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Even in an era where it’s possible to “friend” hundreds of people, the sight inside St. John Lateran Cathedral Feb. 15 was impressive, as several hundred real friends and family of Cardinal-designate Dolan gathered for his first Mass of a pilgrimage leading up to his elevation to Cardinal in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Inside the ancient baroque church, Pope Benedict XVI’s home parish as Bishop of Rome, proud New Yorkers mingled with Midwesterners from Milwaukee and St. Louis as well as Roman friends to wish the Cardinal-delegate well.
Clearly moved by the sight of so many familiar faces, Cardinal- designate Dolan welcomed his guests to Rome.
“I hope you are as happy to see me as I am to see you,” he beamed, “Welcome to the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, St. John Lateran. We praise almighty God for the opportunity of this pilgrimage to Rome, We praise almighty God for safe arrivals. We praise almighty God for the faith and friendship that we share...”
The crowd was even bigger the next day for his second Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, specifically selected by Cardinal-designate Dolan because of his devotion to the Blessed Mother. This time, more than 1,000 pilgrims crammed into every corner the beautiful gold-hued church, including a young couple from Los Angeles, Lannette Turicchi, and her husband, Scott, who first met Cardinal Dolan when he was the rector of the North American College in Rome. Following the recessional Cardinal-designate Dolan noticed the young couple at the back of the church. His eyes lit up and he immediately went over and warmly embraced them.
“We’ve known Archbishop Dolan since about 2000,” Lannette explained when asked what connection the young Californians had to the cardinal. “He was instrumental in getting our marriage blessed by John Paul II. My husband was familiar with the North American College when then-Msgr. Dolan was the rector. And he had come to Los Angeles to meet some donors and we had lunch with him and he (said), “If you’re coming to Rome you got to come and see me. …We had lunch with him up at the North American College. We walk in and he says, ‘Everybody, I want to introduce my good friends, Scott and Lannette. They just got married’ and all these seminarians stood up and applauded us. Typical Dolan! And we’ve stayed very good friends since. We’re ecstatic to be part of this. As soon as we heard, we knew we were going to come. We just had to be here.”
Those kinds of stories were common among people CNY talked to over the course of the first two days of the pilgrimage. New Yorker Maureen McKew, an employee of the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office, said it had to be something truly special for her join the throng of more than a thousand people.
“Well, ordinarily I’m not the kind of person that goes on these mass tours,” she acknowledged, “but there was something so irresistible about coming here for this consistory with Cardinal-designate Dolan, who’s such a gregarious man and manages to make everything into a wonderful experience. I couldn’t not come.”
Trish and Bill Reilley, of Milwaukee, Wis., expressed no hard feelings toward New Yorkers for taking their popular shepherd away from them. “No, we just thought that was the next place for him to go,” said Trish with a laugh. “Milwaukee is a small archdiocese when you compare it to New York, and we thought it was a good place for him to go. We knew he was destined for bigger things.”
She also had strong personal feelings for the Cardinal-designate. “I just think he touched our lives in a very special way. As members of Legatus (a Roman Catholic association of business executives), we would see him at least once a year at Mass. But personally he touched our family when our daughter-in-law’s mother was ill. My daughter-in-law was very distraught about her mother who had just been given six months to live and Archbishop Dolan followed up with my daughter-in-law to get her mother’s number. He would call her periodically just to ask how she was and her six months to live has transformed to almost 10 years now in remission.”
The Reilleys learned of the consistory in January from a good friend who called her husband to ask if they heard the news and asked if they would be going.
“He hung up the phone and I asked, ‘What was that about?” she recalled, “And when he explained, I asked, ‘What did you tell him?’ He said he’d have to talk to me about it, and I said, ‘What do you have talk to me about. We’re going!’ ”
