Pat,

No doubt you know that Cardinal Dolan has answered your closing question. I’m guessing that his answer didn’t satisfy you, but he at least gave an answer.

The good cardinal can’t invite himself to make parallel appearances.
Would the USCCB also have the keynote speaker from the LCWR meeting?
The furor over lighting the Empire State Building in Dolan’s honor was also termed anti-Catholic. To decline a request is not anti-Catholic. Nothing is happening. Why can’t it just be neutral? I won’t live in Dolan’s emotional state of mind. He’s a big boy. It’s not all about him…or is it?

There is no excuse for what Cardinal Dolan did.  It is obvious that inviting Obama gives him a political boost and increases his chances of being re-elected. That is the end result, and all the fluff about dialoging and Catholicism in the public square is meaningless in comparison.

The cardinal is not a politician; he’s a pastor.

Dear Cardinal Dolan

If you are reading this…please let me know how..would you please teach me and the Catholic faithful…how do you pull off laughing, giggling, smiling, and joking with this “killing machine” president we are so blessed with.  You know he’s the kind of guy that wouldn’t even render aid of a child born alive during a botched abortion.  The most pro abortion president in our nations history.  And quite frankly…and with all due respect sir…he is trying his best to kill the Church you serve and claim to love.  If you were meeting with him privately ...that would be one thing.  But to do what you are going to do in this kind of atmosphere is so unbelievably naive and sickening, I can’t even find the words to describe it. 

I think you are what is wrong with the Church.  How many people will see you and the president in a photo smiling and happy and shaking each others hand…and saying….oh gee…look…Cardinal Dolan is with the president and he seems so happy.  It must be ok to vote for him now.  You sir heap more scandal on Our Lord’s Holy Church.  This is shameful and disgraceful.  Jesus Christ might have dined with sinners but I bet he would never have done what you are about to do. I can’t imagine Our Lord joking and giggling with Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper.  The only “roasting” taken place that night was a statement made of a probable upcoming “roasting” for Mr. Iscariot. (“better that he had never been born”)

No, we have so few good, Holy, and courageous leaders in the Church anymore.  Good politicians in the Church but not really too many good leaders that the faithful and Our Lord desparately need. 

Finally, when the dust clears in November and if president Obama has been re-elected and we learn that the Catholic vote overwehlmingly supported him, know sir that you had a hand in it.  And when you are having to stay up late at night because you can’t sleep…because you are having to stress and fret about closing Catholic Hospitals and other Catholic charitable organizations…just remember the guy who brought you all that unnecessary misery and heartache is the guy you clowned and joked around with. If it weren’t so sickening we could all get a good laugh.  What a joke!

I first read about this on Lifenews.com yesterday.

Of interest to readers, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios has offered prayers at both the RNC and DNC conventions in the past.

Aug. 25th: Cardinal Dolan has said that he will not use a speaking platform in a partisan way…what does that mean?  That even though the Dems. are making pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage the main them of their platform, the good Cardinal would say nothing but give them a mighty blessing???? Remember Mother Teresa speaking out fearlessly and clearly at the United Nations General Assembly against the taking of innocent, preborn human lives?  Cardinal Dolan should follow her example. Obama is the architect and promoter of more and more pro abortion agendas and he will not rest until he has late-term abortion made legal all across the land.  Next will be post-birth abortion…you think that’s impossible? Well, it’s not especially since the Catholics representatives like Cardinal Dolan make merry with this man who supports horrendous agendas.  Now Cardinal Dolan publicly says he celebrates and praises the ‘Catholicity’ of Joe Biden and Paul Ryan - what??!! He compares the way Paul Ryan practices his faith to Biden’s relentless promotion of abortion and same sex marriage here and abroad?! There is something really wrong here and someone who understands the faith should take Cardinal Dolan aside and help him.  He is basically affirming Biden as a faithful Catholic despite the fact that Biden, and other so called ‘Catholics’ stand with Obama against the Church.  Cardinal Dolan, please…step aside and let a champion of the faith take your place.

