Cardinal Timothy Dolan kicked off this year’s Love & Responsibility Summer Series on the evening of Tuesday, June 20, at Immaculate Conception Church in the East Village section of Manhattan.

The annual seven-week series, which began 13 years ago, features prominent speakers on topics related to dating, marriage, chastity, and relationships – offering “explanations of what the Church teaches and practical life advice to young adults (ages 21-39) striving to live whole, happy, and healthy lives,” organizers said.      

Love & Responsibility offers a forum for young adults to gather and discuss how to build healthy relationships of authentic love, organizers said.The weekly gatherings are held in the courtyard of Immaculate Conception Church on East 14th Street, sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Young Adult Outreach.               

“I’ve followed our Young Adult apostolate in the 15 years that I’ve been here, and I’m very proud of it, very grateful to God. His grace has been abundant,” Cardinal Dolan told the young faithful early on in his talk, after being introduced and greeted with cheers and applause.

The cardinal went on to talk about the importance of love and responsibility, and the significance of the cross. 

“Love and responsibility; those are themes from the Holy Bible, those are themes from Almighty God, themes that His Son, our Lord and Savior,, Jesus Christ, constantly teaches. Jesus said to His apostles, ‘Love one another as I have loved you’…I’m always amazed at the number of young couples who would choose that Gospel passage for their (wedding) reading. 

“When Jesus said, ‘love one another as I have loved you,’ that means the cross, that means the cross…The cross is an essential part of love. In any genuine love, the cross is going to be a part of it; the cross is always going to be there – that means setback, hurt, adversity, struggle. It’s always going to be part of any genuine love. Because for you and for me the model of genuine love is Jesus on the cross,” Cardinal Dolan said.

“There’s a great saying: ‘Carefree love ain’t worth caring for,’ so there’s no such thing as ‘carefree love.’ There’s always going to be care, and struggle, and difficulty; the cross in any genuine relationship – even, my friends, in our relationship with Jesus Himself…There’s always going to be falls, there’s always going to be disappointments, there’s always going to be sorrow. The cross is forever going to be part of it. So that’s very important as you consider in these summer sessions: love and responsibility; because love always brings duty,” Cardinal Dolan noted,

The cardinal then gave a blessing, which was followed by a pizza and wine social.

Brian and Morgan Ford, married just five months ago, were among the attendees. They said they appreciated the message and themes of the cardinal’s talk, with Morgan, who is four months pregnant, telling The Good Newsroom, “It was great to hear His Eminence talk about the ongoing struggles and crosses you bear with love; it’s not going to be easy, but that’s what love is.”  

Brian, 29, is a life insurance agent. Morgan, 26, is an accountant. The couple’s parish is the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Lower Manhattan.    

Also in attendance was Emmanuella Edoka, who works in campus ministry at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Edoka was grateful for the cardinal’s talk, noting, “It was very informative, realistic and straightforward – the way he broke it down, talking about the cross.”

“We are so happy to have you all here; we are ready for a great summer, “Kaitlyn Colgan, assistant director of Young Adult Outreach, told the more than 50 young adults early on, before a musical performance and the cardinal’s talk. The inspirational, lively music was provided by vocalist Marisel and her band. For more information visit: www.catholicnyc.com