Republican National Convention 2020: Cardinal Dolan to deliver opening prayer before Trump's nomination speech
His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the beloved Archbishop of the state of New York has accepted the invitation to give the opening prayer at Trump's National Convention, next week. The Republican National Convention has been scheduled to be held from August 24 to 27, 2020. The plans to convene a traditional large scale ceremony was put on hold due to the Covid-19 -pandemic. The convention was previously scheduled to take place on June 2, 2020, at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Before deciding the final venue, RNC's officials reportedly considered organizing the convention in cities including, Atlanta, Georgia, Dallas, Jacksonville, Florida, Nashville, Tennessee, New Orleans, Orlando, Florida, Phoenix, Savannah, Georgia and even visited some of these cities. At that time, RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens said, "The RNC's Executive Committee has voted unanimously to allow the official business of the national convention to continue in Charlotte. Many other cities are eager to host the president’s acceptance of the nomination, and we are currently in talks with several of them to host that celebration."
Later on June 11, the Republican National Committee confirmed that the main event and speeches will now take place in Jacksonville, Florida. Further, they announced that Trump's nomination acceptance speech which will be held on August 27 will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The main speeches will take place every night from 8.30 to 11 pm ET. The speeches will take place in a central "hub" in Washington, DC.
Who is Timothy Cardinal Dolan?
In 1964, Dolan entered Saint Louis Preparatory Seminary in Shrewsbury, Missouri. After that, he did his graduation in philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College. Then, on June 19, 2001, he got appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of St Louis and later named the Archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI on February 23, 2009. Then on, April 15, 2009, he was made the Archbishop of New York.
Dolan is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America and on December 11, 2011, he was awarded the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus by Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples. On January 20, 2017, Dolan gave the first benediction at the inauguration of President Trump. His invocation included a recitation of King Solomon's prayer from the Book of Wisdom. And now he will be giving the opening prayers at Trump's Republican National Convention.