Meet the New ACHA President, Dr. Steven Avella

Archbishop Timothy Dolan has another side. He’s a scholar of American Church history who holds a doctorate in the subject from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He wrote his dissertation on a prominent churchman, Archbishop Edwin V. O’Hara, and produced such a distinguished piece of scholarship that the university published it as a book.

Msgr. Robert Trisco, professor emeritus of Church history at Catholic University and himself a distinguished historian, taught then-Father Dolan in class and was his director for the dissertation. “He certainly was a student in all senses of the word,” Msgr. Trisco said. “Certainly he was thoroughly interested in history.” And not only American Catholic history, he added, because students were required to take courses on topics including general Church history and the history of the Church in modern Europe.

Archbishop Dolan began his studies at Catholic University in 1979 after having served for three years as a parish priest in Missouri. He brought his characteristic enthusiasm and sense of purpose into the classroom.

“As a student he was diligent and cheerful,” Msgr. Trisco said. “He never seemed to be weighed down unduly by the pressure of studies, but he was always on top of them. He was naturally an excellent student, or we wouldn’t have encouraged him to go on for the doctorate.” In class, “he often had good insights and he asked intelligent questions,” Msgr. Trisco added