Newly-installed Archbishop Timothy Dolan is continuing to make his presence felt in the media, keeping open discussions about hot button issues such as gay marriage and the possibility of marriage within the priesthood. Dolan seems to be making a concentrated effort to put a positive spin on the church's stance on topics that he knows might not sit well in a town as socially liberal as New York.
While discussing gay marriage with the Post, he said, "Hard-wired into us is a dictionary, and the dictionary defines marriage as between one man, one woman for life, please God, leading to the procreation of human life. And if we begin to tamper with the very definition of marriage, then we're going to be in big trouble. We're not anti-gay—we're pro the most basic definition of marriage."
Dolan said that he saw the logic of gay marriage advocates who might link the church's opposition to its defense in years past of segregation, also once justified by some under the notion of natural law. But he called that notion "a tragic misinterpretation."
The archbishop also made a point to say that he did not think Governor Paterson's press conference announcing his proposal to legalize gay marriage in New York the day after Dolan's installation was at all meant as any sort of insult.
Dolan also addressed the issue of priests within the Catholic church being able to marry with both the Post and in an interview with WCBS 2. He followed the lead taken by Cardinal Egan in his waning days as archbishop in going as far as saying that the issue should be opened for discussion. He emphasized that he does not support lifting the marriage ban and doesn't believe that a move to do so would be much of a boost in addressing the lack of new candidates for the priesthood. He said, "Most of the young men who are attracted to the priesthood are so because they find celibacy very attractive."