That’s odd. I always thought Donohue held a consistory in his office and had his staffers make him pope. He’s always pontificating and preaching to the choir of the most holier than thous who already think their more qualified to be pope more than any European who’s been elected to succeed St. Peter. And don’t get me started on some of their really over the top more Roman than the Pope former Anglican sheep they rustled by saying, “Baaaaaa, Baaaaaaaa, we’re the real traditionalists who know how to run a Church that respects authority,” all the while their thumbing their noses at the Vatican for all the things those liberal Europeans are (falsely) accused to have pulled on the Church.
What’s next? Loyalty oaths rank n’ file Church members? How nicely Republican and fitting with the Church over here nowadays that’s going out of its way to all but officially join the GOP.

Could it be that to break with the tradition of a ‘lighthearted affair’ and yes,lecture the President, is better than breaking with tradition and not inviting the President?

Posted by s reno on Saturday, Aug 25, at 1:09 pm(est):

“Dear Cardinal Dolan…..I think you are what is wrong with the Church.”

Nope. What’s wrong with the Church is me, and the billion other people who call her their mother, and yet seem to always sin left and right, and obstruct her mission. I don’t know what Jesus could possibly see in me, or Cardinal Dolan or anyone, but whatever it was, it wasn’t anything we did. I don’t even deserve to be called Catholic. Yet, God has so much mercy! Thank God for the sacraments! Without those….yeah well I’d pretty much die.

Stopped reading after, “Democrat National Convention.”

I can see no good in, no justification for, inviting President Obama to the Al Smith dinner. The so-called explanation does not address the issues. Obama’s political party is not the issue; it is rather that Obama has used his political office to deny the right to life of innocents, to deny the natural freedom of the person to the practice of religion, and to deny the nature and purpose of man’s sexuality, marriage, as well as denying the sacred and inviolable nature of motherhood, fatherhood and the family. Clearly, there is no evil act on the part of the President that would persuade the Cardinal that it was not right to invite him to this high profile dinner.

@Robyn: You’re expecting waaaaay too much from far too many of the contributing commentators to the Register’s Blog reply threads. It’s awfully hard to see outside the firm lines they’ve set for themselves, much less manage to enjoy a good laugh or two when they’ve come down with such dire cases of Obama Derangement Syndrome. Your gutsy suggestion is much appreciated by this replier.

Wow! We have a new Pope. After speaking with the Cardinal in the morning Bill Donoghue went on tv with Lou Dobbs and called the people who disagree with the Cardinal for inviting the most pro-abortion politician in history to a charity dinner, ‘The piety police’ and other insults.  Now after speaking to the Cardinal about not being invited to a pro-abortion love fest where he would offer prayers but don’t worry he would be civil and not say anything that might offend anybody, Bill complains that they aren’t ingratiating themselves with the pope of America.  I don’t think Bill has been speaking with someone like Mother Teresa before he makes these comments. It seems to me that the Cardinal wants to be ‘Popular’ or is it Pope?  Please pray that the next election for Pope will not be a popularity contest. 
As for the Cardinal’s rephrasing of the greatest attack on ‘Life’  as a restriction against religious freedom, I would have to liken it to a boxer who is fighting with one hand tied behind his back.  The mandates promote the culture of death, by requiring people to purchase abortion inducing drugs and sterilization procedures through insurance policies, but all the Cardinal will say is it is a restriction against religious freedom?  That is not a good enough defense.
Previously, after the accommodation was announced the Cardinal stated “Today’s decision to revise how individuals obtain services that are morally objectionable to religious entities and people of faith is a first step in the right direction,” Dolan said. “We hope to work with the administration to guarantee that Americans’ consciences and our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations.”
Did you know that these regulations were actually ‘services’. Is that what we think about sterilization and abortion inducing drugs? Is it really just a matter about how we obtain these so called ‘services’? Is it really ok if the administration finds a way to distribute these ‘services’ as long as it doesn’t harm our freedom?
Did the Cardinal really say the Vice President took his faith seriously? I guess that means the Cardinal wouldn’t deny Biden communion.  I don’t think the Cardinal would deny the President Communion either. I mean what would be a bigger scandal to offer communion or to deny communion to the President?  I am sure his decision would be based upon what would be more civil and show that we are loyal americans.  That was part of his decision to invite the President to a different meal.
I would prefer someone who would stand up for the faith courageously even if it meant that they would have to be unpopular than someone who will only stand up for their rights as an american.

