A new archbishop for New York means renewed focus on vocations

Archbishop Timothy Dolan

On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI made one of the most high profile appointments of his nearly four year pontificate when he named Timothy Dolan the new Archbishop of New York.  Archbishop Dolan, who currently serves the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will succeed Cardinal Egan in shepherding the 2.5 million Catholics of the "world's capital" when he retires later this year.

The Catholic Church requires that all bishops offer the Pope their resignations at age 75, when they will usually retire and a successor will be chosen.  Cardinal Egan, who is 76 and has said he plans to remain in New York City, is the first bishop of New York to live to see his successor.

Church watchers have identified Archbishop Dolan, a St. Louis, MO, native, as a likely pick for this key diocese, despite his lack of a connection to New York.  Of all the commentary to emerge since the announcement was made, I found the always insightful John Allen to be most helpful:

While Pope Benedict XVI’s appointment of Archbishop Timothy Dolan to New York hardly marks a dramatic break with key picks under recent popes, it may confirm an intriguing pattern-within-a-pattern under Benedict when it comes to the most important jobs in the United States.

In a sound-bite, one might call it a choice for “the center-right with a human face.” In essence, that means leaders who are basically conservative in both their politics and their theology, but also upbeat, pastoral figures given to dialogue.

Archbishop Dolan also has significant background in fostering vocations to the priesthood, which has been another key trait of Pope Benedict's American bishops, having served as Spiritual Director for the St. Louis Archdiocesan seminary and then head of the American seminary in Rome.  Then, in 2001, when he was an auxilliary bishop of St. Louis, he was responsible for overseeing vocations.  Additionally, he is the author of Priests for the Third Millennium, which "clearly sets forth what it takes to be a Catholic priest in the Third Millennium" (Amazon.com).

The question I've been asking myself in light of this pattern of Pope Benedict's episcopal appointments - conservatives with experience in preparing new priests - is whether there's a cause and effect relationship.  Do these priests and bishops the Holy Father is elevating successfully attract young men to serve their dioceses as priests because of their own commitment to orthodoxy and traditions?

In my experience, the answer is clearly yes.  The young men who are considering vocations to the priesthood are not liberals who believe the Church should go soft on abortion, contraception, divorce, or women's ordination.  Instead, they are fully committed to the Church's teaching and have cultivated an affection for parts of the Faith they were deprived from by their parents' and grandparents' generations.

If this is so, then maybe the men who are entering the seminaries today are actually having an impact on the bishops and priests responsible for overseeing vocations.  Perhaps they recognize the future of the Church lies in the next generation of men accepting the call to serve Christ as priests.  Or the vocations directors could be re-invigorated themselves with hope and faith in what the Church teaches and has to offer.