“I am still out of breath,” Rocco Palmo, author of the blog Whispers in the Loggia, told CNA, just after the election. “Never before in history” has a standing vice president not been elected as president of the conference.
The only occasion in the existence of the conference where the vice president was not elected as president was an instance where the candidate in question, Cardinal John Carberry of St. Louis, would have retired before the end of his three year term as president.
“It represents a seismic shift,” Palmo said. “Above all, it's an indication of everything Cardinal George has been and done over his tenure the last three years in really kind of raising the level of bishops' outspokenness in moral clarity and moral courage, especially in the health care fight.”
It's also an indication of Archbishop Dolan's rising position, he said. The New York archbishop “has been unstintingly strong in his defense of the Holy Father and the defense of the right of Catholics to be treated fairly in the press, as he sees it.”
“Literally, it feels like the world is watching,” Palmo added. “Word is already going around.”
Palmo also said the election shows a desire on the part of the conference to keep up a “new tradition” of “strong leadership.”
Because of Archbishop Dolan's role as head of what is one of the most prominent archdioceses in the world, Palmo said the new USCCB president's tenure will be worth watching.
“Buckle your seat belts – it's going to be a fun ride.”
Archbishop Dolan, who leads an archdiocese of 2.5 million Catholics in New York, has shown himself comfortable and outspoken in presenting the Church's stance on hot-button issues since his appointment to the post in early 2009. A regular critic of the New York Times, Archbishop Dolan has had no qualms about speaking his opinion.
The New York leader has also effectively utilized technology during his time in office, starting his own blog called “The Gospel in the Digital Age.” A prominent figure in New York City, he recently offered to meet with political leaders and moderate the highly controversial Islamic center and mosque slated to be built near Ground Zero – the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Born in 1950, the archbishop is the first of five children to Shirley Radcliffe Dolan and the late Robert Dolan. In 1964, he began his high school seminary education at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South in Shrewsbury, Mo.
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After studying at Cardinal Glennon College and then at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Archbishop Dolan was ordained a priest on June 19, 1976.
On June 19, 2001, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II. He was then named Archbishop of Milwaukee by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Archbishop Dolan took the reigns of the Archdiocese of New York when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him in February of 2009.
Marianne is a journalist with a background in writing and Catholic theology. When not elaborating on the cinematic arts, she enjoys spending time with people, reading thick books and traveling anywhere and everywhere.