B. “Our positions and priorities are basically inherited,” he said. He said specifically on health care that he intended to continue the policy of the previous U.S.C.C.B. executive, presumably watchful waiting on the outcome of the reform process and the possibility of federal resources used to pay for abortions through federal subsidized health care insurance. “The bishops of the United States are in a somewhat delicate position [regarding health care reform],” he said. “The bishops have been promoting [universal health care] for nine decades,” Archbishop Dolan said. “We should have been turning cartwheels” after the health care vote. Instead he said they found themselves with major reservations.

Archbishop Dolan declined to interpret the results of the 2010 elections. He said there would likely be plenty of interpretation in the media (there is). He acknowledged that pundits like to classify bishops according to their attentiveness to social justice issues or a keener interest in abortion and gay marriage. “But we bishops see those as part of a package deal and we don’t feel that cleavage between the two.” On the “essentials” of the faith, he said, all the bishops agree.

One observer of the conference was a little more willing to interpret results. He called the presidential vote, coupled with the bishops’ rejection of an increase of the diocesan assessment for the conference, evidence of a rising “Catholic Tea Party” among conservative church leaders. He added that the wave of bad press Bishop Kicanas received in recent weeks may have been just enough to embolden some bishops to break with tradition and vote for Dolan. Dolan was trailing Kicanas by 20 votes after the first ballot.

“Kicanas is perceived as a ‘conference’ man,” this observer said, “and there are some bishops here who don’t like the conference.” He wondered how well the bishops will work together in the U.S.C.C.B. after “they just embarrassed their vice president.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
david power
14 years 7 months ago
Congrats to Archbishop Dolan! The old tradition was in my eyes a stupid one based on a false sense of continuity.Imagine if after every Pope we had his secretary of state(Sodano!). Dolan appears to me to be a man with a good understanding of things  and his experience of dealing with the sexual scandals will have given him a healthy dose of reality.I think he is a big enough man (pun intended) to make room for everybody in the Church.
God bless him and the Jesuits spiritually guide him.   

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.