By RON LAJOIE

Hours before departing for Rome for the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, Cardinal Dolan celebrated Mass for archdiocesan employees of the New York Catholic Center at St. John the Evangelist Church in Manhattan.

The cardinal, who was elected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve as a member of the Oct. 7-28 Synod, said he wanted to enlighten archdiocesan employees, whom he called “cherished and close collaborators in the work of the Gospel,” about what would be happening in Rome.

In a 40-minute presentation after the Oct. 5 Mass, the cardinal discussed the Synod on the New Evangelization in the context of the upcoming Year of Faith, a 13-month observance that begins Oct. 11.

“What I’d love to do is use the repair, restoration and renewal of our beloved St. Patrick’s Cathedral as a paradigm for the renewal of the Church,” Cardinal Dolan explained. “Because, as you all know, the Church is always in need in of renewal…Two of the ways this renewal, this restoration, is going to happen is in the New Evangelization and in the recovery of the beauty, sense, truth and goodness of our faith.”

Cardinal Dolan quoted extensively from Pope John XXIII’s opening remarks to the Second Vatican Council, which said that the Church has an obligation to carry on the ancient, timeless teachings that witness to the truth and beauty of the faith, but also must present them in ways that are relevant to modern ears.

“We must present it afresh with energy and vigor to make it more appealing, more captivating to the modern world,” the cardinal said. “And that, of course, is the challenge that you and I as Catholics have. And what I’d like to suggest is this: the Year of Faith concentrates on the integrity of the faith, the substance of the faith, Church teaching, and the New Evangelization concentrates on how to present it, with spice and with appeal and with energy and vigor and success.”

In the past month, Cardinal Dolan had discussed the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization and the Year of Evangelization with three other groups: the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, the Major Superiors of Women Religious and the Priests’ Council.