Dolan Calls Pope’s Tone on Sexual Morality a ‘Breath of Fresh Air’
Three days after Pope Francis set a new tone for the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, embraced the “magnificent interview” in which the pope chastised the church for its obsession with sexual morality, and called him “a breath of fresh air.”After Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Cardinal Dolan, who has himself softened his language on homosexuality in the past year, likened the pope to the Yankees’ retiring relief pitcher: “I think he’s our Mariano Rivera. He’s a great relief to all of us.”
Last Wednesday, Pope Francis surprised Catholics and non-Catholics alike with the publication of a lengthy interview in which he reprimanded the church for emphasizing dogma and moral doctrines over ministering to its people, including “those who have quit or are indifferent.” He laid out a vision for a more inclusive church as a “home for all” and said the church could not afford to be “obsessed” with same-sex marriage, abortion and contraception.
The comments were a sharp departure from his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who had zealously defended church doctrine, once calling homosexuality “a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.”
Cardinal Dolan, whose name was floated as a possible candidate for the papacy, made his own waves last spring in televised interviews on Easter Sunday. Having vigorously fought the legalizing of same-sex marriage in New York, he said the church could be more welcoming of gay men and lesbians. “We’ve got to do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people,” he said.
On Sunday, Cardinal Dolan, who is president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, held a brief news conference in the sanctuary to talk about Pope Francis’ first six months in the Vatican and to address the pope’s groundbreaking interview with an Italian Jesuit journal. He was joined by the Very Rev. Robert Barron of Chicago, a priest known for his weekly radio program “Word on Fire,” who delivered the homily.
Asked how the city’s gay Catholic population regarded the new pope, Cardinal Dolan said, “I think they embrace him and I’m glad they do.” The pope’s message, Cardinal Dolan said, was that “we don’t look at people first and foremost as their sexual orientation or sexual identification; we look at him as a child of God, made in his image and likeness.” He added: “That’s the glasses we use. Everything else is secondary, so I hope that hits home.”
Father Barron offered a similar analysis. “If the first and last thing that gay people hear from the Catholic Church is that your acts are intrinsically disordered, that’s a tragedy,” he said. “I heard a new pastoral strategy in this interview. It’s a question of what do you prioritize, how do you do the work? You lead always with the merciful face of Christ.”
Still, Cardinal Dolan said the interview did not signal a shift in church doctrine or policy, whether toward same-sex marriage or abortion.
“One of the lines that nobody seems to be paying attention to was when he said I’m a loyal son of the church,” he said. “He knows that the highest and most sacred responsibility is to pass on the timeless teaching of the church.
“What he’s saying is that we have to think of a more effective way to do it, because if the church comes off as a scold, it’s counterproductive,” he said. “If the church comes off as a loving, embracing mother, who periodically has to correct her children, then we will be effective.”
Worshipers leaving the standing-room-only service embraced the pope’s comments. “I was very pleased that he’s open to things that the Catholic Church has been very rigid about,” said Autumn DeMauro, of Pittsburgh. “It could give young people a reason to come back.” NYTimes