Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks stood before murals at the entrance of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York depicting St. Frances Cabrini, Dorothy Day, first responders of 9/11 and immigrants from past and present and saw a reflection of both his own story and the story of New York.
“It just reminded me of my own family immigrants who came here from Germany and from Ireland and from Poland and it also reminded me of people I’ve met along the way during my time in missionary work in Latin America,” Hicks said. “What it reminded me of is that people still look to that golden door for hope and for opportunity here in the United States.”
The incoming archbishop, who will become the 11th leader of the Archdiocese of New York, used his pre-installation press conference Feb. 5 to sketch the pastoral tone he hopes to set: rooted in simplicity, shaped by evangelization, attentive to immigrants and the poor, and focused on building a missionary church that reaches outward.
Hicks described that mission in distinctly outward-looking terms. “I’m going to talk just about being a church who’s made up of missionary disciples who want to go out and make disciples, and also to pass our faith on to the next generations,” he said. “We’re going to talk about a church that builds bridges, goes out to the peripheries, engages the world and lives her mission — a missionary church.”
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With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Camillo Barone, where this article originally appeared.