Unfortunately, the cardinal appears to have weak knees

s reno.. your post is all correct….if you ever seen Cardinal Dolan on EWTN SUNDAY NIGHT PRIME with Father Groschel he is nothing but a jovial one-liner joke machine…..THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH DOESN’T NEED A COMEDIAN LEADING THE FLOCK AND CAUSING SCANDAL TO IT….JUST WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING TO BE SO FUNNY CARDINAL DOLAN WITH THIS PRESIDENT???..babies murdered in the womb as this president JOKES IN FRONT OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY…this president who expands the abomination of same-sex DEPRAVITY throughout the country, joking in front of ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY…THE SMOKE OF SATAN STILL FILLS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS SO CALLED LEADERS HAVE INHALED A BELLYFULL…YOU CATHOLIC CLERGY WALK OUT WHEN THIS president GETS UP TO GIVE HIS SERPENT SPEECH AND MAKE THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN GLAD THAT THEY GAVE THEIR VERY LIVES IN DEFENDING THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Cardinal Dolan has already responded as to why President Obama was invited to the Al Smith dinner. Why can’t people let this go? We know the Democratic Party has moved so far to the left that inviting someone such as Cardinal Dolan to the DNC would be tantamount to inviting the Pope. Cardinal Dolan makes his decisions in the light of Christ. They may not be decisions that please everyone. Nevertheless, I have no doubt he makes them prayerfully.
@Reno and others- What makes Cardinal Dolan do what he does? It’s called grace. He responds to it and lives it and makes prudential decisions with the grace he is given. A Christian walking in the Light of Christ does not engage in ad hominem attacks on anyone. Before we tear down anyone we need to take the beam out of our own eye.  I believe someone very wise said that. In case some of you don’t know Who said that, it was Jesus.

Iam glad the DEMON-CRAT party turned down Cardinal Dolans benediction offer, the Cardinal should have offered to do a complete EXORCISM ON THE WHOLE DEMON-CRAT PARTY, after the Cardinal throws Holy Water on those serpents the whole place would have gone up in smoke…......

Not inviting Cardinal Dolan to speak at the DNC is wonderful news since it will not give the impression that it is okay to be a Catholic and vote for this anti-life President.  We should look at this as fortuitous.  Cardinal Dolan should be on the side of those who defend life, not those who destroy it.

Mary, Our Queen of Peace, in Medjugorje, is the continuation of the messages of Fatima. Her apparitions of 31 years have continually reminded us to pray for our Priests, Bishops and Pope, Thee Shepherds and not criticize them in anyway since they have been chosen by Jesus!!  As we approach the year of Faith in a united manner, so we do not hinder what God is trying to do in our world so in need of His peace?  For more info see Medjugorje Today or marytv.tv. Time to set aside the vast opinions and differences we have, humbly ask for forgiveness, forgive others and live as Jesus asks. With Love of the two hearts. +JMJ+

To continue, I feel compelled to add that thru prayer of the Rosary and Concecration to The Immaculate Heart of Mary , the triumph will not come thru political leaders but thru prayer with the heart, fasting on bread and water on Wed and Fri, conversion from the heart of the faithful, penance, attending mass and adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist!  As lay people of the Church, we must exhaust our lives with prayer. The hour has come!  Unified first!  Let all those who know and believe in the power of The Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of mankind and bring the answers we all seek. Just maybe, if we are humbled enough we can allow God to do His work in and thru each one of us, we will stop judging and have FAITH!!  +JMJ+

