My 2nd encounter with His Excellency, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

As you know this will be my first blog and I believe today was a memorable day cause of 2 reasons. The first reason is that today was the feast day of The Cathedra Petri (Latin) or Chair of Saint Peter is a relic conserved in St. Peter's Basilica. This feast day was proclaimed in Gospel according Saint Matthew 16:18–19:Jesus' words to Peter:"You are Peter, and upon this Rock, I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. To you have I entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven", are inscribed in Latin in the apse, within which is placed Bernini's monument enclosing the wooden chair, both of which are seen as symbolic of the authority of the Bishop of Rome as Vicar of Christ and successor of Saint Peter.

The feasts thus became associated with an abstract understanding of the "Chair of Peter", which by synecdoche signifies the episcopal office of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, an office considered to have been first held by Saint Peter, and thus extended to the diocese, the See of Rome. Though both feasts were originally associated with Saint Peter's stay in Rome, the ninth-century form of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum associated the January 18 feast with his stay in Rome, and the February 22 feast with his stay at Antioch.

The two feasts were included in the Tridentine Calendar with the rank of Double, which Pope Clement VIII raised in 1604 to the newly invented rank of Greater Double. In the year 1960, Blessed Pope John XXIII removed from the General Roman Calendar eight feast days that were second feasts of a single saint or mystery: one of them was the January 18 feast of the Chair of Peter.

The February 22 celebration became a Second-Class Feast. This calendar was incorporated in the 1962 Roman Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII, whose continued use as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite is authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.

In the new classification introduced in 1969 the February 22 celebration appears in the Roman Calendar with the rank of Feast. Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate both feast days: "St Peter's Chair at Rome" on January 18 and the "Chair of St Peter at Antioch" on February 22.

The 2nd reason on why today was a special day is that I got the privilege to listen, greet, meet and attend An Evening With the Archbishop,His Excellency, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan! This the 2nd time on which I met this Archbishop. The first time was last year on December 12, 2009 on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It was the day of my parish's youth ministry scavenger hunt throughout Mid-town Manhattan! We were in various groups and the parish priest had called me and asked me on where I was and I said I was near Saint Patrick's Catherdal and he told me to come by with the kids in my group to the Archbishop's residence! So I lead the kids in my group to the residence and old be hold, my parish priest knew the personal
secretary of the Archbishop. He invited us into the residence of the Archbishop and showed us around and trust me this was truly a wonderful gift for the kids to experience for the rest of their lives and even my own.

While we were resting peaceful, I heard a huge laugh, and old be hold it was him, His Excellency, Archbishop Timothy Dolan. He was truly a wonderful man to met in person. He greeted all of us with great grace and joyfullness. When he came to me, I told him I was truly impressed with his homily on December 9, 2009 about the 30th anniversary death of Servant of God Bishop Fulton J Sheen.

Archbishop Dolan was truly impressed with my knowledge about Fulton Sheen and he told me that is a gift from the Almighty Father gave to you to remember stuff like that. He asked all of us to gather around the Pope's chair when he came to New York in 2008 and take some pictures. After 2 pictures of the group, I asked him personally is possible to have one personal with him and he told me it would wonderful to do it. So his secretary took that picture also. Now the 2nd time I got the privelege to met the Archbishop Dolan was last night at the event called Theology on Tap on 53rd Street in Manhattan!

He gave a excellent speech about the history of the Papacy and alot to do about Saint Peter himself. I was truly impressed with his speech and I remember alot of what he said in his book, "To Whom Shall We Go?"Its abit ironic also that on June 19, 2001 – the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood – then Fr. Dolan was named the Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II. The new Bishop Dolan chose for his Episcopal motto the profession of faith of St. Peter: Ad Quem Ibimus, "Lord to whom shall we go?" (Jn 6:68).

He was pleased to see me again and remember me and my friends who attended the other time on which we met him. FYI you should read that book, I believe it gives great lessons for the future and miracle decisions on life itself. After his speech, he came around to the people and then he came to me and told me he remembered me about our discussion on the legacy of Fulton J Sheen last year, I was blowen away and honor that the Archbishop of New York remembered me. All of my friends were also impressed with his friendlyness and wonderful sermon. For me today was a memorable day and I will never forget it and also it was a great honor to have the Archbishop autograph the book on which he wrote about Saint Peter that I finished it in a day!

What a wondeful day!