An open letter to Archbishop Dolan

This anti-Catholic bias you speak of does, indeed, exist. However, I worry that you might be playing into it, so some degree, by commenting that President Obama should not have been invited to speak at Notre Dame University's commencement next month.

Even though the church disagrees with Obama on certain issues, shouldn't Notre Dame students be able to hear from him? Especially when so many Catholics voted for him? 

Either way, as you settle into New York, observers are wondering if you will be like John Cardinal O'Connor -- outspoken, confrontational -- or Edward Cardinal Egan -- aloof, business-minded.

I get the sense you know this already, but it bears repeating -- New York will only embrace you if you are simply yourself. That's why I say keep rooting for those Cardinals.

In the long run, you may or may not be New York's last Irish American  Archbishop.  This may be an occasion for mourning, but it is also true that people will look back on this amazing run of New York Irish leaders, stretching back to the time of the American Civil War.

They will wonder about the condition in which they left the New York Catholic Church, the American Catholic.

With all that in mind, all I can say is, good luck. You'll need it. Especially if, come October, the Cardinals meet the Mets in the playoffs.

***I'll be discussing "Irish Saints and Sinners" in Manhattan on Saturday April 18 at 2:30 p.m. at the Ottendorfer Branch Library, 135 Second Avenue. The same talk will be given Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Great Kills Branch Library, 56 Giffords Lane, Staten Island.

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