And Now, The Work Begins

It's been a long, intense one... but suffice it to say, this was a magic day in New York.

The place just shone. And for a beautiful, electric moment, this oft-jaded, wildly diverse, ever-chaotic city did one of the few things not often found in its collective DNA: it stopped -- to listen, to watch, to marvel, to pray... and, indeed, even to hope.

The many scenes and moments along the way will take some time to process. For now, though, anyone who missed it can see fullvideo of the Installation Mass as it was shown on the city's WCBS, or the raw feed from Boston's CatholicTV.

That said, lest anyone think that after three packed days of hitting the streets, heavenly rites and heavily packed receptions that bordered on pandemonium -- all right on the heels of an intense Holy Week and Triduum, to boot -- the "city's newest rockstar" will spend the morning after resting up... well, you've got something to learn about the Archbishop of New York.

The rites of welcome now behind, Day One begins early for Tim Dolan -- by 7.30, he'll be recording his first weekly "Conversation" with what's now his very own Catholic Channel, slated to air later in the day.

Begun as Cardinal Edward Egan's hourlong Thursday chatfest on the archdiocese-run satellite radio outlet's 2006 launch, the new arrival wasn't supposed to take the mic until next week... but, well, he just couldn't wait.

What's more, Dolan won't be broadcasting from the home-studio installed for Egan's use at 452 Madison, but in the glass-walled "Fishbowl" at Sirius XM headquarters a couple blocks away.

And, true to form, the press has been invited.

Then it's off to -- among other things -- a Mass for his friends and family who came for the festivities, Yankee Stadium at night for the Bombers' home opener, a Bronx soup-kitchen, a Mets' game (that is, because the Brewers are comin'), and probably a couple thousand new faces along the way before returning to St Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday for his first public liturgy at the helm: the Archbishop's traditional 10.15 Mass.

Given the "Second Coming"-esque rollout giddily accorded by the city's media outlets over this week, smart money points to a morning zoo on Fifth Avenue come the Lord's Day.

As always, more as it comes... but 'til tomorrow, goodnight from a very happy, newly re-energized Timmytown.

Indeed, at long last, it's all his now.

Buckle your seat-belts.

PHOTO: Getty Images

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