2012 Year in Review

In the Archdiocese

JANUARY
Archbishop Dolan became Cardinal-designate Dolan when Pope Benedict XVI announced a February consistory elevating him and 21 other bishops to the College of Cardinals. Among the other bishops appointed cardinals were Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, the Bronx-born former New York priest and auxiliary bishop, and a third North American, Archbishop Thomas C. Collins of Toronto. Pope Benedict ordained as bishop, Archbishop Charles J. Brown, a longtime official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a priest of the Archdiocese of New York who became the new apostolic nuncio to Ireland. The archdiocesan Catholic Charities “Feeding Our Neighbors” campaign increased the supply of food available to hungry New Yorkers through a collection of food goods or money. The cardinal called on every Catholic institution in the archdiocese to participate. New York Catholics demonstrated their love for life by participating in the 39th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., and the archdiocese, in commemoration of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The archdiocesan Pro-Life Commission is building a network of health care providers and others to assist parents who have received an adverse prenatal diagnosis. Cardinal Dolan has appointed clergy members to serve on regional boards in Rockland County, Staten Island and the Northwest and South Bronx in a pilot program for the regionalization of schools, part of the Pathways to Excellence strategic plan to bolster Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Sister Helen Horton, S.C., who formerly served as program director of the archdiocesan Instructional Television (ITV) center on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, died Jan. 8. A member of the Sisters of Charity, she was 88.

FEBRUARY
Cardinal-designate Dolan and a group of priests from the archdiocese traveled on a retreat/pilgrimage to the Holy Land Jan. 25-Feb. 3. “In the Footsteps of Jesus” brought the 50 pilgrims to biblical sites in Nazareth, Gethsemane, Capernaum, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, among other places. Paul Krebbs, president of All Hallows High School in the Bronx, was one of nine Catholic educators from across the country honored at the White House as part of the national Champions of Change program, for contributions made to society. The Super Bowl champion New York Giants were showered with confetti as they paraded past an estimated 1 million energized fans lining the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan. The Giants defeated the New England Patriots, 21-17, Feb. 5 in Super Bowl XLVI. Pope Benedict XVI tapped Cardinal-designate Dolan to lead the College of Cardinals in a daylong discussion of the New Evangelization at the Vatican Feb. 17. The Pope created 22 new cardinals from 13 countries—including Cardinal Dolan—Feb. 18 at the Vatican. The churchmen who joined the College of Cardinals included native New Yorker Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and Cardinal Thomas C. Collins of Toronto. During the ceremony, Pope Benedict assigned the 22 new cardinals a “titular church” in Rome, making them full members of the Rome clergy and closer collaborators of the pope in governing the universal Church. Cardinal Dolan became the titular cardinal of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Monte Mario neighborhood of Rome. In their first official act in their new role, the new cardinals were asked to join their peers in giving the pope their opinion, in writing, on the canonization of seven new saints, including two with New York connections: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, an American Indian, and Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai, Hawaii. The pope announced at the consistory that the canonization ceremony would be celebrated Oct. 21 at the Vatican. Cardinal Dolan returned to New York from Rome Tuesday, Feb. 21, in time to celebrate Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22.

MARCH
In a 50-minute keynote address titled “Lifting Up Our Voices: How Catholics Can Make an Impact on Public Policy,” the Cardinal outlined principles and practical implications of Catholic social justice teaching at a diocesan public policy day on Long Island. His talk followed closely on the heels of the narrow defeat of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act in the U.S. Senate March 1. The archdiocese rolled out the welcome on two weekends for the nearly 1,500 faithful who would be fully received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. Cardinal Dolan cut the ribbon to dedicate ArchCare’s newest all-inclusive care program for the elderly at St. Vincente de Paul Catholic HealthCare Center. Before celebrating the St. Patrick’s Day Mass March 17, Cardinal Dolan announced the start of an extensive project to “repair, restore and renew” St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Standing on the cathedral steps, joined by Church and civic dignitaries, he outlined the project, which will be carried out in three phases at a total cost estimated at $170 million. More than 1,000 Catholics from across the eight dioceses of New York state, including a large contingent from the archdiocese gathered in Albany for the annual “Catholics at the Capitol” Public Policy Day. Msgr. John Graham, pastor of St. Raymond’s parish in the Bronx, was named regional vicar of the East Bronx, the Cardinal’s Office has announced. The 21 newly appointed lay board members of the archdiocese’s three Catholic School Pilot Regions joined the already announced clergy members at the first board training session at the New York Catholic Center. Corpus Christi School in Manhattan opened the Walt Disney Science Laboratory courtesy of a $125,000 gift from Father Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., a 1948 alumnus who served on the Disney Board of Directors. The new $125 million Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center opened its doors in Yonkers March 5, relocating from Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.

