For nearly two decades, spanning three different papacies, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has served as the Archbishop of New York. Now, at the age of 75, he is stepping down, and Pope Leo XIV has named Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois as his successor. Hicks will now lead one of the most important and influential dioceses in the history of American Catholicism, a history that the departing Dolan not only studied but had a hand in shaping.
Over the course of his tenure as Archbishop of New York, Dolan has also been a vocal supporter of politically conservative measures.
Cecil Calvert, the Second Baron Baltimore, established the Catholic-friendly colony of Maryland in 1634, with the intention of offering a new home to persecuted English Catholics. It would, however, be nearly 150 years before the first Catholic church was dedicated in Baltimore, in 1770. Following the American Revolutionary War, Pope Pius VI created the Apostolic Prefecture of the United States, which became the Diocese of Baltimore in 1789, led by Bishop John Carroll. (Carroll’s brother, Daniel, was one of only five men to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, and his cousin Charles was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence.) The Diocese of Baltimore encompassed the whole of the U.S. until 1808, when Pope Pius VII elevated Baltimore to an archdiocese and created four new suffragan dioceses, including the Diocese of New York.
Richard Luke Concanen, an Irish-born Dominican, was named the first Bishop of New York, but he was prevented from leaving Rome by a French blockade and died two years later, never having set foot in his diocese. Another Irish-born Dominican, John Connolly, succeeded Concanen and became the second Bishop of New York. Connolly rode over 1,000 miles on horseback throughout the state of New York, visiting and ministering to Catholics under his care, mostly Irish, but also some English, French, and Germans. In 1817, he invited St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born Saint, and the Sisters of Charity to establish a Catholic orphanage in New York City.
When the much-loved Connolly died in 1825, Pope Leo XIII named John DuBois the next bishop of New York. The French DuBois was not initially popular among the predominantly-Irish population of Catholics, but nevertheless set to work and began establishing seminaries. At the time, the diocese had only 18 priests ministering to over 150,000 Catholics. The first seminary DuBois built, in Nyack, burned down, but he built a second in Lafargeville.
DuBois was succeeded by one of the most influential figures in the history of American Catholicism: Bishop John “Dagger” Hughes. Born in Ireland, Hughes became a Catholic priest in the U.S. in 1826. He became active advocating for American Catholics, then a marginalized group, and was able to secure support from both the Tammany Hall Democrats and the dominant Whig Party for funding for Catholic schools. However, the newly-established New York City Board of Education (NYCBOE) subsequently barred taxpayer funds from going to religious schools. Disappointed, Hughes founded a private Catholic school system, including establishing St. John’s College (now Fordham University). By 1870, less than 30 years after Hughes lost his battle with the NYCBOE, nearly one in five children in New York City were educated in Catholic schools.
Hughes became Bishop of New York in 1842 and immediately set about confronting what he considered anti-Catholic bigotry. Hughes was beloved by New York’s burgeoning Catholic population. When anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia, inspired by Nativist agitators opposed to the influx of Irish immigrants, began spreading to New York, Hughes drafted men from his parishes to stand as armed guards outside Catholic churches. After hearing that an anti-Catholic rally was scheduled to take place in the city, Hughes warned rally organizers and city officials that if a single Catholic church were damaged, he would mobilize New York’s Catholics to burn the city to the ground. Officials of all political stripes knew the influence that Hughes wielded and took him at his word. The rally was canceled.
Notably, while Hughes often advocated for better treatment of Irish Catholic immigrants, he also demanded that newcomers to the U.S. show gratitude to their new homeland and assimilate to American law and culture. During the Draft Riots of July 1863, Hughes successfully called upon the Irish Catholics involved to cease and desist, to show respect for their new homeland, and to serve willingly in America’s armed forces. He became the first Archbishop of New York in 1850, when Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to an archdiocese.
Archbishop John McCloskey oversaw a rapid expansion of Catholic parishes in the latter third of the 19th century, establishing nearly 100 new parishes and ministering to the incoming Catholic immigrants from Italy and Poland. McCloskey was succeeded by his assistant, Michael Corrigan, who caused concern in the Vatican for his preference of Irish Catholics over Italian Catholics. When Italian-born St. Francis Xavier Cabrini arrived in New York with instructions to establish an orphanage in Manhattan, Corrigan rejected her efforts, telling her instead to return to Italy. Cabrini replied, “I am here by order of the Holy See, and here I must stay,” earning Corrigan’s begrudging respect.
The 20th century saw a continued expansion of parishes and Catholic schools, as well as the implementation of the mandates of the Second Vatican Council. The latter half of the century also saw the Archdiocese of New York take a leading role in pro-life initiatives, defending the unborn and supporting pregnant mothers. The archdiocese’s reputation was crippled by the revelation of clerical sexual abuse, which Dolan worked hard to recover from and prevent from ever happening again. Dolan hired former judge and prosecutor Barbara Jones to manage an investigation removing all priests credibly accused of abuse from ministry and implementing safeguards to prevent future instances of abuse.
Of note, Dolan took on the role of kingmaker in the papal conclave earlier this year, according to multiple Italian news outlets. The New York Archbishop worked as a consensus-builder among American and Latin American cardinals and managed to secure the support of conservative and traditional prelates as well as moderates. Throwing his support behind Robert Francis Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope), Dolan managed to steer votes away from Vatican Secretariat of State Pietro Parolin, considered a progressive by many.
Over the course of his tenure as Archbishop of New York, Dolan has also been a vocal supporter of politically conservative measures, befriending President Donald Trump, speaking at the Republican National Convention, and opposing abortion, climate change hysteria, the LGBT agenda, and other left-wing issues.
It will now fall to soon-to-be-Archbishop Hicks to continue defending and advocating for the Catholic Church and the United States of America from one of the most influential sees in the nation, in an era fraught with political tension and ever-increasing discord. American Catholics would do well to pray that the new archbishop will exercise his authority for the good of his flock and the good of the nation.
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