Getting to Know Archbishop Dolan and Archbishop Kurtz

Get the backstory on the new USCCB president and vice president.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is handed the crozier during the Mass of Installation at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York April 15, 2009.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan is handed the crozier during the Mass of Installation at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York April 15, 2009. (photo: REUTERS/Robert Sabo/Pool)

New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was elected president of the U.S. bishops’ conference at 10am this morning. The vote was 128-111 on the third ballot, a runoff in which he defeated Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., who served as USCCB vice president for the last three years.

Minutes later, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., was elected vice president of the conference on a third ballot in a runoff vote of 147 to 91 over Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver.

The Register’s archives are full of articles and interviews with Archbishop Dolan and Archbishop Kurtz. Here’s our selection to get to know the men who will lead the bishops’ conference for the next three years.


The Dolan-Kurtz connection: find out in this 2009 article.


Archbishop Timothy Dolan

An exclusive interview on the sex abuse scandals.

An exclusive interview on how to choose a Catholic university.

An exclusive interview on the New York Times’ anti-Catholicism, and the other challenges of being the Big Apple’s bishop.

Exclusive comments from Archbishop Dolan’s family about the man who became pastor of the nation’s largest city.

An exclusive profile by Kathryn Jean Lopez.

An exclusive profile by Father Raymond de Souza.

Archbishop Dolan deals with a dissident theologian.

The archbishop tackling controversial issues: Homosexuality and Holy Orders, plus Condoms, CRS and Dolan and the challenge he got from Milwaukee priests on priestly celibacy.

And he’s an expert on vocations: read this and this to get an idea.

Plus book reviews of his Doers of the Word and To Whom Shall We Go?.


Archbishop Joseph Kurtz

An essay that Archbishop Kurtz wrote for the Register in April on what he thinks about Pope Benedict XVI.

Exclusive comments from Archbishop Kurtz on homosexual ‘marriage’.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis