Note: This is part of a package of editorial content celebrating the 10th anniversary of Archbishop William. E. Lori’s installation as archbishop of Baltimore and the 45th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Read all the stories here.
As part of a wide-ranging interview with Archbishop William E. Lori in advance of his 10th anniversary as 16th archbishop of Baltimore and 45th anniversary as a priest, we asked about his hobbies and other favorites.
Q: How’s your mom doing? How old is she now?
Lori: Mom is 102. Someone said to me, well, your dad lived to be almost 99. Your mom’s 102. You’re going to be around a while. I always say, well, Mom and Dad lived sensibly, and the jury is certainly out (on me).
Mom is amazing. She is confined to a nursing home. Her mobility is limited, but her mind and heart are not. I call her every single day, except once in a while when travel might get in the way, but we chat. And Mom is tracking and she’s still mom.
Q: I understand you like to doodle. Have you been doing that for a long time?
Lori: I have since I was in elementary school and sometimes I got in trouble doing that because some of the doodles look suspiciously like my seventh-grade teacher who was a nun.
Q: Does it help you relax?
Lori: Yeah, and my mom actually was endowed with great artistic ability. She could paint, so whatever semblance my doodles have to actual living persons, I got that from my mom.
Q: Do you prefer coffee or tea?
Lori: Coffee
Q: Who’s your favorite saint?
Lori: Blessed Virgin Mary, followed by St. Joseph, followed by soon to be St. Blessed Michael McGivney, we hope and pray.
Q: Why have you always had golden retrievers?
Lori: Love that face.
Q: What’s your favorite route to walk Bayley?
Lori: Bolton hill
Q: How many books do you own?
Lori: Too many.
Q: What are your favorite genres to read and what are you reading now?
Lori: I love to read biography. I’m reading a huge biography on Winston Churchill.
Q: Who’s your favorite U.S. president?
Lori: Well, I’m going to get in trouble on this one. This is not a political statement; it is a statement of historic interest. It’s Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Q: Why is that?
Lori: He’s a study in leadership. He’s a fascinating personality and the period of time in which he was president – the Great Depression, World War II – a person who was a patrician yet connected with ordinary people, there’s a lot to learn there. There’s a lot not to learn, but there’s a lot to learn.
Q: What are some of your favorite places to pray in the archdiocese?
Lori: Many. One is the basilica. There’s my little chapel upstairs, which is where I pray most often. The Cathedral of Mary our Queen, which I’ve come to love and appreciate deeply.
I love Our Lady of the Angels – absolutely, absolutely lovely. I love St. Ann’s in Grantsville. I’ve been there a couple of times. Monsignor (Jim) Hannan built that church with his people, and you look out over the mountains. That’s one of my favorite places to pray, but there’s a lot of others.
Q: What are some of your favorite places to eat in the archdiocese?
Lori: At home. I really like to be home. If I can have a night at home and it’s just me and the household and the dog. It’s my favorite place and situation in which to eat.
Q: How often do you get to exercise and is that important for your health?
Lori: I try every day, and yes, it is important for my health.
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
Lori: I don’t know (that) I’ve ever thought about having a favorite movie. I like old movies. One of the great disappointments of my life is when the cable service, on its own, unauthorized Turner Classic Movies; I’ve been offering that up ever since. I don’t watch a lot of stuff, but everyone says what I do watch is mostly in black and white.
Q: What is the weirdest or most interesting food you’ve ever tried?
Lori: I haven’t been very adventuresome. I’ve been overseas a lot, but nothing I’ve been served has seemed all that adventuresome to me, to be honest with you.
I’m a little monochromatic.
Q: What’s your favorite spot to take a day trip in Maryland?
Lori: I’ve been up around Harpers Ferry, around Antietam. I find that neck of the woods to be really very interesting, and it’s within the archdiocese, but it still feels like you’re at home and yet you’re away.
I love the Civil War history; it’s pretty interesting. And if I can be out in that neck of the woods, it’s very relaxing.
Q: Besides reading and spending time with Bayley, what’s your favorite way to relax?
Lori: Frankly, exercising, I think, when I try to do 45 minutes to an hour a day on the elliptical. Otherwise, I take a four- to five-mile walk and that really helps. On the elliptical – some people can read and some people can do meditation or say the rosary. I’m busy staying on the machine.
But when I walk, I can clear my mind, think some things through, say a rosary, say a chaplet of Divine Mercy and that’s very relaxing to me.
Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org
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