By Simone Orendain
OSV News
The newly named leader of the Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks, introduced himself to the faithful of his new home Dec. 18 with a pledge to become familiar with its challenges and uphold human dignity.
He also highlighted his Chicago-area background, which is similar to Pope Leo XIV’s.
In a joint press conference aired live on several national broadcast networks, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan introduced the former bishop of Joliet, Illinois, saying it has been a week since he came to know the 58-year-old “and I already love him and appreciate him and trust him.”
“Is there sadness in my heart? Sure, because I love the Archdiocese of New York. That sadness is already mitigated by the gift that this new archbishop already is,” Cardinal Dolan told media and clergy among other guests at the news conference at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.
Early Dec. 18 Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Cardinal Dolan, who in February turned 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope, and named as his successor the Joliet bishop.
Archbishop Hicks — who for the past five years headed the Joliet Diocese, which borders the Archdiocese of Chicago — thanked the cardinal several times.
“I also want to take this moment to express my deep gratitude to Cardinal Dolan for his extraordinary dedication and leadership in the Archdiocese of New York,” he said. “I’m profoundly grateful for the many ways that he has shepherded the Archdiocese of New York and for the kindness that he’s already shown me. I’ve been deeply touched by his graciousness and his generous expression of support of me.”
The support will be much needed as the archdiocese enters into mediation with 1,300 claimants of clergy sexual abuse and works to raise the $300 million needed to settle claims.
“I’m committed to learning about the issues before our church, including the funds the archdiocese has set aside to help resolve sexual abuse claims,” Archbishop Hicks said. “As a church, we can never rest in our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children and to care for survivors. While this work is challenging, it’s difficult, it’s painful, I hope it will continue to help in the areas of accountability, transparency and healing.”
The new archbishop also expressed a commitment to immigration issues, during a time when the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has ramped up across the country including in New York.
He pledged to work with those whom he called the “great variety and diversity” of faith leaders “to keep that hope (of immigrants) alive and to make real the promise of the golden door by acting in mutual respect and working to uphold human dignity.”
Archbishop Hicks was born Aug. 4, 1967, in the Chicago South suburb of Harvey and grew up in South Holland — a neighboring suburb of Dolton, where Pope Leo was raised, in “houses (that) were literally 14 blocks away from each other,” the archbishop added.
Archbishop Hicks served five years in El Salvador as regional director of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, or NPH, in Central America. NPH is a home dedicated to caring for more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.
In the U.S., he previously served as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago and then made auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese in 2018 and served until he was made bishop of Joliet.
Archbishop Hicks currently serves on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations and is the USCCB’s liaison to the Association of Ongoing Formation of Priests and the National Association of Diaconate Directors.
Above: Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks, left, and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan smiled during a news conference Dec. 18 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. (Brendan McDermid / Reuters / OSV News)