With the retirement of Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York, the Roman Catholic Church is losing one of its most anti-LGBTQ+ American leaders. Dolan, who has reached the mandatory retirement age, 75, for bishops and archbishops, will be succeeded by Bishop Ronald Hicks, who has led the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, since 2020, Pope Leo XIV announced Thursday.
Dolan became archbishop of New York in 2009. The archdiocese covers not only New York City but several surrounding counties, with 2.8 million Catholics within its boundaries, making it second only to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in population.
“Although Cardinal Timothy Dolan occasionally made some affirming public statements about LGBTQ+ people, in the whole, he was not friendly to them,” Francis DeBernardo, director of the LGBTQ-affirming Catholic group New Ways Ministry, told The Advocate via email. “The list of snubs and offenses he committed is dishearteningly long. After Pope Francis’s more positive approach to LGBTQ+ people started catching on in the church, but he made some kind remarks, but they were often qualified.”
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“We are happy to see him go,” Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, another LGBTQ+ Catholic organization, said in a phone interview.
Here’s a look at Dolan’s worst moments as leader of the second-largest archdiocese in the U.S. and what to expect from his successor.
Opposing marriage equality, although it wouldn’t affect the church
In 2011, Dolan opposed the marriage equality bill proposed in his state, even though it wouldn’t require any church to perform unions it opposed; the American principle of separation of church and state guaranteed that. On a panel titled “The Ring Makes a Difference,” Dolan said the movement against marriage equality is “not antigay” but “aimed at opposing a range of threats to the institution of marriage, including divorce, polygamy, and adultery.” The bill passed, and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law. In fairness, it should be noted that Pope Francis, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, opposed a bill to establish marriage equality in Argentina — and it passed too. It’s been reported that he tried to persuade other Catholic leaders in the country to support civil unions as an alternative, and he endorsed civil unions as pope — something Dolan remained uncomfortable with. Francis also approved religious blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples, as long as they didn’t resemble marriage ceremonies.
That same year, Dolan wrote to President Barack Obama criticizing Obama’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court and his plan to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Dolan said these moves would “escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage.” After New York passed the marriage equality bill, Dolan said he wanted to help other states fight similar legislation.
The Catholic Church just has an image problem
In 2013, Dolan downplayed the significance of Pope Francis’s famous “Who am I to judge?” remark about gay priests and suggested the church merely has an image problem, saying on Meet the Press, “Well, I think maybe we've been outmarketed sometimes. We've been caricatured as being antigay.” For the record, the church says a gay orientation is not sinful, but acting on it is. And as for transgender people, it considers gender fixed at birth and immutable. While Francis reached out to LGBTQ+ people, he didn’t change the church’s teaching, nor did anyone seriously expect him to.
Hospitality, but with conditions
“In 2013, he appeared to offer a message of hospitality to LGBTQ+ people, but his bizarre qualifications appeared more like a slap in the face,” DeBernardo said. “Using an analogy to his childhood family he wrote: “You are a most welcome and respected member now of our table, our household, dad was saying, but there are a few very natural expectations this family has. Like, wash your hands!” as if indicating that LGBTQ+ people had some stain to them.
“He then noted that the welcome was ‘to a community that will love and respect you, but which has rather clear expectations defining it,’ which seemed to signal that only those who adhere to church prohibitions on sexuality and gender were welcome.
Ignoring hate crimes
Again from DeBernardo: “In 2013, when over two dozen hate crimes were committed against LGBTQ+ people in NYC during one spring, municipal and religious leaders rose to condemn such violence in a whirlwind of defense for the dignity and safety of LGBTQ+ people. One voice was conspicuously silent: Cardinal Dolan.”
Not “born this way”
Pope Francis’s outreach to LGBTQ+ people was rather puzzling to Dolan. In 2018, he appeared flummoxed by Francis’s reported remarks to a gay man that “God made you like this and loves you like this.” Dolan said the man deserves God’s love, like everyone else, but he questioned whether people are born gay. “Is it nature or nurture? ... I don’t think the Holy Father would feel competent to speak on that,” Dolan said on his Sirius XM radio show.
Last year, Dolan was outraged that the funeral for transgender activist Cecilia Gentili was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The leaders at St. Patrick’s said they were duped into allowing the service, and Dolan ordered them to hold a Mass of Reparation to make up for this supposedly sacrilegious event.
Praying at Donald Trump’s inauguration
In January, Dolan was among the anti-LGBTQ+ clergy members praying at Trump’s second inauguration. He gave the invocation — the opening prayer — saying in part, “God of our fathers, in your wisdom you set man to govern your creatures, to govern in holiness and justice, to render justice with integrity: Give our leader wisdom, for he is your servant aware of his own weakness and brevity of life, if wisdom, which comes from you be not with him he shall be held in no esteem. Send wisdom from Heavens that she may be with him, that he may know your designs.” However, Trump has turned out to be neither wise nor aware of any weakness he possesses.
In May, Trump named Dolan to his Religious Liberty Commission, which includes such anti-LGBTQ+ notables as Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (its chair), Franklin Graham, Ben Carson, and Phil McGraw. The same month, when Dolan was in Rome to help choose Pope Francis’s successor, reporters asked him about Trump’s AI-generated image of himself as pope. Dolan said it was “not good.”
The successor
Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet will now be archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York. Pope Leo was acquainted with Hicks before appointing him. The pope is originally from Chicago, and Joliet is about 50 miles southwest of the city; both grew up in the Chicago suburbs. As Cardinal Robert Prevost, the man who is now pope met Hicks when giving a talk in the Joliet diocese last year.
“I recognize a lot of similarities between him and me,” Hicks told Chicago TV station WGN shortly after the new pope’s election. “So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places to go to. I mean, it’s that real.”
Hicks has a mixed record on LGBTQ+ issues. He refused to allow a petition against gender-affirming care to circulate in his diocese, Duddy-Burke said. The reason for his refusal is unknown. But during his tenure, the diocese did adopt an anti-trans policy, she said. The policy for diocesan schools states that schools "will interact with students according to their biological sex as based upon physical differences at birth."
Also, last year he helped celebrate a Mass at a conference of Courage International, "which offers pastoral support for men and women who experience same-sex attraction and have chosen to live chastely," according to the Catholic News Agency.
“I want to share with everyone not only my great support but also my abundant prayers,” Hicks said at the conference. “May God bless you, this apostolate, and everyone, today and always.”
This is more concerning than earlier reports about Hicks, Duddy-Burke said. However, she noted, “From our contacts in the Chicago area and what we’ve been able to read about him, he is a very pastoral man,” meaning he prioritizes the needs of the people he serves.
The jobs of Catholic archbishops have become largely administrative in recent years, she noted, dealing with settlements to survivors of sexual abuse, declining church attendance, and the need to close parishes and schools.
“There has not been as much engagement on pastoral needs of people,” she said. “Now we hope it will swing back that way."
Related: U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV. Here's what he's said about LGBTQ+ people
DeBernardo said Hicks “appears to have a similar pastoral style to Pope Leo XIV. ... If that similarity bears out, Bishop Hicks will likely take a noncontroversial approach to LGBTQ+ issues, neither supporting them strongly, nor condemning them harshly, but instead continuing to encourage pastoral welcome and local level dialogue. The good news is that he doesn’t seem to be a culture warrior, as Cardinal Dolan was. If he allows Catholic LGBTQ+ pastoral ministry to develop on the local level, he will be a welcome change from Cardinal Dolan.”
The members of DignityUSA’s New York chapter look forward to meeting Hicks, Duddy-Burke added.
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