Cardinal Dolan also invited Gov. Romney.  It has been a tradition to do so, even though some Presidents do not accept.  It is a matter of respect for the office, rather than the person and it is [supposedly not political] but a fundraiser.  I was appalled at first also, but since he also invited Gov. Romney it was okay with me. Remember Cardinal Dolan is a priest to all peoples regardless of the party they belong to.  Many Catholic Democrats may still vote for Obama, no matter what, therefore, inviting the President “smoothed their feathers” and does not give the diehards another reason not to vote for Romney.  Pres. Obama is basically doing the same thing by not inviting Card. Dolan to his convention. As the Southerners say: the Cardinal is between a rock and a hard place”

I wonder if anyone from the Democratic Party, the Obama administration or liberal controlled media that so desperately seeks to banish the Catholic presence from the ‘public square’, create divisiveness and foster fear within the Catholic Church is reading this article and this thread?
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If they are reading, it occurs to me they must be smugly pleased with themselves.  Certainly some of the thread comments found here indicate their success.
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I fail to find scandal in His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s invitation of the President to a Catholic sponsored public square dinner and am disappointed in those who relinquish to fear of a liberal controlled and biased media.  So much for joyful Catholicism rooted in the belief that the victory is already won.

I have long suspected that the water in NYC contains a substance that numbs a person’s resistance to immoral leaders, because they are leaders.

Mary Williams
Jesus asks that we cast out demons, many through prayer and sacrifice.  President Obama is clearly a major mover in the continuation and expansion of evil in our country and around the world.  Cardinal Dolan’s invitation is a multi-faceted assist to President Obama.  It also deflates so many faith-filled/faithful Catholics who are grateful for the objections to the mandate, and a strong stance taken against platforms (DNP) that perpetuate and expand evil.  I may not agree with the level of anger or the words used, but it is righteous anger.  In his 4 years as President, Obama, in my opinion, has made one correct decision—that is to not invite Cardinal Dolan to offer benediction at the DNC.  I only wish that we had better access to Cardinal Dolan for his invitation to President Obama is reprehensible.  It is a contradiction to Truth and reality.  God’s nature does not allow a contradiction to Truth.  God would not lead His sheep astray.  We ask for the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to free us from the bondage of evil that is claiming souls and open our eyes to confront evil courageously.  God bless you and your loved ones.

The fact is that Dolan would be meek as a church mouse if he were to be invited to the Abortion Party’s national convention.

Like just about all the Catholic Church leaders in America, Dolan is spineless, which, by the way, is exactly why he was chosen to be cardinal of the high visibility New York area. The Church does not want the boat rocked; it gets too much money for its social programs and its leaders toe the line irrespective of Christ’s teachings to the contrary.

If Dolan wanted to do anything to confront our chief abortionist, he could 1) admonish Obama at the Al Smith Dinner and/or 2) lead something like a Rosary vigil outside the Abortion Party’s national convention.

St. John the Baptist, whose feast day in this coming week, would do that. But Dolan? It’s unimaginable.

I’m a Democrat and a Catholic. I wanted to read Mr. Archbold’s post to see what he had to say. Then I read the comments.

Wow.

Will keep you in my prayers.

I had always liked and respected Cardinal Dolan, but now after reading all the other posts, I’m not sure how I feel. I hate abortion and I can’t understand why a prince of the church would ever have invited Obama to anything. He is so pro-abortion and anti-life as is his vice- president. I know who I’m voting for and I have always been democrat but now I know more than ever that we need Romney and Ryan in the White House.

