It is tough as well for the church, steve. We are a People Church and we count on our flock. We count on the community. And they count on us. They want to be together. We are people of the sacraments, of community. This is very rough because people need their faith. But weve had to make those decisions. They were difficult ones to make. Tohave a moral imperative protect the health of the community and our own people. And the people are coming through. My priests have been remarkably innovative. They are live steaming everything. They are calling people, keeping in touch with them. This is a tough way, steve, to get ratings to go up, but the with st. We got patricks cathedral, they skyrocketed as people tune in. I think what we are dealing with, we are not used to admitting that we are not in charge. We are not used to admitting that we are not mission and omnipotent. And this has really been a sucker punch to us. I think what people are saying is, there better be somebody out there upon whom i can trust. And we give that person the name of the lord. More and more people are saying, i am rediscovering an interior strength deep down within. Ive got some pizzazz that i never knew i had before. Im finding strength in family and friends even though i might not be able to be with them. I still sense the warmth of their company. And im finding a reborn faith in god and gods providence. That is a good thing. We need it. In every tragedy, every adversity, the bible tells us god is whispering an invitation to trust. And i think that is going on big time. Steven are you talking to other religious leaders, and if so, what are you talking about in terms of reaching parishioners and dealing with this pandemic . Cardinal dolan last night i had an hour long livestream with rabbi Peter Rubenstein of the 92nd street y in manhattan. And earlier today i had a livestream with the American Jewish community. Again, a couple thousand people. Heres something that i think we need to talk about big time. , howpeople are saying terrible, adding to the trouble is that all this adversity and fear and sickness is happening in holy week in passover it couldnt come at a worse time. That is not what i hear from my jewish friends. That is not what i hear from my other christian colleagues. Thisare saying, to have crisis going on against the backdrop of passover and holy week, that is downright providential. The message of passover, which our jewish neighbors start tomorrow night, almighty god delivered his chosen people from despair, discouragement, oppression, and death in egypt. They passed over to the new life of promise and hope in israel. What is easter about . Youve got the horror, the darkness, the tremor of the earth, the death of love incarnate when good friday afternoon god delivers his only up toen son, raising him the glory of new life on easter sunday. What a great time for that message to come across. This againstall the backdrop of passover and easter, i dont think that is bad. I think the message and mystery of those two holy days are going to come through a lot. And, tell me if im talking too much dont you dare. That is also against the backdrop of what . Winter going into spring. So nature is telling us this. Weve got the death, the cold, the chill of nature during winter. It is passing over to spring. Rebirth. Life abundant. You put all that together, i think this is a mystical, spiritual moment. Steve let me ask you one financial question. You oversee 300 churches. The are not giving to collections. What kind of impact is this going to have . Cardinal dolan it is having a big impact. Thanks for bringing that up. Interested in the spiritual and in the health of my people. It is having an impact because people are saying, we need the sacraments. We want to get back with our parishioners. But yet, they are making the best of it. They know that jesus is with them. They know that the lord said, im not leaving you orphans. Jesus said, go to your room and pray tomorrow and im still with you. You are good and sensitive to bring up the worries we have about finances. Most parishes are like families. They live from paychecktopaycheck. The paycheck for a parish is the sunday collection. Now, you add that to the fact offeringshe free will to the church go down, the demands are going up. Where is one of the first places that people who are hungry, that people who are scared, that people who need some help, where is one of the first places they go . They go to their parish, their synagogue, their church. At the very time that resources are going down, demand is going up. But weve been through this before. I remember hurricane sandy, 9 11. People are resilient and more generous than ever. But weve had amazing people already who have come forward and said, we cant lose our catholic schools. They have given us huge gifts, thank god. We have people working with catholic charities. To get food to people in need. With got people working what we call arch care, which is our Health Care Ministry in the archdiocese. Folks are coming through and they wont let us down. Steve lets get to our viewers and listeners. Annemarie is on the phone from connecticut. Caller good evening. , what a all, cardinal beautiful way to explain what we are going through. Earth asrection of the we celebrate the resurrection of the lord. We know that god didnt send this. He did not send coronavirus, but he is using it incredibly to wake up and revive the church and to bring in the lost. And one more comment. That viceelieve president mike pence is anointed and chosen by god to head up this task force. Himself, he calls evangelical catholic. Easter. Cardinal dolan god bless you and thanks for calling in. You are our neighbor in connecticut. Thanks for bringing that up. You kind of verified what i said earlier. In every crisis, in every adversity, there is a renewal to trust. Thank you for reminding us that god didnt send this to us. Biblical toun believe that. Some people will say, why is god punishing us . God has