John Delach

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Almost every year from 1990 until 2019, I have traveled to different cities across America to watch a New York Football Giants road game including three Super Bowls, SB XXV, XXXV and XLII. This included a trip in October 2009 with my son, Michael, and our friends, Dave Brackett and his son, Tim to Kansas City to see our beloved Giants play the Kansas City Chiefs.  Our regular driver, Mohamed, picked-up Michael and me first at 9 a.m. Michael had driven from his home in Fairfield, CT early enough so he arrived in Port Washington with time for a buzz cut at a local barber before meeting me at our house. Mohamed next drove his Navigator to the Brackett residence and from there we made good time from Port Washington to LaGuardia arriving in less than thirty minutes.

Michael decided to check his bag while the three of us chose carry-on letting the airline staff to decide whether to let us store them on board or gate-check them. Back then, this meant we all had to report to the Mid-West Airlines counter, Mike, to check his bag and obtain his seat assignment and the rest of us for seat assignments, only. We were stuck on a small regional jet and our bags were eventually gate checked.

The line was reasonable and as I looked around. I happened to notice two men standing behind us. One, an older fellow, was dressed in a suit and tie, but it was the other chap who caught my attention. He was obviously a member of the clergy, dressed in a black suit with a Roman collar and a rather big cross hanging on his chest. All I needed was one look at his size and his youngish, round, familiar face before I realized who he was. My “bad boy” streak of humor turned on and I asked my son, “How would you like to meet the New York Diocese new cardinal?”

“Of course I would, but, seriously, Pop, please tell me you’re not going to make a scene?”

“Oy vey,” I thought to myself, “My son knows my weird sense of humor.” Still, I persisted and I asked the man behind me, “Are you our new cardinal?”

He briefly hesitated, then replied, “I’m the new archbishop,  Timothy Dolan.”

“Of course”, I thought, but I replied, “I thought the extra star came with your new command.”

His security companion interjected, “He soon will be.” But the archbishop corrected him and replied, “That’s the army, I work for the Church.”

His Excellency was as charming in person that led to a delightful conversation as we continued to wait on line. He was on his way to a charity dinner in Milwaukee fulfilling a commitment from his previous diocese. We talked about the Giants’ Kickoff Luncheon (he did attend the 2009 edition) and how his predecessor, Cardinal Egan pronounced the coaches name Coughlin instead of “Coflin”, the way the coach pronounced his own name. The archbishop finally had enough with my impertinence. He looked at me and said, “Be careful.”

I replied, “You sound just like my wife.”

Dave said, “Good luck with that cardinal thing.” eliciting, “Frankly, I’d rather the Cardinals won the World Series.”

We were all that much younger back in 2009. Dolan was made a cardinal in 2012. He had a successful tenure while enjoying all that goes on in the Big Apple and his stature. However, he had to pay the price for reaching 75 in the spring of 2025 necessitating his offer to Pope Francis to resign being the Archbishop of the New York Arch Diocese. 

Pope Francis died that fall and his successor, Pope Leo XIV decided to replace Dolan with Bishop Ronald Hicks, bishop of Joliet, Illinois to be effective February of 2026.

The Catholic Church is hardly exempt from politics, and so it goes. I choose not to speculate why Pope Leo made this decision.

I only wish Cardinal Dolan a grand and long retirement and his Cardinals, a World Series win.