Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, IL, will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the new leader of the Archdiocese of New York and its 2.8 million Catholics beginning next year.
Pope Leo XIV officially accepted Cardinal Dolan’s resignation early Thursday morning and appointed Hicks as his successor. The Vatican officially announced the pontiff’s decision early Thursday morning, New York time, following days of reports about the impending change.
On Dec. 18, Cardinal Dolan began the process of passing the torch to Bishop Hicks with an introductory press conference at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown — the seat of the New York archdiocese that Dolan often refers to as “America’s parish church.” Dolan will continue to serve as administrator of the archdiocese — which covers Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, as well as a number of northern suburban counties — until Hicks’ formal installation in February.
During the Thursday morning event, Dolan showed Hicks around the iconic cathedral and met with parishioners. And although the pair warmly embraced, Dolan admitted he was sad to depart. When asked if the cardinal had achieved everything he had set out to do in his nearly two-decade tenure, Dolan was remarkably honest.
“No. But that ain’t bad, because there’s always a lot left to do, and I’m glad to do it. I am grateful for the things that I was able to accomplish with God’s grace; his mercy when I failed, as I often did,” Dolan said.
Archbishop-designate Hicks, 58, is a native Illinoisan who graduated from Niles College of Loyola University in Chicago in 1989. Five years later, he was ordained into the priesthood, and spent much of his ministry in and around the Chicago area.
Hicks ministered for five years in Mexico and El Salvador as regional director of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) in Central America, helping to care for orphans and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean nations.
“If you want to know the core of who I am and what I stand for. You should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor,” Hicks said Thursday.
A change in leadership, and direction?
Dolan submitted his resignation in February, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, as required by Catholic doctrine for all bishops. His resignation letter was directed to Pope Francis, but the then-pontiff did not act upon it before he died in April.
The Vatican issued a statement on Dec. 18, indicating that Leo XIV — the former Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, the first American pope in the church’s history — had accepted Dolan’s resignation and named Bishop Hicks as his successor.
Hicks’ journey to the leadership of the Archdiocese of New York began in earnest in January 2015, when the bishop became vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago under Cardinal Blase Cupich. Five years later, Pope Francis named him as the sixth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which oversees parishes in much of suburban Chicago.
The transition from Cardinal Dolan to Archbishop-designate Hicks may also represent a move toward a more moderate approach to Catholicism championed by Pope Leo XIV and Cardinal Cupich.
Dolan, who was appointed as leader of the New York archdiocese by conservative Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, delivered benedictions at both of President Trump’s inaugurations and took criticism earlier this year when he compared slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk to St. Paul in a “Fox and Friends” interview.
Hicks, on the other hand, is seen by Catholic experts as advancing more moderate reform held by the late Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo XIV, with a focus on making the church more open and merciful.
The backgrounds between the new New York archbishop and the pontiff are remarkably similar; both are from Illinois, spent a good part of their careers ministering in Latin America, and have expressed great concern for the treatment of immigrants in America.
“(Leo) is elevating to the most prominent American see an Illinois native very much like himself,” David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, told Reuters.
amNewYork pressed Archbishop-designate Hicks on some of his views as he prepares to lead New York’s Catholics and specifically the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown. For months, this publication has documented the profound impact that detentions have had on families with no prior criminal records.
Hicks offered his support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ recent statement condemning the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. He said that while the country needs secure borders, the U.S. must be careful to uphold human rights.
“[We must] also be a country that upholds human dignity, respect, treating each other well, and making sure that anything connected to these policies are connected to due process,” Hicks said. “And, again, with a great deal of respect for humanity, our brothers and sisters, how we see each other, how we relate to each other — in that context of human dignity.”
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, will formally install Archbishop-designate Hicks as the new leader of the Archdiocese of New York at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Feb. 6.