I am a Catholic first. As a Catholic we are called to believe and practice what the Church declares in the Catechism, what is taught in the doctrines and dogmas of the Church. Period. The Bishops should be preaching and teaching those truths to their flocks. So many “catholics” don’t have a clue on what the Church teaches on many moral issues like : contraception, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, IVF, same sex “marriage”, etc. Politicians like Pelosi, Biden, Kerry, the Kennedys, Sebelius, Cuomo, etc (notice they are all Democrats) thumb their noses at the Church and continue to vote and promote the culture of death without barely a whisper from the Bishops. They should be talked to in private and if they persist, then excommunicated!  What I don’t understand is the continued bowing to the Democratic Party by the Bishops and Priests. They do not have to say vote for the D or the R, but they should be explaining what they should be voting for or against….not their lame “Faithful Citizenship” booklet they came out with, or the “social justice” crowd which is actually “socialism”  which only confuses the issues.

I was very disappointed in Cardinal Dolan for inviting President Obama to the Al Smith dinner. If he wanted to speak with him in private, great, but to give this radical pro-abortion and same sex “marriage” politician more photo ops and joking and dining with the Cardinal is nauseating and a scandal.  Comparing Biden and Ryan like they are both wonderful catholics is also nauseating. The scandal with the Catholic Relief Service and the CCHD is also disgusting. The USCCB should be cleaning up the Church from within, starting with the Bishops and Priests themselves.

What is Cardinal Dolan doing inviting the “Devil” ? ? ? ? ? It’s an insult to the Church and to ALL of us Catholics.
May I suggest to Cardinal Dolan to step down and take a LONG trip some place far to recover from insanity ?

@aktenny: I agree with you….I am sick of the nastiness in politics and on this and other Church blogs. People should vote for whom they please, but I do feel that if they vote “party” they don’t always make the right decision.  I have voted democrat and republican. People should study the person running, his background, what he believe and what he has accomplished. Obama to me is a typical social worker who wants to help and please everyone. All these “give-away programs just makes government bigger and before you know it, we will be like England and other countries.  I lived through the Great Depression and if we go through that again, oh, oh..it was not easy. What got us out of that depression was WWII and people started working in factories making guns, bullets, soldiers uniforms, etc.  We need JOBS…too many people are out of work. We have so much in this country and we don’t utilize it. Also I just got back from Mass and the priest gave a sermon about something in the Bible. With the two conventions coming up in a week or so, I was surprised that he did not mention the Church’s teaching on abortion. People can believe what they want about contraception but abortion is absolutely terrible…it is killing and God’s Commandment is:  That Shalt Not Kill.

Aug. 26th: GHU…and do you know that there are sincere Catholics who believe that they can vote for Obama as long as they don’t vote for him ‘because’ he is for abortion and they say, rightly, that that is what the USCCB has put out as a voting guideline…no wonder Catholics are confused.

EVERYONE should watch TEST OF FIRE, just go to youtube, type Test of Fire and watch it. or go to the link below

http://www.youtube.com/embed/D9vQt6IXXaM?rel=0

It’s a 4 minute video VERY POWERFUL and straight to the point.
Enjoy it ! ! ! !

GHU says does not “understand is the continued bowing to the
Democratic Party by the Bishops and Priests.”

I do:

1. In the formative years of these bishops, the Democratic Party was—if you can believe it— actually decent & legitimate. It was not the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, radical secularized party that you see today. 

Catholic bishops unfortunately cannot break the bond that was formed inside of them in their youths, irrespective of how degenerate the Democratic Party has become.

This is epitomized in a saying heard in Philipelphia in the 1950s and 1960s: It went like this: “Born Democrat, baptized Catholic.” It seems not much has changed since then for many in the clergy.

2. Since Vatican II, the institutional Catholic Church in America has significantly deemphasized the spiritual (devotions, sacredness of the liturgy, etc.) while focusing on social work and building Utopia.

This helps explain why the bishops kowtow to powerful Democrat politicians. It’s because the Church gets millions upon millions of dollars each year of government money to run its social programs which, among other thing, provides employment for Church insiders. It also gives the churchmen a sense that they’re doing God’s work, albeit with other people’s money.