told us he doesnt work that way and his son jesus has told us, my father doesnt work that way. I think hes crying as well. Remember two weeks ago at sunday mass, we had the reading of jesus raising lazarus from the dead. At theint, jesus cries tomb of lazarus. Saying, this isnt how my father wanted it. He didnt want death. He didnt want sickness. It entered the world through an abuse of free will and the power of the evil one. But god will always restore us. Why is gody, punishing us like this . Where is the invitation from the lord in this crisis . What is god trying to teach us . I appreciate your comments about Vice President pence. Ive had the honor of meeting him a couple times. I would agree that hes a man of deep faith. Steve mike from maryland, good evening. Caller how are you . Cardinal, congratulations. You are doing a wonderful job. Know, when will new york follow suit . Your cathedral of st. John the divine has done such a wonderful gesture. Theyve opened their church, turned it into a hospital. When can we see Something Like st. Patricks cathedral or other institutions in new york open to that purpose . Cardinal dolan thanks for bringing it up. You will allow me to brag a little. While st. Patricks cathedral couldnt be used for that, the Officials Say we might not to do that right in the middle of manhattan, and unfortunately there is no open spaces in st. Patricks cathedral as there is in st. John the divine. Are one of our high schools is being used as an extension of the hospital. They are using another one of our catholic high schools, which are not in session now, for a staging area for testing in the bronx. Weve got our eyes on one of the facilities for poor children in staten island. Imagine, ourght many Nursing Homes and Rehab Centers are being used for that as well. Fact, weoud of the have an acclaimed nursing facility here in new york run by and care of the archdiocese arch care has taken a whole wing of that to take care of our elder religious sisters. So many of our sisters who are now retired in their 90s, they are scared. And we welcome them to a whole wing of Mary Manning Walsh where they are tested and cared for. They have community, prayer, meals. It im very grateful to the episcopalians for opening st. John the divine. But im seeing it all over the place. Steve i realize there is no definitive answer, but do you have a sense how long the city, the churches will remain closed . Cardinal dolan i dont, steve. Everybody is asking, especially my priests. To be outvery nature there, embracing people, anointing people, giving them holy communion, hearing their confession, visiting their homes. And they cant do it. And then to welcome people to sunday mass, so they are more eager than anybody. I dont think it is going to happen for another three weeks or so if that. Back,may 1 we could be the church doors could be open people are always telling me this. Clear thatou are even though the church, the Church Building, even though the doors might be closed there, although most of our churches are open for prayer during the with proper precautions even though the Church Building might be under lockdown, the c is as alive as ever. You see that in the charity of our people, in the dynamism of catholic charities, and what our teachers are doing with our kids. Nobody can close the church. Nobody can close the church with a capital c. A lot of people have tried, but nobody can do that. Jesus told us, not even the gates of hell are going to prevail against the church. This is another version of them attempting, but it is not going to work in the long run. Steve from pennsylvania, you are next with Cardinal Timothy dolan. Caller hello, cardinal. With easter and passover and corner, a lot the of religious institutions are utilizing electronic platforms to deliver services. I just wanted to hear your thoughts about that platform. Cardinal dolan you bet. We are learning a lot. The church, the Catholic Church really counts on oneonone contact. We are quick learners, though. Church is crisis, the energetically using technology. My priests are telling me how every day they livestream mass. Even though the people might not be physically present, our priests still want mass every day and in our catholic belief, the power of the mass is universal. It is infinite. Heaven and earth are united. So they can be there spiritually. I know at st. Patricks cathedral, weve really gotten enthusiastic about it. Mass atalways had the 10 15 on sunday morning. Goes through our satellite radio channel. It is always picked up by catholic faith, catholictv in rockville. Now weve begun to livestream. Last sunday, close to 300,000 people livestreamed mass in st. Patricks cathedral. And, we had one of the local tv stations here in new york, they broadcasted live and they estimate that close to about 31 locations, in all those venues, close to a Million People united with us for mass. It is going to go on as well sunday morning at 10 00 a. M. And they are doing other things. For instance, during the day at st. Patricks, we take the blessed sacrament and we put it in the gold receptacle to put on the altar so that people can pray before the real presence of jesus. And they livestream that. That might seem a little confusing to some, but catholics know what a consolation it is to be able to pray in union with. Esus those are the kind of simple things we are trying to do. Pastors going out, sending messages to the people. Theres a lot going on. We are seeing good coming from that. That is why im grateful for the invitation tonight. Asking, can you go on radio, can you go on tv . Sure. My people are saying they need a lord the word of god, and knows im itching to be close to the people. Steve and we are glad to have you. Dorothy is on the phone from missouri with a question. