Bob Dolan speaks out in advance of brother's elevation to Cardinal



ROME -- This is a very important week at the Vatican. The Pope is set to elevate 23 clergy members to Cardinal. One of them is former Milwaukee and current New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. He's in Rome for the ceremony, and so is his brother, Bob. Bob says ever since they were young, he knew Timothy wanted to be a priest.

Bob Dolan paid more than eight Euros for each pair of red socks he bought at a vestment store in Rome. On a cobblestone street on the back roads of Rome is Barbiconi, the shop that keeps a Cardinal looking like a prince.

Archbishop Dolan's brother, Bob, a broadcaster in Milwaukee who was filing reports in Rome for a local Milwaukee TV station stopped by Barbiconi to buy a gift for his big brother, Tim, who is seven years older. "We got three pairs of socks," Bob Dolan said.

Bob Dolan says it's very cool that he's from St. Louis, and the St. Louis Cardinals are such a big part of the city, and now, his brother is becoming a Cardinal. "(Tim) is a huge Cardinals fan," Bob Dolan said.

The brothers grew up in Missouri. Tim Dolan, the oldest of five, his younger brother, Bob, a TV and radio broadcaster in Milwaukee. "We were on a show together. You're familiar with it. The ratings were off the charts," Timothy Dolan joked.

Bob Dolan is now doing feature stories for a Milwaukee TV station in advance of his brother's elevation to Cardinal. Timothy Dolan spent seven years as Milwaukee's Archbishop, and his little brother always knew that Tim wanted to be a priest. "He's 14 and I'm seven and he calls us all in from outside, from playing wiffle-ball or soccer in the side yard, and said 'it's time to play Mass.' The last thing I want to do at age seven is play Mass, but it was a weekly routine in our house where he would set up the altar and use grape juice for the wine and Wonder Bread for the communion," Bob Dolan said.

Bob Dolan says he doesn't wonder about how his brother attained such a high position in the Roman Catholic Church. Bob Dolan's book, "Life Lessons," talked a lot about his brother, and things Bob says he learned from him and with him. "I (wrote the book) because I wanted people to know who he really was. I get the question all the time 'is he really that happy? Is he really that joyful? What's he like in private life?' That is who he really is," Bob Dolan said.