The inspiring legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was recalled by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, during his radio program, “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan”, in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Rev. Dr. King’s historic “I Have A Dream” speech.

During his radio program Dolan discussed the role that faith played in the life of Rev. Dr. King, and said, “Where would we be without his enlightened leadership?  But once again, would you find that today those who would extol, rightly, the Reverend Martin Luther King’s leadership would also very often might not be on our side with religious values being in the public square?

“In other words, today it is kind of a secularist mindset that religion, morality, the Bible, teachings that we have from our religion, our churches, those are best kept private.  And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’m sure glad Martin Luther King didn’t believe that.’  I’m sure glad that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King did not believe that what he prayed on Sunday morning was not to be implemented on Monday morning.  For him, politics was shot through with religious values and for him there was no apologizing for the fact that the Bible, that Jesus, that the Old Testament prophets, they were definitive in culture, in life, in our nation

“So, I’m proud of him as a religious leader, as a clergyman, as a minister, as a preacher, that he’s the one that led us in this great act of freedom and emancipation”

Cardinal Dolan also participated in NBC-TV’s #DreamDay, recording a video in which he said, “I have a dream that, like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, all of us will consider religion as a tremendous source of bringing people together.  As the Church, our faith, religion, morality, it brings people together, it calls out what’s best in us.  That never ever would religion, would the church, would morality be used as an occasion to oppress people, but it would always be the cause of justice, it would always be the engine that drives what is most noble and uplifting in the human person.”

Here is the famous “I have a dream” speech: