He knocked on the St. Patrick’s Cathedral door, and the faithful answered.
With Edward Cardinal Egan at his side last night, Archbishop Timothy Dolan was given a warm embrace by New York’s Catholic community before his official appointment today as the country’s top religious figure.
Using a blue hammer, Dolan pounded on the bronze doors six times, asking to be accepted as New York’s new archbishop. Then he paused and knocked another three times just to be sure he was heard.
A roar of laughter erupted in the church.
The doors swung open and the 59-year-old Dolan walked in to an explosion of applause.
The faithful forgave the new archbishop for flubbing his first official act. Dolan was supposed to give three sets of three knocks — nine in total — in recognition of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
EDITORIAL: WELL DONE, CARDINAL EGAN
“Thank you everybody for opening the door and letting me in when I knocked,” Dolan told the ebullient crowd. “It sure is good to be at home with all of you.”
The folksy prelate then delivered a heartfelt homily filled with honesty and reverence about the task before him.
“I don’t mind admitting that I was scared to open the door completely to Him,” Dolan confessed. But then he said he heard a voice.
” ‘Timothy, be not afraid,’ ” he said God told him. ” ‘My grace is sufficient.’ ”
Egan joked that this would be the last time Dolan would have to knock to get into St. Patrick’s.
“This is a joyous occasion,” Egan said. “As we receive our new archbishop, we are pleased to have so many of the faithful here.”
As cheers rang out, Egan escorted Dolan to the archbishop’s chair. Dolan received a standing ovation when he sat in it for the first time.
The thousands of well-wishers ranged from his second-grade teacher, Sister Mary Bosco Daly, who flew in from Ireland, to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States.
“You can just tell he’s on top of the world,” said Dolan’s 80-year-old mother, Shirley.
The festivities began with a procession of banners representing the archdiocese’s 19 regions, and included Sambi’s reading of a letter from Pope Benedict XVI .
The door-knock ritual was part of a ceremony called the Solemn Vespers, the start of a two-day ceremony that will conclude with a Mass of Installation today.
The former Milwaukee archbishop is taking over the most visible post in the US Catholic Church and the country’s second-largest diocese after Los Angeles.
Egan, 77, is retiring after nine years as head of the archdiocese, which covers Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island and the city’s northern suburbs.
Dolan is expected eventually to be made a cardinal, but it could take about a year or even longer.
Egan waited 10 months before getting the cardinal’s red hat.
It took his predecessor, John Cardinal O’Connor, 16 months.
An archdiocese spokesman explained that the general rule is one cardinal for a diocese, and Egan remains in that position despite his retirement.
If Egan were to die or be moved to a position outside New York, then a vacancy would exist that Dolan could fill, the spokesman said.
However, the pope has discretion in the matter.
In preparation for last night’s ceremonies, Egan’s coat of arms was removed from the archbishop’s chair at St. Patrick’s and replaced with Dolan’s coat of arms.
Egan’s has the words, “In the holiness of truth,” on it. Dolan’s has the Latin phrase, “Ad quem ibimus,” which means, “Lord, to whom can we go?”
As workers were installing Dolan’s coat of arms, the Rev. Michael Martine whipped out his iPhone and started taking pictures.
Excitement from the ceremony spilled outside, where faithful who could not get in danced and sang on the steps.
“I want to see the bishop,” said Alma Ribaudo, 70, a member of the Church of St. Columba in Chelsea. “I want to feel his presence here and God’s presence here. I want to be a part of it all.”