A Great Communicator

Judging by Timothy Dolan’s interview in the New York Post today, the new Archbishop of New York is the eager teacher of the faith he was expected to be. Dolan tackled clerical celibacy, traditional marriage, Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame, and the Church’s pro-life message, all in a genial, firm way:

A burly Irishman who has charmed Gotham with his jokes and penchant for beer, cigars and baseball, Dolan yesterday firmly defended traditional Catholic values, even while arguing that “we can’t allow ourselves to give ammo to our enemies who want to picture us as just this stern, mean, naysaying church.”

For example, while calling abortion “intrinsically evil,” Dolan cited the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities arm for advancing a “pro-life” message by operating a nursery for babies born to inmates at the Bedford Hills women’s prison in Westchester County, which he visited this week.

“That’s pro-life at its best, and that’s where we gain credibility for our message—if we are giving the kind of creative, life-giving alternative to what we call the ‘culture of death,’” Dolan said. “So it’s not just that we’re constantly condemning something, it’s that we’re proposing an alternative.”

“And how does the Church propose?” Fr. Neuhaus loved to ask in speeches and sermons. “Winsomely, persuasively, and persistently, like a lover to the beloved.” Like Timothy Dolan does and, please God, will continue to do for years to come.

(Via Whispers in the Loggia )