Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Timothy Michael Dolan was named Archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI on February 23, 2009. Two months later on April 15, 2009, he was installed as Archbishop of New York. He was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on November 16, 2010.

Having previously served as Archbishop of Milwaukee since 2002 under the appointment of the late Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Dolan is also former rector of North American College in Rome. He has written numerous books published mostly by Our Sunday Visitor, including To Whom Shall We Go as well as the hardcover bestseller, Priests for the Third Millennium.

Born February 6, 1950, Archbishop Dolan was the first of five children born to Shirley Radcliffe Dolan and the late Robert Dolan. In 1964, he began his high school seminary education at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South in Shrewsbury, Mo. His seminary foundation continued at Cardinal Glennon College, where he earned a B.A. in philosophy. He completed his priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning a License in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas.

Archbishop Dolan was ordained to the priesthood on June 19, 1976, then served as associate pastor at Immacolata Parish in Richmond Heights, Mo. until 1979, when he began studies for a doctorate in American Church History at the Catholic University of America. Before completing the doctorate, he spent a year researching the late Archbishop Edwin O'Hara, a founder of the Catholic Biblical Association. Archbishop O'Hara's life and ministry was the subject of the Archbishop's doctoral dissertation.

On his return to St. Louis, Archbishop Dolan served in parish ministry from 1983-87, during which time he was also liaison for the late Archbishop John L. May in the restructuring of the college and theology programs of the archdiocesan seminary system.

In 1987, Archbishop Dolan was appointed to a five-year term as secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. When he returned to St. Louis in 1992, he was appointed vice rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, serving also as director of Spiritual Formation and professor of Church History. He was also an adjunct professor of theology at Saint Louis University.

In 1994, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he served until June 2001. While in Rome, he also served as a visiting professor of Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University and as a faculty member in the Department of Ecumenical Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. The work of the Archbishop in the area of seminary education has influenced the life and ministry of a great number of priests of the new millennium.

On June 19, 2001 – the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood – then-Fr. Dolan was named Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II. The new Bishop Dolan chose for his Episcopal motto the profession of faith of St. Peter: Ad Quem Ibimus, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" (Jn 6:68).

He served as chairman of Catholic Relief Services and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America.

On June 29, 2009, Archbishop Dolan received the pallium, a symbol of his office as an archbishop, from His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, at St. Peter's Basilica.