The psalmist this Sunday asks God for teaching and guidance. The Archdiocese of New York will soon be guided by a new shepherd, Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Dolan succeeds Cardinal Edward Egan, 76, who retires after nine years in the post that Pope John Paul II once called "archbishop to the capital of the world."

At his inaugural news conference a few hours after the appointment was announced Monday, Dolan shared the stage with his predecessor, whom he will officially replace when he is installed on April 15.

Dolan, who has a doctorate in American church history, acknowledged that he and the archdiocese face challenges of historic proportions, with fewer Catholics marrying in the church, attending Mass, or joining the priesthood.

"Those are the things we bishops worry about," he said. "It's not the money stuff that keeps us awake at night."

Dolan is known to be orthodox in his theology, but in choosing him Pope Benedict XVI passed over other candidates who are equally conservative but more confrontational with priests, parishioners, and politicians who question church teaching.

"Our priests are on the front lines of an important ministry, so I'm here to help them," Dolan said. "I'm their servant, I work for them, and I need them more than ever."

The archdiocese, the nation's second largest after Los Angeles, has undergone huge shifts in recent decades. As in other parts of the country, many Catholics who once lived in cities have moved to the suburbs. And though New York is better off than most dioceses in its ratio of priests to parishioners, priests are aging and retiring far more quickly than new seminarians are signing up to take their place. Many New York priests had also complained about their deteriorating relationship with the outgoing archbishop.

Egan said at the news conference that his "greatest sadness" was that the archdiocese did not produce more vocations to the priesthood.

Late in the afternoon Dolan visited St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, which will graduate only three students this year to be ordained as priests for the New York archdiocese. Dolan said that increasing vocations was his "first mandate." Asked his strategy, he said, "Happiness attracts."

Source: Articles by David Gibson for the New York Daily News and Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times