Back in his Wisconsin days. I wonder if the conclave has this picture in mind? Now, I'm all for bishops and cardinals being human, and relating to their people, and all that. Some traditionally minded Catholics look at this picture and wonder about the man. I look at it and say, "Uh, well, I would have advised against it, but it doesn't really bother me much. As long as he didn't keep in on throughout the Mass instead of his miter."
I actually like the good cardinal and wish him well in the conclave. I am somewhat surprised that he is actually seriously considered papabile, but there are way worse choices. I really do admire the way he has stood up to the NY Times and the other NY and national media. He has proven that doing so doesn't result in sudden death, and that other bishops have nothing to fear from their own local media either. And by the way, if it did result in sudden death, I think that would count as martyrdom.
But a picture means a lot. Ever wonder why Dolan got the NY archdiocese and the red hat, when say Archbishop Myers of Newark NJ didn't? I don't know, maybe it has something to do with this picture - I'm not gonna actually post it because I think he's trying to live it down, and I don't want to get a reputation for disparaging bishops or reopen old wounds or anything like that.
In Archbishop Myers' defense, he co-wrote a sci-fi book, and that photo was from an interview he did with the NJ media when it was published. I think that the media in question really exploited the archbishop's good nature to get him to wear that get-up. But with a photo like that out there, it just makes things difficult to get a red-hat diocese or a curial appointment.
The point of this post, though, is that you can bet your white smoke that if Dolan gets the white hat, you will see that yellow hat all over the place. Because if the media can make the new conservative American pope look silly, they will.
But then again, he can stand up to them.
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