Expect no huge change in New York when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton prayed together. It was a presidential-campaign season miracle.
It was October 2016, at the infamous Al Smith Dinner, a fundraiser for charities, named after the first Catholic to run for president of the United States.
The dinner, honestly, was painful. The remarks from the political candidates in presidential election years are supposed to be light roasts. The idea is that you are self-deprecating and have a little fun. You try to show that you do appreciate that there is more to life than politics. And that you also appreciate that you might not be God's gift as a savior to the nation. Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, didn't quite incorporate that memo into his speech. It was mean-spirited, making the whole event awkward.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and host of the Al Smith Dinner, revealed what happened behind the scenes: He asked the two candidates if they would pray with him. And they did.
A lot has happened since. But the fact remains that there was a pastor who guided the two of them to humility and prayer -- something that would otherwise seem impossible, unless you were someone who knew that not only is there more to life than politics, but also that the American experiment's success relies on people who understand that. And who understands that we are not the ones we have been waiting for, to borrow another presidential campaign slogan. Not only has not all of human history been waiting for us to show up, but we also can't rely on our own talents, as great gifts as they might be, to save the world. A humble servant gets that. Cardinal Dolan gets that.
Dolan is retiring. The incoming archbishop, Ronald Hicks, is a seemingly humble priest from Illinois -- he grew up in a town adjacent to where Pope Leo was raised. The media reports a "seismic shift" happening in the Catholic Church, that the "culture war" era in New York is over, even that this new bishop appointed by the Vatican was a "protege" of Chicago Cardinal Blaise Cupich, considered to be more left than right, if you are going to engage in the malpractice of applying political categories to the Church.
The coverage and the coming transition have me asking a favor of us all: Please, for the sake of all that is good and holy, stop referring to Cardinal Dolan as a conservative.
A number of years ago, Cardinal Dolan and I were both speaking at a fundraiser for the high school I attended, Dominican Academy. Amusingly, it was at the Republican Women's Club near St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Dolan made a joke about how his extended family would not approve -- he came from a time when Catholics were Democrats. Catholics only really started identifying with the Republican Party when the Supreme Court forced abortion politics on us with Roe v. Wade and the Catholics in the Democratic Party abandoned moral principle -- and human rights. It was a funny aside, but it was also a reality check. Everything isn't political. Eternity isn't political. Have an appreciation for that, and we might have a shot at healing and restoration.
The only seismic shift I am seeing on the horizon when it comes to the Church in New York is a possible change from "larger than life" to simply, "Howdy. Remember Jesus? He said some crystal-clear things on a hillside near the Sea of Galilee. Maybe let's try those Beatitudes he gave us."
This current pope doesn't seem to have a knack for making headlines like his predecessor. Maybe that's the shift. Nothing tectonic. Nor political. Just more of the same Jesus -- whom both Dolan and Hicks have given their lives to. It will be to your benefit whether you believe or not, because you'll be living among people changed because they do. That has nothing to do with Trump or Clinton or the new mayor. It's the only thing that endures.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.
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