In a podcast episode released Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan expressed concern over rising anti-Catholic sentiment and the decline in recognizing the value of traditional faith and values in American society.

“Hatred of the church is the oldest bias in American history. I didn’t say that, Arthur Schlesinger did. And they’re right and people seem to be able to get away with it. We’re not talking about the church above criticism. Please bring it on. We’re talking about a vitriol and a lack of civility when it comes to treating the church, the Catholic Church, that they would never do to any other group. That’s what galls me, and that’s what I’m afraid is on the increase,” Cardinal Dolan said in the June 28 interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker.

Asked about a recent poll that shows a decline in Americans who attend church services regularly, Cardinal Dolan said, “What’s wrong is that we’ve forgotten about God,” adding that “our identity comes from the Lord, it’s given to us, it’s not something we pick and choose.”

While Cardinal Dolan, who serves as the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on religious freedom, cited the separation of church and state in the United States as a strength of the American system, he quoted St. John Paul II: “He said, ‘Genuine freedom is not the license to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought.’”

The podcast, along with a full transcript of the conversation, can be found on The Wall Street Journal’s website.