Shirley Dolan is preparing for her 10th trip to Rome — her “grand finale,” she calls it — and her blue eyes twinkle when she talks about the reason.
To New Yorkers and Catholics around the world, her eldest son will soon be Cardinal Timothy Dolan, one of the red-hatted princes of the church.
To this sweet, gracious 83-year-old Midwestern granny, he’s just Tim — the doting boy who
cooks her scrambled eggs on his trips home to rural Missouri.
Sitting in a cozy living-room armchair, she breaks into a smile and practically glows as she talks about the first of her five children.
“I’m proud of him as I am the rest of them,” she said.
“I'm proud of him because he knew what he wanted to do and he shot for it, and he got there. And he’s so contented.”
The night before the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI would be elevating Dolan, the phone in his mom’s modest two-bedroom home in Washington, Mo., rang.
It was Tim.
She wasn’t surprised to hear from him since he checks in at least twice a week, and the conversation began like most others.
“Hi Mom, I’m OK, how are you doing?” Dolan said before quizzing his mother on the extended clan, from his oldest sister Debbie down to his 13 nephews and nieces and a great-niece he calls “Princess Nora.”
They talked for 10 minutes before he casually spilled the beans.
“Oh Mom, by the way, the Pope will be announcing tomorrow that I will be made cardinal,” he said.
“I’m so proud of you,” Shirley told him.
“I’m proud of you too, Mom,” he replied.
If Dolan underplays his achievements, his mother is unapologetically his biggest champion.
“I really didn’t think it would be this soon, but I can’t say I was surprised,” she said.
“I knew he would go all the way. Sometimes I think: ‘How could this have happened?’ but then I straighten myself out and say, ‘Well, there were some blessings there.’”
With a little chuckle, she addressed the question on the minds of many U.S. Catholics: Could Dolan become the first American Pope? The closer it gets, the more possible it seems,” she said.
“Anything’s possible but it would be very far-fetched, I believe. We’ve never had an American Pope and I just can’t see that happening. But they’d be wise if they did,” she added mischievously.
But first things first.
Dolan will be made a cardinal at the Vatican on Feb. 18, and his mother will be close at hand.
She is traveling to Rome with 22 relatives and has already bought a new outfit for the occasion.
“I just had to use my imagination,” she said. “I just got a plain old dress.”