the church to remove them from the payroll." Apostolic Administrator of Green Bay On September 28, 2007, Dolan was appointed as the apostolic administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. He continued in this position until he resigned on July 9, 2008, on the appointment of David L. Ricken as Bishop of Green Bay. Archbishop of New York On February 23, 2009, Dolan was appointed the tenth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York by Pope Benedict XVI. The nation's second-largest archdiocese (after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles), it serves over 2.5 million Roman Catholics. He succeeded Cardinal Edward Egan, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2007. According to Dolan, he was informed of his appointment "nine, ten days" prior to the official announcement. Recalling the phone call he received from Apostolic Nuncio Pietro Sambi, as opposed to his appointments as Auxiliary Roman Catholic Bishop of St. Louis and Archbishop of Milwaukee when Dolan was told that the Pope (John Paul II) "would like [him] to" take the posts, he said that Sambi "was quite factual" in that he told him that "the Pope (Benedict XVI) had appointed [him]" to New York, giving Dolan little choice other than to accept. Before Dolan's appointment, his name had been repeatedly mentioned as a possible successor to Egan, but he downplayed such speculation, saying, "Anytime there's kind of a major see that opens, what have we seen with Washington, Baltimore, Detroit, now New York, my name for some reason comes up. I'm flattered." John L. Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, has noted that Pope Benedict's appointment of Dolan, like those of Donald Wuerl, Edwin O'Brien, and Dennis Schnurr, follows a pattern of choosing prelates "who are basically conservative in both their politics and their theology, but also upbeat, pastoral figures given to dialogue." Dolan pledged to challenge anti-Catholic sentiment, especially claims that the Church is unenlightened because it opposes same-sex marriage and abortion rights for women. He hoped to build confidence among people affected by the sexual abuse scandals, which he described as "a continuing source of shame". In 2003, Dolan was admitted to the Order of Malta with the rank of Grand Cross Conventual Chaplain ad honorem. Since 2009 he has served as chief chaplain of the American Association of the Order of Malta. In 2012 he was promoted to the