Dolan Says Papal Conclave Should Be Occasion of Repentance

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan celebrated Mass at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church on East 55th Street on Tuesday. He is to leave for Rome on Wednesday.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan spent the final morning before his departure to Rome to help select the next pope presiding over an intimate service with his clergy and staff in Manhattan on Tuesday, asking them for their prayers and telling them that he hoped the papal conclave would be an occasion of repentance for the church, its cardinals and its faithful.

“All you got to do is listen to the radio, watch TV r read the newspapers to find out how much we need contrition, repentance, conversion of heart,” he said during a Mass at St. John the Evangelist Parish on First Avenue and 55th Street, attended by about 200 staff members of the Archdiocese of New York. “We are all conscious of that Old Latin saying ‘Ecclesia semper reformanda’: The church is always in need of reform. Always.”

The church has been pummeled by reports of new scandal and by innuendo since Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement on Feb. 11. Most recently, Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Britain announced on Monday that he was resigning amid allegations that he had tried to seduce several seminarians decades ago.

Reflecting on the days to come, Cardinal Dolan noted that he a! nd the other cardinals would sing a penitential psalm as they filed into the Sistine Chapel, “almost in an act of contrition, of a humble admitting of our sins, our imperfections, our scars, so that God will have mercy on us and on his church.” He said he hoped the moment would be one of both pride and humility.

He is to board a flight to Rome on Tuesday evening, he said, to arrive in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict XVI’s final public audience on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, he will attend an informal farewell meeting with the pope and all the other cardinals. And in the following days, he will attend daily morning meetings with the cardinals to decide the details of the conclave and discuss the future of the church.

Cardinal Dolan will stay with the rest of the American delegation at the Pontifical North American College near the Vatican, the seminary that he once headed as rector.

Dressed in purple and golden robes for Lent, Cardinal Dolan smiled warmly at the members of he audience through the service, and told them he was happy to spend his last morning in New York with friends. A dozen priests from the diocese surrounded him, and he was flanked by his second in command, Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, the vicar general, who will be in charge in his absence.

Still, his mood seemed more somber, and more reflective, than usual. There were no references to baseball or jokes about food, though he did tell the staff members that it was probably time they brushed up on their Latin. As for the persistent speculation that he might become pope, he said only that he was praying that he would be back in New York by Palm Sunday. “I’ll be eager to get home,” he said