Newly elected USCCB president Archbishop Timothy Dolan gave an interview with the New York Times where he spoke about his surprise election, the pope’s recent comments on condoms, and what he sees as the biggest obstacles facing the Church:
He said the bishops would not stop speaking out on political issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and immigration. But he said there was now a movement among them to confront internal problems like the “sobering study” showing that one-third of Americans born and baptized Catholic have left the church.
“The bishops are saying we need to make sure our house is in order as a church. We need to recover our vigor,” Archbishop Dolan said. “Then we can be of better service to the world and to our culture.” . . .
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He said he was chagrined when he saw a long line of people last Sunday on Fifth Avenue. “I’m talking two blocks, a line of people waiting to get into …” he said, pausing for suspense. “Abercrombie and Fitch. And I thought, wow, there’s no line of people waiting to get into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the treasure in there is of eternal value. What can I do to help our great people appreciate that tradition?”
Of course, given the recent flap about the pope’s comments on condoms in his book, the archbishop couldn’t very well get away without addressing that issue, too:
“The Pope didn’t say, ‘Oh good, you should use a condom,’ ” Archbishop Dolan said, referring to a controversial comment the pope made in a book that is being released worldwide on Tuesday. . . .
“You get the impression that the Holy See or the pope is like Congress and every once in a while says, ‘Oh, let’s change this law,’ ” he said. “We can’t.”
Read the whole article here. Archbishop Dolan hasn’t exactly been shy in his criticism of the Times in the past, so it’s good to see him sitting down with Laurie Goodstein for this interview. Let’s hope it leads to more pieces like this one in the future.