The bishops are petrified of losing this funding from Caesar. They will do all they can to avoid a fund cut off even if it means giving a short shift to Church teaching as we see daily.

One can legitimately say that government money has corrupted the thinking of bishops. May God have mercy on their souls.

@GHU - If one doesn’t know or isn’t interested in knowing the doctine and dogma of our Church is that the fault of Bishops or personal fault?  What’s that line from the Confiteor we say at least once a week, oh I remember:  through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.  As much as you would like to deny the mystery of iniquity, I hardly think you can blame it on or hold responsible our Bishops and the USCCB.
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Our Church is not a political entity and doesn’t answer to political parties or secular media.  The Roman Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic whose members know their Master’s voice.  His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan by power of his ordination and virtue of his office is free to engage the world as he wishes regardless of your personal physical reaction or feeling.
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As Bl. JPII said, ‘Be Not Afraid.’

Priest, Bishops, Cardinals, Popes and all of us have the MORAL responsability and obligation, to RESPECT, HONOR AND PROTECT our faith and what Jesus taught us.
Many of us, including ALL the priests, bishops, cardinals & popes, are human and can be “fooled” by different things and go the opposite of what we are supposed to do. We need to be “each other’s keepers” and remind ourselves what we are all about.
We all have done “wrong” things,and we are not here to point fingers to anyone, nor judge. Only God can do that and He will ! ! ! ! ! But, we can “point at the action” and remind ourselves where we should be, correct it when we need to and . . .  Thank God for His Mercy ! ! ! ! !
What Cardinal Dolan did is VERY OFFENSIVE to the church and to ALL of us. And I know God will fix it as we all know: THE TOMB IS EMPTY ! ! ! !

@aktenny: You cannot be both a Democrat and a Catholic. It is either/or. Choose one. I hope you choose the right one. May God guide you in your choice.

Please do not publish my e mail address.

I am sure that there are millions of Catholics around the world who try to follow the magisterium that are baffled by the invitation of the much loved Cardinal Dolan who has invited President Obama to the Al Smith dinner. I must presume that the other 450 U.S. Bishops (including Archbishop Charles Chaput who otherwise calls a spade a spade),Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,the Papal Nuncio in the U.S, Cardinal Bertone,the Secretary of State at the Vatican and the voice of the faithful-EWTN are in total agreement with the invitation. Or, have they been muzzled?
It would appear that common sense is not very common.
My fellow Catholics if we don’t stand for something,we will fall for anything!

HOW ABOUT KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE & YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER…. Julia Schmidt

I am sure that there are millions of Catholics around the world who try to follow the magisterium that are baffled by the invitation of the much loved Cardinal Dolan who has invited President Obama to the Al Smith dinner. I must presume that the other 450 U.S. Bishops (including Archbishop Charles Chaput who otherwise calls a spade a spade)Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,the Papal Nuncio in the U.S,Cardinal Bertone,the Secretary of State at the Vatican and the voice of the faithful-EWTN are in total agreement with the invitation. Or,have they been muzzled?
Common Sense is not very common. My fellow Catholics,if we don’t stand for something,we will fall for anything!

I am sure that there are millions of Catholics around the world who try to follow the magisterium that are baffled by the invitation of the much loved Cardinal Dolan who has invited President Obama to the Al Smith dinner.I must presume that the other 450 Bishops (including Archbishop Charles Chaput who otherwise calls a spade a spade) Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,the Papal Nuncio in the U.S.,Cardinal Bertone,the Secretary of State at the Vatican,and the voice of the faithful-EWTN are in total agreement with the invitation.Or,have they been muzzled?
Common sense is not very common. My fellow Catholics, if we don’t stand for something,we will fall for anything!

There is an enormous problem with this blog entry by Pat and the Catholic League story. It has a hole in it big enough to drive a Mack truck through, with both doors open.

