As he prepares to step aside after nearly 17 years leading the Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan says fear, gratitude, and trust in God have marked both the beginning and the end of his tenure.
“The night before it was announced I was going to be Archbishop of New York, I was scared, and I called a very wise woman, my mom,” Cardinal Dolan said in an exit interview with The Free Press. “I said, ‘No, I don’t know if I’m up to this. I’m kind of scared. This is a big job, you know, New York.’”
His mother’s advice, he said, stayed with him throughout the years of his New York episcopacy.
“They must have seen something in you that makes the Pope and your brother bishops think that you can do it. And so just be yourself,” Cardinal Dolan recalled. “Relax, be at peace. Trust in God’s grace.”
Cardinal Dolan submitted his resignation upon turning 75, as required under canon law, and Pope Leo XIV accepted it in December 2025. His tenure formally ends this week, closing a chapter that began in 2009 when the Midwestern priest arrived in New York with what he described as “some trepidation.”
“You have all these stereotypes of New York,” Cardinal Dolan said. “I hear they’re mean, they’re impersonal, they’re cold. I hear they’re pagans. None of that stuff was true.”
Instead, he said, the city “adopted” him quickly. He recalled a moment early in his tenure at Yankee Stadium — watching the Yankees play the St. Louis Cardinals — when a fan recognized him and offered to buy him a beer.
“I thought, bingo, I’m home,” Cardinal Dolan said.
That sense of belonging made his farewell Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral especially emotional.
“The reason it’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral is because of the cathedra, which is the Greek word for chair,” he said. “So I said goodbye to that chair. And I said, ‘cathedra, you've been a great seat for 17 years. You've been comfortable, be as comfortable for my successor.’ And I confess to the people that I will miss very much having Sunday Mass at St. Patrick.”
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The cardinal said that while his tenure as archbishop is ending, he plans to remain active in parish life.
“Now I’ll be free to get around to parishes,” he said. “I’ve already got a bunch of invitations.”
Asked about his legacy in New York, the cardinal resisted narrowing it to any single issue, instead describing a pastoral approach shaped by dialogue, humor, and an insistence on human dignity — even amid political tensions throughout the years.
“I go back — I’ll be 76 this Friday — to every president since Truman,” Cardinal Dolan said. “There was never one that would get an A-plus from the American people, nor from Catholics in the United States, nor from their pastors, their bishops. There’s never been one.”
Cardinal Dolan said his role as a Church leader has required engagement with presidents of both parties. Speaking of former president Barack Obama, Cardinal Dolan said, “I found him to be always courteous,” noting that their exchanges were frequently “heated” over policy differences. He also shared that he has spent time with President Donald Trump, whom he came to know first as a fellow New Yorker, adding that their conversations often involved “interior analysis and rethinking things.”
The cardinal said Catholic leaders are called to assess public policy through moral principles rather than partisan loyalty, noting that Catholics may welcome some actions by Trump while hoping he changes his mind on others.
On immigration enforcement, Cardinal Dolan described what he called a Catholic “via media,” a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" or the "way between two extremes.” He said the Church supports firm enforcement “when it comes to protecting our border, making sure it’s strong” and removing “cutthroats and dangerous people” but warned against actions that violate human rights or undermine what he described as the nation’s “magnificent birthright” of welcoming immigrants and refugees.
“Go slow on that, and don’t be bothering people that are not a threat,” Cardinal Dolan said, adding that he was encouraged the President has since indicated that enforcement “went a little too far” and is now tempering things.
Looking ahead, Cardinal Dolan said stepping down from leadership does not mean stepping away from priestly life — or from New York.
“I don’t retire from being a priest or a bishop. I retire from an assignment,” he said, adding that while he could live anywhere, he plans to remain in New York by choice.
Reflecting on his age and the end of his tenure, he said stepping away from daily administrative responsibilities has given him a new sense of freedom and time. The cardinal described learning, later in life, to “become a kid again in school” — returning to curiosity, conversation, and unhurried time.
When asked where someone curious about Christianity should begin, Cardinal Dolan returned to the center of his own faith.
“The best place to start is on your knees in church, in front of the tabernacle, the Blessed Sacrament,” he said. “I think that’s the prayer He always answers.”