YONKERS, N.Y. – President Barack Obama called Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan Feb. 23 to congratulate the Milwaukee archbishop on his appointment as head of the New York Archdiocese, according to news reports.
The 59-year-old archbishop spoke about what he called the “extraordinarily gracious” call during a late afternoon visit to St. Joseph’s Seminary in the Yonkers suburb of Dunwoodie, where he celebrated evening vespers and had dinner with seminarians.
Archbishop Dolan said that when he received the call he thought at first that his brother was playing a joke on him.
He said he and the president briefly discussed the financial problems facing the United States, with Archbishop Dolan offering a tongue-in-cheek solution – that the church hold additional collections.
Archbishop Dolan invited Obama to his April 15 installation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and said the president told him, “I assure you of my prayers.”
There was no official announcement of the call from the White House.