APRIL
In conjunction with Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in late March, Father Lorenzo Ato, assistant director for Hispanic media in the archdiocesan Communications Office, led a pilgrimage to Havana that featured pilgrims from several dioceses across the United States, including New York, as a sign of the archdiocese’s solidarity with the Church in Cuba and to honor the canonization cause of Cuba native Father Felix Varela, a 19th century Churchman who was the founding pastor of St. James and Transfiguration parishes in lower Manhattan and as vicar general of the archdiocese. Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Egan celebrated his 80th birthday April 2. Staten Island Catholic Clara Almazo, a 52-year-old Mexican immigrant, wife, mother and grandmother, spontaneously pushed her 8-year-old grandson out of harm’s way when a car careened when they were walking from Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Benedicta Church in West New Brighton, Staten Island. She was then struck by the car and killed. George Doty, a major Catholic philanthropist and a member of the Knights of Malta, died April 24 at his home in Rye. He was 94. Florence B. D’Urso, an international philanthropist who was well known for her support of Catholic causes at the Vatican and in the archdiocese, died April 24 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. She was 79.

MAY
Jazlyn Gonzalez, 10, a fourth-grader at St. Raymond’s Elementary School in the Bronx preparing to celebrate her first Holy Communion May 5, was one of seven family members killed in an April 29 automobile accident on the Bronx River Parkway after the vehicle fell 60 feet from an elevated portion of the highway and landed upside down on the property of the Bronx Zoo below. Cardinal Dolan was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine and honored at an April 24 gala at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan. Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal Dolan a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, as well as a member of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Representatives of a state Senator Greg Ball’s Citizens’ Advisory Council on Parochial Busing, including a contingent of Catholic school administrators, educators, students and parents, boarded a bus at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers to the capital in Albany to relay a strategy to preserve the current 15-mile busing radius for nonpublic students from a potential measure that could reduce it to five miles. Cardinal Dolan participated in a two-hour live Town Hall broadcast on the Catholic Channel of Sirius XM satellite radio. Cardinal Dolan ordained two men to the priesthood May 19 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral: Father Patric D’Arcy, 33, for the archdiocese, and Father John Paul Ouellette, C.F.R., 43, for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Father Richard Welch, C.Ss.R., was named judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal. Cardinal Dolan and other leaders spoke out strongly in defense of religious liberty after filing a series of lawsuits against the Obama administration mandate requiring them to cover contraceptives and sterilization in their employee health plans, with the cardinal declaring “time is running out.”

JUNE
Cardinal Dolan celebrated Mass at 7 a.m. June 22 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in commemoration of the archdiocesan observance of “Fortnight for Freedom,” a national period of prayer, study, catechesis and public action proclaimed by the U.S. bishops for June 21 to July 4. Parishes across the archdiocese were asked to conduct a Holy Hour for religious freedom during the fortnight, recite a prayer for religious liberty after all weekday and weekend Masses throughout the fortnight and to ring the church bells at noon on July 4 in defense of religious liberty. The cardinal penned an ebook titled “True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty,” published June 19. Cardinal Dolan ordained 11 men to the permanent diaconate at a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral June 23. The 2012 Stewardship Appeal surpassed its goal with more than $19 million raised for the charitable works of the Church. Catholic New York received third-place honors in general excellence, one of eight awards it won at the 2012 Catholic Press Awards competition in Indianapolis.

JULY
Pope Benedict XVI has approved the heroic virtues of U.S. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the charismatic televangelist who was a former auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese and a former national director of the Propagation of the Faith, clearing the way for the advancement of his sainthood cause. Also honored in decrees June 28 were Mother Angeline Teresa McCrory, the Irish-born founder of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who died in New York in 1984. The order operates three nursing homes in the archdiocese. A preliminary recommendation that the HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley presented to the New York State Department of Health and the Office of Mental Health proposed the secularization of Kingston’s historic Benedictine Hospital. Auxiliary Bishop Gerald T. Walsh was named vicar for clergy in the archdiocese and episcopal vicar of the Rockland, Central Westchester, South Shore and Yonkers vicariates. Another key appointment was Msgr. Edward Weber being named director of priest personnel. Mount Manresa Jesuit retreat house on Staten Island and St. Ignatius retreat house in Manhasset, Long Island, will close June 1, 2013.

AUGUST
More than 500 people filled St. Boniface Church in Wesley Hills to celebrate the inauguration of St. Mary’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at St. Boniface. Swimmer Lia Neal, a senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Manhattan and three teammates won the bronze medal in the U.S. women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the Summer Olympics in London. She set personal best records in the preliminary and final. Immigration Services of the archdiocese assisted individuals who have questions about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that will allow certain undocumented young people to be at least temporarily freed from the threat of deportation and get work permits. John J. Phelan Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of archdiocesan Catholic Charities and former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, died Aug. 4 in New York. He was 81.


