From this past weekend’s local Gannet newspaper, The Journal News –
New archbishop faces many challenges | lohud.com | The Journal News
“I didn’t come with some prepackaged script or this strategy handed to me by Pope Benedict
XVI ,” he said. “My major duty now is to get to know, love and serve the people of this vast archdiocese. The best way I can do that is by getting around to see them.”Dolan was typically colorful and emphatic, leaning toward a reporter as he tried to drive home his priorities and explain how he sees things. He talked often about the need to change perceptions of Catholic life in New York – that no one wants to be priests, that the school system is dying, that the growing Hispanic population is a problem of some sort.
He wants Catholics to take a fresh look at their church – its traditions, history and universality – so that they will see today’s issues in a larger context.
He referred several times to Scripture to illustrate that “modern” challenges are often nothing new. About the need to react to demographic shifts by moving church resources from cities to suburbs and exurbs, he said: “These days, when we go to Mass and read from the Acts of the Apostles, these days after Easter, you’re always seeing the apostles were thinking the same things: ‘Uh oh, somebody better go to Corinth because people there are saying they want to hear about Jesus.’ “
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