Attendees at Friday’s Installation Mass of Ronald A. Hicks expressed joy and inspiration at witnessing him become the 11th archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, with the special afternoon proceedings occurring at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“We wanted to be here to welcome the new archbishop. It’s just such an honor to be present in person,” Anastasiya Shirazi, a parishioner of Sacred Heart-St. Patrick in Monroe, told The Good Newsroom amid the rear pews after the Mass, as the exit procession was ending. “I love about him that he loves Jesus, he loves the Church, and he loves people.”

The married mother of three was with two of her children. She said the Catholic faith “means everything. We center everything around our faith…The homily was excellent. I was very touched and inspired.”

Also at the Mass was John DiRago, 57, a parishioner of St. Mary of the Assumption in Katonah, who said, “I think Cardinal Dolan has done a remarkable job. And so part of me wanting to be here was as a tribute to him – and as a welcome to the new archbishop, Ronald Hicks. I like what he (Hicks) shared, how he loves music, how he’s from Chicago – we have to make him a Yankees fan; we’ll have to work on that…This was spectacular; it didn’t seem like two hours at all. I felt like we could have stayed another two hours, was so wonderful. I was feeling so blessed just to be part of this.”

Valencia Infante, a parishioner of St. Catherine of Genoa in Manhattan, said in her native Spanish, “Everything was perfect. I liked his message about working with the communities, about us being missionaries and spreading the message of the Gospel, going where the Lord takes us.”

Franciscan Friars hold watch party

Among the Installation watch parties was a gathering at the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement at the Graymoor Life Spiritual Center in Garrison.

“We just finished watching the Installation. We had about 25 people here. It was a beautiful ceremony – the Church in New York at its best. The music was wonderful; the homily was terrific. He will be prayed for at every Mass by name in the Archdiocese of New York,” Father Jim Gardiner, SA, former director of Graymoor, told The Good Newsroom by phone after the watch party.

A week before the Installation Mass, the Friars said in a statement, “Archbishop Hicks’ pastoral leadership has been shaped by a deep commitment to human dignity, particularly during a formative five-year period beginning in 2005 when he served in El Salvador as a regional director for an orphanage network serving children across Latin America – an experience widely regarded as central to his ministry.”