{"id":75202,"date":"2025-12-19T04:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75202\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T04:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:04:07","slug":"new-yorks-new-archbishop-designate-vows-to-serve-faithfully-while-remaining-a-cubs-fan-national-catholic-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75202\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s New Archbishop-Designate Vows to \u2018Serve Faithfully\u2019 While Remaining a Cubs Fan| National Catholic Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bishop Hicks addressed media at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral alongside outgoing Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who turned 75 earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The newly announced leader of the Catholic Church in New York expressed \u201cheartfelt gratitude\u201d on Dec. 18 for having been appointed to the post by Pope Leo XIV.<\/p>\n

Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks<\/a>, who will head the Archdiocese of New York after leading the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, said at a Thursday press conference that he accepted the Holy Father\u2019s appointment \u201cwith great humility\u201d and \u201can open heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bishop Hicks addressed media at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral alongside outgoing Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who turned 75 earlier this year, the customary age at which a prelate submits his resignation to the Holy See.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new archbishop-designate reflected on his formation under past Church leaders in his hometown of Chicago, including Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Francis George, and Chicago\u2019s current archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich. \u201cFor all of them, I\u2019m deeply grateful,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Makes first \u2018controversial statement\u2019<\/p>\n

At the press conference, Bishop Hicks jokingly announced what he anticipated would be his \u201cfirst controversial statement\u201d by admitting his unending devotion to his hometown Chicago Cubs baseball team and his love of the Windy City\u2019s iconic deep dish pizza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to know that I am going to remain a loyal Cubs fan,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, I am going to start rooting for the New York sports teams. And I already love your pizza. I love it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prelate admitted he would miss the Joliet Diocese, at which he has served for the last five years. \u201cI have felt happy, grateful, and blessed to be their bishop,\u201d he said. \u201cTogether, we have worked with some missionary zeal to catechize, to evangelize, and to put our faith into action as disciples who make disciples.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing New York City as \u201crich in energy, languages, cultures, and people,\u201d he said he was excited to get to know the city, though he acknowledged that the archdiocese is facing \u201ccomplex and challenging days\u201d including issues of life, faith, and \u201chealing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bishop Hicks specifically said he was committed to learning about the archdiocese\u2019s efforts to compensate survivors of sexual abuse. The archdiocese is currently pursuing a settlement for victims that is expected to top $300 million.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Church, we can never rest in our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children, and to care for survivors,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The prelate said he looks forward to \u201cworking closely and collaboratively with the priests, the deacons, the religious, the lay leaders of [the] archdiocese\u201d as well as working with the \u201cgreat variety and diversity of faith leaders and civic leaders\u201d that populate New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Addressing the archdiocese\u2019s Spanish-speaking faithful, the archbishop-designate spoke in Spanish of his past ministry in Mexico and Central America, including five years in El Salvador.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saying he has \u201can enormous heart for Latino culture and Hispanic people,\u201d he mentioned he has two Colombian nephews, Puerto Rican godparents, many Dominican friends, and that he intends \u201cto walk with all of you, together, as brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to speculation in the media and on the internet as to who he is as a bishop, Hicks said: \u201cIf you want to know the core of who I am and what I stand for, you should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart, and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor as myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy desire is to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and to do the will of God, serving with a shepherd\u2019s heart,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bishop Hicks addressed media at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral alongside outgoing Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who turned 75 earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4712,9,34542,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-75202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-cardinal-dolan","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-archdiocese","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-city-news","14":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}