DIVINE: Cardinal Dolan shares a precious moment yesterday with cancer-stricken Rocky Sweeney (left) as he hugs Chris Sweeney and mom Lisa. (NY Post: Chad Rachman)
They can call him Tim.
For the second year in a row, Timothy Cardinal Dolan celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass with an 11-year-old Staten Island altar boy whose dad is seriously ill with cancer — and whose family he continues to call regularly to make sure all is well.
But this time, Chris Sweeney’s proud dad, Rocky, was able to experience the blessed honor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with seats right on the altar to receive ashes from the leader of the New York Archdiocese, who insists they just call him “Tim.”
“Last year I couldn’t be here because I was in chemo,” said Rocky Sweeney, 55. “I cried when I saw him with the cardinal. It’s mind-blowing.”
Chris, an altar boy at Holy Family Parish in Westerleigh, went to St. Pat’s last year and mentioned that his father was undergoing chemotherapy for gall-bladder cancer.
He was drafted on the spot for altar-boy duty for the Mass that begins the holy season of Lent. Chris then received a promise from Dolan that he’d call his ailing dad the next day.
Dolan not only made that call, but has stayed in touch as Rocky’s cancer has spread.
“He calls the house every few weeks,” Rocky said. “He says, ‘Hey, it’s Tim Dolan, just checking in to see how you’re feeling, how the family is doing.’ ”
“With everything going on in this man’s life, he remembers,” said Rocky, who is on disability from his job as global mail operations manager at DHL. “Meeting him, his relationship with Chris, has had a great impact on our family.”
When the Sweeneys showed up yesterday, Dolan “grabbed me and my dad and hugged us,” Chris said.
Dolan also made a point of having Chris sit on his left during the service.
“It was awesome,” Chris said. “Last time, I was in the pews.”
Rocky said, “I thought we’d sit in the front pew, but the cardinal said no, brought us to the chairs on the stage, and gave the whole family Communion and ashes. We had a bird’s-eye view.
“He gave me a separate blessing using the water from Lourdes, France,” where Catholics believe a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared and where pilgrims flock in hopes of receiving miraculous cures.
After the service, Dolan “put the red cap on my head, and said, ‘The next cardinal, everybody!’ ” Chris recalled.
Mom Lisa Sweeney said, “I was so glad that my husband could be there to see this. Last year was surreal, this year it was real.”