Report: Archbishop Dolan takes New York by storm!

What a day. I consider myself honored and blessed to have been able to attend Archbishop Timothy Dolan's Mass of Installation today in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

In a very real way - you, AmP readers, were my ticket. So right up front - thank you for that. New York Archdiocese seminarian readers Adam and Robbie spotted me and I was able to snap this photo with them. Please keep these two fine young men in your prayers.

To get my play-by-play of the Installation, see my archived tweets here. I hope to do more such live-twittering in the future, schedule permitting.

I'm scurrying to find the complete text of Abp. Dolan's Homily - it's a barnburner, no question about it. I want to make sure I have some of my quotations correct before I comment on them. [update: Whispers has the complete text here.]

Here is an extremely comprehensive photo slide show of the day. If I had to choose one photo that captured the feeling of being in Abp. Dolan's presence - it is this:

Just look at that energy! Look at his desire to wade into the sea of his flock!

As for the most moving moment, it had to be the "deafening applause" which greeted Abp. Dolan's mention of unborn life. As I said at the time, I can say the sharp applause seemed to originate first from the 900 attending priests, from what I could sense. It was quickly picked up by the crowd at large. I believe the bishops/archbishops were the first to rise to their feet, and by the end the only people I could see still sitting were a handful of priests behind the sanctuary.

It would be wonderful if someone could take that portion of Abp. Dolan's homily and put it in Youtube.

As much as I'd like to add more - I've had a busy couple days of travelling and need to catch a little rest before the busy days ahead. Watch for more updates as I and others have the opportunity of collecting our thoughts.

In the meantime, let us all say a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of Archbishop Dolan to New York and the Catholic Church in the United States.