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As Christmas approachesthe message of glimmering hope in the darkness may seem more relevant than ever. Whether inspired by the weight of a broken world, personal grief, or the sadness that reigns during the short days of winter, people seem increasingly drawn to finding the light.
That’s the takeaway message from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who is leading midnight mass this Christmas.
Cardinal Dolan shared this sentiment during an exclusive interview with Maria Bartiromo at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, where he reflected on signs that Americans are rejecting the “caricature” of the faith as “nasty, destructive, harmful, and outdated,” which led to an increase in sales of Bibles and other books on spirituality.
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Cardinal Dolan joined Maria Bartiromo in an exclusive interview at the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s Day in New York, (Fox News/Screengrab)
“There seems to be a new appreciation of the role of religion, especially in our country,” he told “Sunday morning futures“host.
“I think President Trump has taken advantage of that. I’ve talked to him in the past. He’s been pretty open [that] he cannot say that he was brought up as a very zealous Christian, but he takes his Christian faith seriously. He has a lot of memories of Norman Vincent Peale, the famous preacher here in New York, down . . . on Fifth Avenue, and I think he means it.”
He continued, “I think the assassination attempts kind of resurfaced in him, ‘There’s something outside of me that I think is watching over me, and it has a mission for me.’ And it seems that what he expresses personally is more and more coming to the fore throughout the world and that is part of America.”
Maybe there is something bigger watches over the world, he suggested, pointing to former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, two figures whose contributions helped define the latter part of the 20th century. Both survived assassination attempts very close to each other, and each would help make the world what it is today.
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“When the two first met, Ronald Reagan told Pope St. John Paul II, ‘Mother Teresa told me that she thought the Lord spared me because the Lord had something special in mind for me, and Pope St. John Paul smiled. I said to myself: ‘She told me the same thing.’ They both believed in it, and look what they managed to achieve, the world changed for the better because of them,” he reflected.
Cardinal Dolan was walking the grounds St. Patrick’s Cathedral with Bartiromshowing her a photograph of a drawing by imprisoned Hong Kong freedom fighter Jimmy Lai depicting Christ on the cross.
As billions around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, Dolan says his message this midnight mass will focus on the “triumph of light.”
“The Lord always calls us to come out of ourselves. This gives us hope.”
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