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have been studying about this , a worldwide pestilence. Horsemenne of the four in revelations. Thatondering, do you think might be what this is, cardinal . Cardinal dolan let me try to answer that. First of all, im from missouri. What part of missouri . Steve shes off the phone, but Cardinal Dolan im from st. Louis. So i feel close to you. I miss home. Dorothy, we are always trying to figure out those signs that god revealed to us in the bible, especially that last book of the bible that we call the book of the apocalypse. Signs that hes told us are going to occur. And you are right, pestilence and plagues would be one of them. So weve always got to be attentive. What is he prompting us to do . What graces and mercy would he be giving us . The difficulty of concluding that it might be the final ones that he told us would one day come is that, that is a little tough to pin down. Ine has there been an era World History where there havent been the things that the lord forecast would be there at the end of times. Where would be the era when there hasnt been war, when there hasnt been some outbreak of plague, when there hasnt been hunger, when there hasnt been earthquakes and storms . Those are kind of constant. So i cant answer for the other faiths in the widespread christian family. I can tell you for what we catholics have concluded millennia ago is that it is kind of futile to try to determine when the lord is going to come at the end of times. We know he is. We dont know when it is going to be. Jesus, when his apostles said to him, when will the final times be, he said, i dont know. To tryinda frustrating to calculate when it is going to happen. The best thing we can do is be prepared for when it does. So the lord is always asking us to be ready, to be prepared for the end of time. Even if it comes tomorrow. Prepared, as the boy scouts say. In this moment, you are a student of history, where would you put this moment in our countrys history and in the World History . Cardinal dolan theres no denying that this is unique. This is extraordinary. Although i tell you this. I was talking to one of my pastors the other day and he said he had a great phone call with a 108yearold woman in his parish. Said, father, i remember the flu epidemic in 1919. We got through that. We will get through this. Kind of put it in perspective, the pastor told me. Where this is rather unique in the extent, in the unknown quality of it, when it is going to end, how it is going to be cured, where it is going to spread next, weve always had these times of turmoil and difficulty. And im glad you got john meacham. I have admiration for him. He would talk to you because hes written of national crises. If we couldelf anticipate a revival of religious faith in america. Because that has happened in times of turmoil in the past. My history would teach me that happened for instance after the second world war. We had the horrors of the war. We had the danger of nuclear annihilation. We had the threat of totalitarian communist hedge enemy and we were scared. And people for about 15 strong , you returned to church had the great preachers, billy graham, Norman Vincent peel, fulton sheen. You had Congress Even add one nation under god to the preamble of the constitution. I dont know if that will be the forms, but i think there might be a revival. Because that usually happens after trauma. John, who has written so eloquently about abraham lincoln, hes probably one of the most religious and spiritual president s weve ever had, and certainly made reference to the deity and quoted from scripture more than any other president in the midst of that national tragedy. , checkd even go back with john to see if im accurate, we could go back to what we called the great awakenings. One of them occurred about a decade prior to the revolutionary war. And american historians reckon that maybe at the great revival before the revolution, it was the first time that people looked around in the colonies and said, we are no longer colonists. We are americans. They gained an identity through the great awakening that was the advent to the revolutionary war. So these, all the time. I wouldnt doubt if we may have another one on the horizon. Steve we have one more question from michael. Caller hello. I have many questions, but i think ill ask that which is probably most pressing. Firstly, i understand that a lot of people are talking about these hard times and what have awareut do you or are you of just how far the inhumanity has gone in this country along the east coast and how people are affected steve to those people that have that uncertainty and that fear, what do you tell them . Cardinal dolan mike is onto something. Theres a lot of people that are just crushed. Theres a lot of people that feel alone. Theres a lot of people that are scared every time they cough. And what do i say to them . I dont have much personally. I plagiarize. Says, befrom jesus who not afraid. Fear is useless. What is needed is trust. Them, fear andto anxiety and worry, even from a human point of view, are counterproductive. It paralyzes us more. Intoed to turn that fear concern. Concern is positive. Fear is negative. Concern leads to fruitfulness and productivity. Fear is counterproductive. If we can transition to that and change that fear to concern and change that worry to trust, from a National Point of view, even if we are not religious, we are on the road to recovery. On a holy week for christians around the world and also passover, Cardinal Timothy dolan joining us from his home in new york city. Thank you for being with us. Cardinal dolan i appreciate the time spent. We will do it again underall the available on our website. Joining us from his home in tennessee is Pulitzer Prize winning author john meacham. We thank you for being with us. You heard that introduction from Cardinal Timothy dolan. John whenever you can have a prince of the church endorse you, i take it. Even as a protestant. Steve let me begin with a quote in your book. You say the good news is that we have come through such darkness before. What will the rest of this look like . , we will looking back on this as a moment