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** Daily Newsletter: FEBRUARY 4, 2026
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** In today’s newsletter:
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GEORGE WEIGEL: Cardinal Dolan: By No Means Finished Yet ([link removed])

JOHN M. GRONDELSKI: Don Lemon Gets the First Amendment Wrong ([link removed])
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** Cardinal Dolan: By No Means Finished Yet ([link removed])
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** GEORGE WEIGEL
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On Friday, Timothy Cardinal Dolan will be apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of New York no more. The apostolic administrator title is a temporary one, which he holds in the interstitial period between Pope Leo XIV’s acceptance of his canonically mandated letter of resignation at seventy five, and the installation of Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks.

Cardinal Dolan is well loved in New York: Last night, at an event co-hosted by First Things, the speaker pointed out Cardinal Dolan in the back of the room, and the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Columnist George Weigel, a longtime friend of Cardinal Dolan, writes about his legacy: “For the past seventeen years, the people of New York have known that they had an archbishop, and in the same sense in which John Paul II made them know they had a pope.” Weigel also writes about Cardinal Dolan’s omnivorous reading habits, capacity for friendship, and dedication to the laity.

For further reading: While Ronald Hicks has prior episcopal experience, the pages of First Things do contain advice for bishops. Last March, Scott Hahn wrote a “Letter to a Young Bishop ([link removed]) .”
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** Don Lemon Gets the First Amendment Wrong ([link removed])
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** John M. Grondelski
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When Don Lemon and a crowd of protestors invaded a Minneapolis-area church, he was acting out a progressive vision of the First Amendment that bears no resemblance to what the founders intended. Religious freedom is not one competing interest among many in the public square, writes Grondelski. Rather, religious freedom is specifically enumerated.

“Interfering . . . with religious worship is not freedom of protest assembly. Nor is covering such encroachment on a worship service freedom of the press.”

For further reading: Last month, James R. Wood wrote about the church invasion: “Desecration in Minnesota and the Ecclesiology of Public Worship ([link removed]) .” Instead of looking at the incident through a legal lens, Wood deploys ecclesiology, arguing that worship is a public act and one that ought to be protected by the magistrate.

Upcoming Events
* February 10, 2026: The Protestant Mind newsletter launch by Dale Coulter | Subscribe here ([link removed]) .

* March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, DC. Register here ([link removed]) .

Until next time,


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JACOB AKEY
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Associate Editor
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