Cardinal Timothy Dolan Announced as Benedictine College Commencement Speaker

Published: Friday, April 22, 2016

Benedictine College is pleased to announce another highly-sought commencement speaker. This year His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, will deliver the Commencement Address on May 14, 2016, in the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium on the Atchison campus. The ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. and seating is by ticket only.

Time Magazine named Cardinal Dolan one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2012 when he was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and quoted him saying “The public square in the United States is always enriched whenever people approach it when they're inspired by their deepest-held convictions.”

Benedictine College was recognized as having one of the most interesting speakers in America in 2013 when Rep. Paul Ryan spoke, and then landed Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore between World Series appearances last year. Bob Hope, Lou Holtz, Father Flanagan, Governor Sam Brownback, both Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Dick Vermeil and Erma Bombeck have all addressed the school’s graduates in the past.

Cardinal Dolan was named Archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI on February 23, 2009, and was installed in April of that year. In June 2009, he received the pallium, a symbol of his office as an archbishop, from His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, at St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Dolan had previously served as Archbishop of Milwaukee since 2002. Prior to that, he had been named the Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II in 2001.

In January 2012, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI announced that Cardinal Dolan was to be appointed to the College of Cardinals. He was elevated in the Consistory of February 18, 2012. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Dolan participated in the Conclave that elected Pope Francis in March, 2013.

Born in 1950, Cardinal Dolan was the first of five children born to Shirley and the late Robert Dolan. In 1964, he began his high school seminary education at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South in Shrewsbury, Mo. His seminary foundation continued at Cardinal Glennon College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He then completed his priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and earned a License in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 19, 1976.

Through the years, Cardinal Dolan has served the Catholic Church as a parish priest, secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., vice rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, professor of Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University, faculty member in the Department of Ecumenical Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, chairman of Catholic Relief Services, a member of the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America, a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, and a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is proud to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.

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