The fact is no Catholic leader has been announced as a speaker for the convention. It cannot be concluded that Cardinal Dolan has been rejected or turned down as that is stated nowhere in the NY Post article.

Read the article at the Post, and you will see that Joseph Zwilling states: “He has not been contacted by them”. The article further states: A senior Obama campaign official said yesterday that the Democrats would have a “high-ranking” Catholic at the convention, but indicated the arrangements weren’t yet final. “I can’t announce it because the person hasn’t got their plane ticket,” said the official.

It could very well be Cardinal Dolan. We don’t know yet.

Even the article at Life News doesn’t say that explicitly that the Cardinal has been rejected.

As of 8.04 PM on Sunday 26 August, CathNews.com states in a just published story:

The lineup of who might offer invocations and benedictions at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 4-6, had not been announced as of last week.
———————
Until an announcement is made, anything in this blog post and previously posted by the Catholic League is moot.

@KT: Why don’t you follow the “lead” of voter suppressors like Ohio’s Sec. of State, a blatant liar who’s pulling every trick he can to suppress the African American vote in his state for suggestions on how to suppress Catholics who happen to be registered Democrats. And while you’re at it, check in with PA & FL’s voter suppression drives. Just think of the ideas you can glean from the riders in the clown car that call themselves experts in running “fair elections.” I’ll bet they’ve got a whole treasure chest full of dirty tricks they’d be interested in sharing with you.
BTW, who are you to say one cannot be a Democrat or Republican and be a Catholic in good standing? I’ve got a huge beef with the Ayn Randites fawning all over the likes of Paul Ryan and not for a second it is possible to buy his recent distancing from her objectivist rationales for nothing less than selfishness. Do you know what rank selfishness as an “economic outlook” leads to? Do AIG, Morgan Stanley, the Crash of ‘08, politicians bleating on about the need to avoid piling on more public debt ... all the while voting for themselves tax cuts for the super wealthy we cannot afford less than two years after the bailout of the banks ... and Wall Street continues to thumb its nose at the American taxpayers who bailed their sorry rears out!?
Or how about the gutting of so many child and elderly nutrition programs, not to mention cuts in fuel assistance grants. Look, it’ll be on your conscience not mine if some elderly have to be taken to emergency rooms due to the fact they had to make the choice between eating, taking their meds or staying warm enough not to catch life-threatening flu viruses that could turn into pneunomia.
Oh but if the politician is a self-described “prolifer,” even though the vast number of his policy stands, actual voting records, not to mention his sudden allowance for abortions in the event of a “legitimate” or “forceable” rape (and only because of one of his co-sponsoring allies in the House, now running for the Senate just happened to commit the ultimate mortal sin in politics, exposing the house of lies through a gaffe) ... welllll, we know “exceptions can be made.”
Really. Exceptions for we, not for thee. (Ah, now that’s a more honest translation of today’s conservative Catholic handling of their Ryan-Akin problem.) Hey, did it ever dawn on you to ask your new poster boy of the ideal Catholic politician that it’s okay for him to challenge the man who picked him for VP, especially when that man belongs to the most Protestant of all AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALIST Protestant (Mormonism,unlike all the other Protestant beliefs held by 43 of our 44 Presidents, is the only one founded in this nation) and the top of the ticket, by virtue of the fact he’s non-Catholic, isn’t bound by the same obligations Ryan and all other Catholics are according to Canon Law.
Or, have I missed something ... like, for instance, a special dispensation for Paul Ryan all because he says he’s prolife? Prove it. Just as the top of the GOP can make his share of tasteless birther jokes, I’d say it’s fair enough for all Catholics, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, to demand Ryan to prove his bona fides with the Church, his ... shall we call it, his “special political dispensation” from, say, Cardinal Dolan himself?
I’ll admit this reply has been dripping with condescending sarcasm, but I packed in as much as I could to show you and every body else, nobody has the right to dictate who can belong to what party he or she damn well wants to and for whatever reason they want to use to make these demands. Even the Church allows Catholics here and elsewhere to vote for the person they believe is the “lesser of two evils,” although I hardly believe Obama deserves that put-down when I put the actual record of Mitt Romney up against Barack Obama. I wasn’t in Obama’s camp four years ago, but when I started to give him the benefit of the doubt, and compared his record of accomplishments against that of the clown-car bunch represented in the GOP primary season and the fraud Romney, it was a clear choice.
I’m hoping and rooting for Obama; but I’m praying for a Catholic member of the media with the journalistic guts and integrity of an Edward R. Morrow who’ll call out all the present-day Joe McCarthy wannabes within the conservative side of the Church in the U.S. He’ll not only call them out, he’ll expose them for the dictatorial, bullying and obnoxious phony Phariees they’ve been all along, continue being and will forever continuing to be until they’re called out. The answer to my prayers couldn’t come soon enough concerning this bunch.
I’m a Catholic, a Democrat, an American and I’m voting this fall for Barack Obama and every Democrat I find on that ballot sheet. And I’m going to urge others to do likewise. You can’t bully us; but you can sure as hell get us riled up enough to put this kind of bullying where it belongs; in with the pile of other political obits of the Joe McCarthy wannabes of this world. Nice going.

