MILWAUKEE — Before concluding last Sunday’s Liturgy for Peace and Justice at Irish Fest with the Gaelic blessing, a beaming Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan had a few more words for the congregation.

“I sure look forward to being at home with you,” he said, after receiving flowers from a trio of delighted Irish dancers.

Such anticipation was shared by the 17,000-strong welcoming committee that filled the Marcus Amphitheater for the morning Mass and repeatedly stood to applaud Dolan. Sunday’s turnout, and the enthusiastic response in a venue more accustomed to rock concerts than Catholic choirs, was not lost on Dolan as he began his homily.

“I am so relieved. They told me there were no Irish in Milwaukee. But my first pastor, as Irishman himself, would have called this a two-collection crowd,” he said, to applause extending to those sitting high up on sun-drenched, Irish-green grass.

And he continued, “The organizers are so relieved. We’ve gone over the count of the last event here — the Jethro Tull concert.” The applause rolled once more, combined with hearty laughs. Dolan, who was invited to celebrate the Mass months before being named Milwaukee Archbishop, clearly had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Then, when applause followed his reference to his Aug. 28 installation, Dolan remarked with comedy, and candor, “Boy, I hope you’re still applauding next year,” perhaps reflecting for just a moment on the expectations and challenges he faces as Milwaukee’s 10th archbishop.

But as lightheartedly as the homily opened, Dolan spoke with serious fervor of the faith examples presented by the Canaanite woman of Matthew’s Gospel that day, and by the Irish people throughout history.

“We celebrate the lilt of (Irish) laughter, the brogue of their tongue,” said Dolan. But “what we most celebrate is their Catholic faith ... (for) the Irish cherish their faith as their greatest prize. The Irish people are as stubborn, persistent and tenacious in their faith as the Canaanite woman.”

Despite being repeatedly rebuffed by Jesus and the apostles, Dolan asked the thousands present, “Did she lose her faith? ‘Not at ‘toll,’ as the Irish would say.” Dolan exhorted the “sons and daughters of Ireland” to renew a faith as “patient, persevering and tenacious” as the woman of the Gospel, “so that today it can survive perhaps more subtle and more dangerous enemies — comfort and prosperity, pride and cynicism, scandal and apathy.”

The man, his message and his enthusiastic method resonated with Jack Skocir and Margie Kowske, parishioners of St. James, Mequon, who both had relatives in the Irish Fest Peace and Justice Choir. “He is very approachable, and a nice guy, you can tell. And I like his wit. Hey, I got to shake his hand,” said Skocir, one of hundreds Dolan personally greeted during Sunday’s processions around the amphitheater.

“I just love him. He has such energy. He will do so much good for us,” added Kowske, of her first impression.

Noting that “you can’t go wrong because he’s Irish,” Susan Jurkiewicz, a parishioner at St. Eugene, Fox Point, said Dolan struck her as “wonderful, warm and genuine.”

But as the Shamrock Club Color Guard bagpipers rendition of “Amazing Grace” faded, two Dolan references stuck with one Mass attendee from St. Louis enjoying her first Irish Fest. Ann Merten, a Dolan close friend for 30 years, said Dolan’s own tenacious spirit will show in everything he does, “and the people here will love him, as we all do in St. Louis.“

And the second thought that hit Merten, who this week is helping the new archbishop’s family move him into home and office, was his eagerness to call Milwaukee home. Acknowledging that Dolan often stops processions to meet, greet, wave and share a laugh, she said of Sunday, “This was stunning. He wanted to greet all the people. And the people wanted to greet him. He is so looking forward to being here, to being at home here.”

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