Checking in on bishop\u2019s moves<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still a cardinal. Friends might call me\u00a0Timothy, but I\u2019m still a cardinal. Still a priest. Still loving New York,\u201d Timothy Cardinal\u00a0Dolan\u00a0told me<\/a>.<\/p>\n Remember the day you became an archbishop?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019d had 7 \u00b9\/\u2082 years in Milwaukee before coming to New York 17 years ago. I told my mom, \u2018I\u2019m kind of nervous. This is a big diocese. It\u2019s got problems,\u2019 and she said, \u2018What are you worried about? They didn\u2019t ask you to go there.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n Faithful friend<\/p>\n \u201cMy first day walking into St. Patrick\u2019s I\u2019d heard troubling things. Like New Yorkers were haughty. Didn\u2019t like people from the Midwest, journalists were offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n What about friends? When you\u2019re as high as an archbishop, can you have real friends?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more difficult. You got to be friendly with everybody. Real friends are few and far between. I love my priests, but can\u2019t be as friendly with all because I\u2019m their boss. Their shepherd.\u00a0I think now I can begin to make friends<\/a>. Like, you know about that gift you sent me? I drank it already.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Not that I\u2019m ungracious, but it was pretty expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd worth it. So last week, on my 76th birthday, I went out with four guys who\u2019ve been secretaries for me in the past. Look, I had a baptism and a Mass with a thousand people this morning. I did a wake two days ago, a funeral Saturday.\u00a0This stuff I\u2019ll still do<\/a>\u00a0but I won\u2019t have to go to meetings, cut budgets or those neuralgic decisions about merging parishes, moving priests, closing schools. Won\u2019t have to do the stuff I don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n Mass appeal<\/p>\n \u201cAs for religion today, young adults from college to age 35, it\u2019s up. The priesthood is up, but not as much as we\u2019d like. People wanting a church wedding also up. Pardon my mentioning this, but donations have increased, too. We\u2019ve had gloomy news about people leaving God. Not Catholic anymore. Don\u2019t trust the church. I can\u2019t be a Pollyanna about that. It\u2019s definitely there.<\/p>\n \u201cOther good things are happening. As for Catholic schools closing, first of all, there\u2019s not as many kids as there used to be. Secondly, public schools, thank God, are trying to improve. Back then, kids went to our schools because they were better than the others. Same with hospitals, nursing homes and health-care facilities.<\/p>\n