New York’s next archbishop is being heralded a “unifier” who will stick firmly to papal doctrine — just don’t expect to see him on talk shows any time soon.
Pope Leo XIV appointed Ronald Hicks Jr., the current bishop of Joliet, Ill., to become the next Archbishop of New York, one of the most important seats in the nation for the church.
Sources claim after the outspoken Cardinal Timothy Dolan, 75, the church is closing ranks and has deliberately chosen someone who will follow the church’s official theological positions closely and quietly.
“I think Hicks will be much more like Pope Leo, more careful what he says. In the first year of being Archbishop he’s going to avoid political issues and emphasize his pastoral role,” Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior analyst with Religion News Service, told The Post.
In contrast, “they broke the mold when they made Archbishop Dolan,” who is stepping down at the end of this year.
“There’s nobody like him. He was very spontaneous, very outspoken. He made himself very much available to the press and he enjoyed it,” said Reese.
Dolan has always been a unique character, most recently causing controversy when he referred to slain activist Charlie Kirk as “a modern-day St. Paul” on “Fox and Friends” in September.
Hicks, a Chicago Cubs and deep dish pizza fan, “wants to be a unifier. So, I think he will avoid saying things people find divisive. He’s not going to attack the President, but he’s not going to embrace him, either,” he added.
In that sense, Reese said, Hicks is more in line with the vast majority of Catholic bishops.
Hicks’ only sibling, younger brother Rick Hicks, told The Post New York is “getting a good one,” in his brother.
“He’s a workaholic. He likes to be educated on the issues. He’s relatable. He’s personable. He will make time for everybody,” Rick, a 56-year-old IT consultant in Naperville, Ill. said.
The Hicks boys grew up in an ecumenical family — a Roman Catholic father and Lutheran mother, both teachers — in the south suburbs of Chicago, at 155th Street and Woodlawn Ave., a short five-minute drive from Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home.
“We grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, like the same pizza places,” Hicks told local WGN-TV Chicago after Leo was elected Pope in May.
Unlike the Holy Father, who roots for the White Sox, Bishop Hicks is a Cubs fan. But like the Pope, the proud Midwesterner has been active in Catholic operations in Latin America and speaks fluent Spanish.
Hicks’ stances on the big issues facing the Catholic church are very much in line with what Pope Leo has been handing down from Rome since his papal inauguration.
When the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion decision Roe v. Wade, Bishop Hicks released a statement calling the it an answer to decades of prayer.
“I celebrate this ruling yet mourn the fact that here, in our home state of Illinois, it will have no immediate impact given the state’s 2019 enshrinement into law of abortion as a misguided fundamental right,” he wrote at the time.
Last month, when Illinois passed legislation to legalize assisted suicide — which New York gov. Kathy Hocul announced this week she has also reached a deal to do — Hicks expressed “deep sadness and disappointment” in a statement.
“As you know, the Catholic Church firmly upholds the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. Assisted suicide contradicts our moral teaching and threatens the well-being of the poor, the elderly, and those with disabilities. It sends the tragic message,” he wrote, aligning him with his predecessor, Cardinal Dolan.
Hicks has also been supportive of the traditional Latin mass and orthodox practices in his diocese — and that unlikely to change that when he moves to New York, said Catholic writer Emily Zanotti.
“In terms of same sex marriage, the church is not changing anytime soon. I know there’s some on the left who really, really want to believe that there’s this possibility, but Hicks is not going to change that,” Zanotti told The Post.
“I think, for Pope Leo, the thing is to keep the American church together. He’s an American, after all, and he’s already spoken out against things like transgenderism and gender issues. I have a feeling Hicks will follow in his footsteps.”
The Pope and Hicks only met once, in 2024, when Leo — then Cardinal Robert Prevost —visited one of Hicks’ parishes and gave a talk. Hicks told reporters that the two spoke in private for about 20 minutes following the event.
At the time he praised the future Pope as someone who “takes more time to listen than talk,” “doesn’t back away or shy away from tough issues” and would lead “with the heart of a shepherd.”
At a press conference on Thursday inside New York’s historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Bishop Hicks told reporters he was excited to get to know New York and its people, a city he’s only visited about ten times before his appointment.
He will formally ascend to become an archbishop on Feb. 6 next year. An archbishop leads a major metropolitan area, but Hick will not yet be a cardinal, which is someone who works in papal counsel, a slightly higher position.
Rick Hicks noted his family has never been moved by politics — and he doesn’t want to see his brother dragged into partisan mudslinging.
“He’s such a theologian and an academic person. He’s been part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops for years and the academic writings say treat people with humanity and dignity,” Rick said.
“His personal feelings are the same as his public feelings on treating people with humanity and respect. We are not a political family. We are not left, we are not right,” he continued.
“We’ve always tried to live in the world separating church and politics.”
He said that on polarizing issues his family has always follow the church’s lead.
“We were sports, neighborhood, church family. It was: go to church, watch the Cubs games, watch the Bears games, watch the Hawks and the Bulls, and go out to dinner occasionally,” he said.
Hicks has always been scholarly, religious and adventurous. In 1985, right after high school — where he was valedictorian and student council president — Hicks spent a year volunteering at a Catholic orphanage in Mexico, kickstarting a lifelong passion for helping orphaned kids.
He received his BA from Loyola University Chicago in philosophy, before entering the seminary and climbing the ranks of the church.
He returned to Latin America from 2005 to 2010 and became regional director for a Catholic charity in El Salvador, overseeing care for over 3,400 orphaned children across Central America and the Caribbean from 2005 to 2010.
Hicks was then appointed Bishop of Joliet in 2020 by Pope Francis, where he oversaw roughly 525,000 Catholics across seven counties.
The New York archdiocese serves 2.5 million Catholics in The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and seven counties north of the city.
Although deeply committed to Catholicism, Hicks also has a lighter side and will feel right at home beside New York’s bright lights, not only as a theater buff but a man who loves “fine dining, good restaurants, the cultural side.”
On one trip to New York a few years ago, Hicks took his parents to see Bette Midler in a Broadway production of “Hello, Dolly!”
“He just raved about it,” Rick said. “He loves that, going to those types of cultural events.”
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