Roots of family, friends run deep in St. Louis for Cardinal-designate Dolan

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"Proud" and "excited" are the words that come up again and again in conversations with family members of Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York who is a native son of the St. Louis Archdiocese.

Cardinal-designate Dolan grew up in Holy Infant Parish in Ballwin, the oldest of five children of Shirley Dolan and the late Robert Dolan. Most of the family still lives in the St. Louis area. Brother Pat Dolan and his wife, Mary T. Dolan, and their children are members of Little Flower Parish in Richmond Heights. His mother, Shirley Dolan, is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Washington. His two sisters also live in Washington — Lisa Williams and her family are members of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Debbie Williams and her family are members of St. Francis Borgia Parish. Brother Bob Dolan and his family live in Milwaukee.

And they're all pretty proud, according to his mother.

"I can't even express how proud and happy I am," said Shirley Dolan. "We were kind of expecting it, but really not this soon."

The cardinal-designate is very family-oriented, his brother Pat Dolan said, and came back to St. Louis over the holidays to visit for several days.

"We kind of got a hint while he was back," Shirley Dolan said, "just because of a few phone calls he received. Then, sure enough, yesterday afternoon (Jan. 5) he called me and gave me the wonderful news. Naturally we're on cloud nine."

She added, "Of course, we're going to Rome" for the consistory and induction in mid February.

All the siblings and their spouses will be going to Rome with their mother, according to Pat and Mary T. Dolan, along with a number of Cardinal-designate Dolan's 12 nieces and 1 nephew.

Pat Dolan said, "We are so proud and delighted, just thrilled and excited for him too. We spoke with him briefly yesterday (Jan. 5)." As for the trip to Rome, "we can't even imagine what that will entail."

Mary T. Dolan added, "Everyone is really proud of him. And he just handles all this with ease. You don't expect this of someone you know, someone my kids call 'Uncle Tim' —and now he's a cardinal."

Sister Rosario Delaney, RSM, principal of Holy Infant School in Ballwin, is also excited about the news of a former Holy Infant student. Sister Rosario has known Cardinal-designate Dolan since she came to Holy Infant in 1964, when he was graduating. "We knew it would happen one day. but it did take me by surprise that it was happening right now. He called me and told me late yesterday evening (Jan. 5). We're very, very proud." She's also planning to be in Rome for the consistory and induction of the new cardinals in February.

Sister Rosario said that the news was announced to the students during the school's Epiphany Mass today (Jan. 6) and was greeted with applause. But earlier, on the way to Mass, one of the teachers mentioned to some of the students that "we have a new cardinal."

"The students said 'Yippee. Who did we sign?'" the principal said, with a laugh. "They thought it was a baseball Cardinal. The teacher said, 'No, it's a cardinal of the Church.'" And that's something Cardinal-designate Dolan would get a laugh out of as well, Sister Rosario said. 

Cardinal-designate Dolan often praises his home archdiocese where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1976. He was an
auxiliary bishop here for less than a year when he was named archbishop
of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in June 2002.

"I love you, and I am forever grateful to you. My friends in the Archdiocese of St. Louis are permanently etched in my heart," Archbishop Dolan said to St. Louisans in a phone interview with the St. Louis Review when he named archbishop of New York in 2009.

He said Milwaukee and St. Louis were similar. "Beer, brats, baseball, a heavily Catholic, friendly town." He noted that he'll always miss St. Louis, though. "I miss the proximity of family and friends. No matter how close you get to people away from home, you are never as close as to the people you grew up with. I miss my loyal and loving friends back home."

Cardinal-designate Dolan is often praised for being "pastoral." As a young priest, he was associate pastor at three St. Louis parishes. He has maintained that pastoral approach in the much larger New York Archdiocese.

Cardinal-designate said his desire was always to be a parish priest in St. Louis. "But you don't always get your way. ... When I was made auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, I told Archbishop (Justin) Rigali that I was hoping to come home to St. Louis and be a parish priest.

"Archbishop Rigali said, 'You are a parish priest. Your parish is the entire Archdiocese of St. Louis. I'm the pastor and you are my associate.' ... that's where it's at, and that's the model of Jesus. (When you read the Gospel, you see) He is mostly one on one. Blessed Mother Teresa said, 'one soul at a time.' I like that."

Msgr. Michael Turek, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish in South St. Louis, said at the time of his appointment to New York, "I've know Tim since I was 14 years old and we started high school together. It's grown into a friendship through the years. He has this tremendous quality of endearing people to himself, remembering their birthdays and anniversaries. His recollection for that stuff is amazing. Tim lets people into his life and they allow him in their lives.

"When he becomes the preacher, they listen to him with a totally different sense, because they are listening to someone that they respect, that they love, that they feel they know well. And I think that's the power of his preaching. He's never aloof, never distant. He can make an entire archdiocese — as I think he did in Milwaukee and he did here in St. Louis — feel they know him personally and well," Msgr. Turek said.