Conclave Confession

I have to admit that I am swaying in the wind when it comes to thinking about who might be the next Pope.  Just a few days ago, I was thinking it might be Cardinal Scherer of Brazil.  At other points, I've thought it might be Cardinal Erdo of Hungary, Oullet of Canada, or Scola of Italy.  Of course, my Survivor winner was Cardinal Piacenza of Italy, and as of yesterday, I was intrigued by the young Cardinal, Tagle of the Philippines.  My "ideal" pope would be in the mold of Cardinal Burke (America) or Ranjith (Sri Lanka).  Yet, there is another whose name comes and goes... the one who actually might excite me the most of all.  Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City.

Sure, I know all the reason why an American has never been, and likely will not now be chosen.  But this morning I read a very interesting article from a Catholic news source I have trusted for years, which to my recollection, hasn't erred much, if ever, since I've been reading.  I invite you to read it for yourself and consider the possibility that the Holy Spirit might be blowing from a different direction than ever before... in order to continue, in dramatic fashion, the course of salvation history which we have inherited and are charged with opening up to the whole world.  I also have re-posted my blog entry (mere days after I began blogging for the first time) on the installation of Timothy Dolan as Archbishop of New York.  It contains excerpts of his homily at the installation Mass.  It is a superb reminder of why he is so lovable - and why he'd make such a fine Pope.  By the way... if he were to somehow be chosen (unbelievable as it would be), I'd have a one-day suspension of my Lenten abstinence from alcohol and would crack open a couple salutary brews in his honor and as an offering of thanks and praise to God!  Just read on and you'll understand...

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009On the Road to Emmaus with N.Y.'s New Archbishop  

You've just got to love this guy! "My first pastoral letter's gonna be a condemnation of light beer and instant mashed potatoes -- I hate those two things."  --Timothy M. DolanArchbishop of New York "A Conversation with the Archbishop" The Catholic Channel, Sirius XM Radio16 April 2009

 EXCERPTS FROM THE HOMILY OF THE MOST REVEREND TIMOTHY M. DOLANTENTH ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORKMASS OF INSTALLATION ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, NEW YORK, 15 APRIL 2009  

“This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad! Alleluia!” “He has risen as He said, alleluia! alleluia!” “Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega. All time belongs to Him and all the ages, to Him be glory and power! Amen!” 

 “My dear family . . . when I told Mom that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed me Archbishop of New York, I remarked, ‘Mom, whatever God gives me in life, His greatest gift to me is that I am Bob and Shirley Dolan’s son.’ I mean that.” 

 “But, I hope you understand, as grateful as I am to all of you, there is another claim on my gratitude that towers above all the rest. Above all, above all, I give praise to God, our Father, for raising His Son Jesus Christ from the dead! For ‘Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! For His mercy endures for ever!’ For this is not all about Timothy Dolan, or all about cardinals and bishops, or about priests and sisters, or even about family and cherished friends. Nope . . . this is all about two people: Him and her . . . this is all about Jesus and His Bride, the Church. For, as de Lubac asked, ‘What would I ever know of Him without her?’ The Resurrection, Easter, is the very foundation of our faith, our hope, our love. Everything in the Church commences when, like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus that first Easter, we recognize Jesus as risen from the dead. The Church herself begins. The Resurrection of Jesus is so central to our faith that we celebrate it every Sunday at Mass. On my first day as your archbishop I dream that we can reclaim Sunday as the Lord’s Day, anchored in our faithfulness to Sunday Mass, our weekly family meal with the risen Jesus. In thanking God for the Resurrection of Christ, we thank God for the Church. For as ‘Jesus is the human face of God,’ as Pope Benedict XVI often reminds us, the Church is the human face of Jesus. For us as Catholics, Christ and His Church are one.” “God’s love for us is so personal, so passionate, so intense that He gave His only begotten Son for our salvation. And when God the Father raised His Son from the dead, He put His divine seal of approval upon His work of art, the human project, on women and men made in His own image and likeness, washed clean by the blood of His Son on Good Friday, destined to spend eternity at His side, and assured us, ‘The evil, horror, lies, hate, suffering and death of last Friday will not prevail! Goodness, decency, truth, love, and life will have the last word.’ That’s the Easter message the Church is entrusted to live and to tell. For, believe it or not, the dying and rising of Jesus continues in His Church.” 

 “And just what, I ask you, does the Church have to give? Does she have power and clout, property and prestige? Forget it! Those days are gone, if they ever did exist at all. The Church instead borrows the vocabulary Jesus Himself used in those days after He rose, as we speak of ‘a peace He gives us,’ of ‘feeding my sheep,’ of ‘teaching the nations. 'The Church really has no treasure but her faith in the Lord, which is not bad at all, as we shrug and say with Peter and John in the Acts of the Apostles, ‘Silver and gold we have not, but, what we do have, we give: …Jesus Christ…! 'Now, let me bring this home by suggesting that we all take a little stroll down…the road to Emmaus. For indeed not only the Resurrection but the cross, the dying, of Christ goes on:  

Shortages and cutbacks, people mad at the Church or even leaving her, and our seeming inability to get the Gospel message credibly out there . . . . . . 

are we not at times perhaps like those two dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus? They were so absorbed in their own woes, so forlorn in their mistaken conclusion that the one in whom they had placed their trust was dead, so shocked by the shame, scandal, and scorn of last Friday . . . that they failed to recognize Jesus as He walked right alongside of them! 

 I say to you, my sister and brother disciples now on the road to Emmaus, let’s not turn inward to ourselves, our worries, our burdens, our fears; but turn rather to Him, the way, the truth, and the life, the one who told us over and over, ‘Be not afraid!’, who assured us that He ‘would be with us all days, even to the end of the world,’ and who promised us that ‘not even the gates of hell would prevail,’ the one who John Paul the Great called, ‘the answer to the question posed by every human life,’ and recognize Him again in His word, in the ‘breaking of the bread,’ in His Church. 

 Let Him ‘turn us around’ as He did those two disciples, turned them around because, simply put, they were going the wrong way, and sent them running back to Jerusalem, where Peter was, where the apostles were, where the Church was. 

 For three weeks in July, 1992, I was on pilgrimage in Israel. I had a wonderful Franciscan guide who made sure I saw all the sacred places in the Holy Land. The day before I departed, he asked, ‘Is there anything left you want to see?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘I would like to walk the road to Emmaus.’ 'That we cannot do,’ he told me, ‘You see, no one really knows where that village of Emmaus actually was, so there is no more road to Emmaus.’ Sensing my disappointment, he remarked, ‘Maybe that’s part of God’s providence, because we can now make every journey we undertake a walk down the Road to Emmaus.’