SEPTEMBER
When the parish school bell rang across the archdiocese, regionalization became part of the vocabulary. It refers to the realignment of Catholic elementary schools into nine separate sectors, to be administered in two phases: a pilot program in September for three regions: Northwest/South Bronx, Rockland and Staten Island; the remaining regions will follow next year. The bishops of New York State, along with the state Council of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, collaborated on a new document, “The Catechetical Leader in the Third Millennium,” highlighting the importance of catechetical leadership in transmitting the faith in today’s world. Cardinal Dolan, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered the closing prayer at the end of the Republican National Convention Aug. 30 in Tampa, Fla., and at the Democratic National Convention Sept. 6 in Charlotte, N.C. Cardinal Dolan has written the Democratic and Republican nominees for president and vice president and asked them to sign the Civility in America pledge developed by the Knights of Columbus. St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie made history with its Mass of the Holy Spirit marking the start of the academic year. It was the first opening Mass since the launching of a program that made St. Joseph’s the site for the training of seminarians from the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Cardinal Dolan dedicated the Edward Cardinal Egan Catholic Center at New York University in his predecessor’s name. Reconvening a dialogue that had become dormant, Cardinal Dolan last week welcomed Muslim and other Catholic leaders to a meeting in his offices at the New York Catholic Center. Sister Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., died Sept. 13 in Albany at age 84. The Daughters of Charity sister significantly expanded the services of the international network of Covenant House for homeless youth, headquartered in Manhattan, during her 13 years as president, from 1990 until her retirement in 2003. Father John C. Flynn, who became known as the “people’s priest” through his 50-year ministry of service to the poor of the Bronx, died Sept. 24 in Riverdale. He was 83. Sister Rita Mary Neumann, P.B.V.M., the oldest religious sister in the archdiocese, died Sept. 26 in New Windsor. A member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she was 106.


OCTOBER
The archdiocese embarked on the Year of Faith initiated by Pope Benedict XVI that began Oct. 11 and concludes Nov. 24, 2013. Cardinal Dolan celebrated the opening of the Catherine Corry Early Childhood Academy with a Mass of dedication at St. Frances of Rome Church in the Bronx. Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn joined to deliver a Sept. 24 blog post that was critical of New York City’s provision of the “emergency contraception” to public school students as young as 14, and issued a joined statement on behalf of the poor on the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Sept. 27. Cardinal Dolan is one of a number of bishops elected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve at the Synod of Bishops Oct. 7-28 at the Vatican. Cardinal Dolan took formal possession of his titular church, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome. Msgr. Emmet Nevin has been named regional vicar of the Rockland County Vicariate. President Obama and Mitt Romney shared the dais at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria—raising $5 million for Catholic charities that help needy children in the archdiocese. Pope Benedict XVI canonized seven saints on World Mission Sunday, Oct. 21 at the Vatican. Among them are two with New York connections: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Blessed Marianne Cope. Hurricane Sandy struck New York and the rest of the tri-state area Oct. 29.

NOVEMBER
Catholics and Church agencies in the archdiocese came to the rescue, with $3 million and counting, for those adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy as they solemnly buried the dead, aided the injured, cleared debris and prayed for their displaced and distressed brothers and sisters. An archdiocesan bilingual adult faith formation and evangelization forum titled “Light the Fire of Faith” was held at the New York Catholic Center in conjunction with the universal Church’s celebration of the Year of Faith. The archdiocese published a Parent Guide to Human Sexuality, through three age-appropriate publications, geared to children ages 5 to 10, 9 to 14 and 13 to 19. The archdiocese announced Nov. 26 that 26 of the 159 regionalized, parish and archdiocesan elementary schools are at risk of closure in June 2013. Additionally, St. Agnes Boys High School in Manhattan is also at risk of permanently shutting its doors at the end of this school year. Ground was broken Nov. 20 for a 29,000-square-foot pavilion on the campus of what is now known as the Cardinal O’Connor Clergy Residence in Riverdale. Construction of the suite-style living quarters for the future Edward Cardinal Egan Pavilion for retired priests of the archdiocese is scheduled to begin next year.


DECEMBER
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the federal contraceptive mandate filed by the Archdiocese of New York and two other Catholic entities can move forward. Student actors at St. Stephen of Hungary School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side are starring in a yet-to-be-released documentary for their production of “Yes, Virginia: The Musical,” performed for the school community Dec. 14-15 through a grant from Macy’s. The archdiocesan Inner-City Scholarship Fund raised $1.2 million. Cardinal Egan was the honoree of the 2012 scholarship award, which provides scholarships to low-income students. Cardinal Dolan’s Christmas Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria raised more than $600,000 for women and children served by agencies and programs affiliated with the archdiocesan Catholic Charities through the St. Nicholas Project. Cardinal Dolan remembered victims of Hurricane Sandy and of the Newtown, Conn. School massacre at the Year of Faith Mass Dec. 16 at St. Peter’s Church in lower Manhattan. The sacrament of reconciliation was offered in parishes across the archdiocese on Advent Reconciliation Monday, Dec. 17.