Here is a very telling Op-ed piece written by Archbishop Dolan last September. The piece is to answer a column by writer Brian Smith saying that the two bishops who publicly corrected Nancy Pelosi were "meddling" in state affairs. I think there are some very telling points to this piece.
First, Dolan is a very serious student of U.S. history, not only Church history which he has a degree in. I believe he will reference historic events frequently during his tenure.
He also gently corrects people with a soft demeanor. He does not take the black and white approach of an Archbishop Chaput, which this blogger prefers. I believe Chaputs strategy is more vital these days because the truth is so buried in our society, and a gentle approach does not always sink in to an A.D.D. society. In a past article, Dolan said he was unsure of the issue on refusing Communion to pro-abortion politicians.
He also frames the abortion issue as a civil rights issue first, and a Church teaching second. He might do this to neutralize the argument that being pro-life "is a religious belief."
"But church tradition is equally clear that bishops are the authentic teachers of the faith. So, when prominent Catholics publicly misrepresent timeless Church doctrine - as Biden and Pelosi regrettably did (to say nothing of erring in biology!) - a bishop has the duty to clarify. Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop William E. Lori were thus hardly acting as politicians, "telling people how to vote," but as teachers.
Even more significantly, when all is said and done, abortion is hardly a religious issue at all. Women and men of every religion, or none at all, express grave reservations about our abortion-on-demand culture, insisting that it is not a theological matter but a civil rights one."
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