Big Apple Archbishop Ronald Hicks marked his inaugural Sunday Mass at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral cheekily revealing that New Yorkers are already trying to convert him away from his hometown Chicago\u00a0Cubs and\u00a0deep-dish pizza.<\/p>\n
Hicks, the 58-year-old former bishop of Joliet, Ill., gave his first homily after being was officially installed at the helm of the New York Archdiocese on Friday, taking the reins from Cardinal Timothy Dolan. <\/p>\n
New Big Apple Archbishop Ronald Hicks marks his inaugural Sunday Mass at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral. Youtube\/ St. Patrick’s Cathedral NYC<\/p>\n
The archbishop, addressing hundreds of congregants in what he called \u201cAmerica\u2019s parish church\u201d in Manhattan, talked about the word \u201chowever\u201d and how it can be used to show a \u201cdeeper reality and a deeper truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe word \u2018however\u2019 introduces a contrast and not necessarily a contradiction,\u201d the 11th archbishop of New York said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people are going to go to a Super Bowl party today. However, some of them will only watch the commercials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople here in New York have been saying to me, \u2026. \u2018It\u2019s good that you\u2019re a Cub fan. However, we\u2019re going to get you to a Yankees game or a Mets game.\u2019<\/p>\n
Hicks, who worked at an orphanage in El Salvador for five years, opens Sunday\u2019s Mass in Spanish. Youtube\/ St. Patrick’s Cathedral NYC<\/p>\n
\u201d \u2018It\u2019s fine that you like deep-dish pizza. However, you are going to love New York pizza,\u201d the top clergyman said. he was told.<\/p>\n
The newly minted archbishop emphasized what he has vowed to make a priority in the archdiocese: evangelizing, or spreading the word of Christianity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bring light and salt to the world in that missionary spirit when we catechize, evangelize and put our faith into action,\u201d he told worshippers. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe bring this missionary church to the world when we are disciples who make disciples, passing our faith onto the next generation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hicks \u2014 the archdiocese\u2019s first new leader since 2009 \u2013 also emphasized the duties of \u201ctaking care of poor and vulnerable people\u201d and defending life from \u201cconception to our natural death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new head of the New York Archdiocese emphasizes \u201ctaking care of poor and vulnerable people\u201d in Sunday\u2019s homily. Youtube\/ St. Patrick’s Cathedral NYC<\/p>\n
The archbishop, who is fluent in Spanish, began his homily with the sign of the cross in the language.<\/p>\n
Hicks spent five years caring for the poor and overseeing an orphanage in El Salvador before serving as a bishop in the Chicago area and later making the move to New York, when he was named to the local post by Pope Leo XIV in December.<\/p>\n