I wish Cardinal Dolan would addressthe irony it if the the very Catholic Charities in New York that the Al Smith dinner raises money for are going to financially suffer enormously under HHS Mandate?!?...

Complaining about Cardinal Dolan’s actions in an internet combox achieves absolutely nothing.

I propose that the next time someone feels inclined to do so about any bishop or priest that they spend a few minutes praying for that cleric instead. It’ll be more fruitful.

This is for Steve, who posted his long commentary and ideas.
You seem to be VERY angry about many things, we all know the hard times we are going thru, all due to the lack of morals and ethics of many people.
You, just like everybody else, are going to vote in the coming elections, when you go to vote, think what are the important issues TO YOU, and vote accordingly.
AND if you claim to be Catholic, I hope you know what the Church’s teaching are on certain issues that WE AS CATHOLICS CANNOT COMPREMISE.
May God guide you and bless you in your decisions.

Steven,
The Catholic Church has posted a welcome sign for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, in case you have any questions about where the Catholic Church stands. http://www.catholicnewsherald.com/42-news/rokstories/2263-catholic-church-conveys-strong-messages-during-dnc-in-charlotte

Steven, GHU & Atkenny, Loved your posts. It is time we, Catholic members of the Democratic Party, step up.  We agree that abortion is a sin and a crime, but we also look at the facts: health care act will give health care to women who could not previously afford it and quite possibly then deter them from seeking an abortion.  We look at the lives of the already born and how their lives will be better with good health care.  Catholics,it seems, are more worried about the unborn than those already breathing and eating on their own. What I do not hear is the Catholic outcry to Merck, Pfizer, Montesano, Philip Morris and other chemical companies that produce drugs that injure both the unborn and already born.  Where is the Catholic outrage here? Just once I would like to see a Catholic stand up with me against these corporate death machines.  I would like to see Catholics go up to a smoking pregnant woman and accuse her of killing her child.  Until you start doing that, Catholics, you have no business being against abortion. Smoking, drug abuse, alcoholism all contribute to still births (spontaneous abortions as they are affectionately called). 
Also, if you agree that life begins at conception, and you believe this life is governed by God’s plan, then you have to believe that abortion was in God’s plan for the unborn. Some are going to say God would never do that. Well, please explain the cancer ward at the local Children’s Hospital.  Please explain the incurable diseases babies are born with.  Did those kids somehow upset God so he gave them something horrible and painful?  Your logic is clouded if you cannot accept abortion as God’s will. 
Need further evidence, if President Obama is the most pro-abortion President ever, then what is GW Bush and the Republican controlled House AND Senate?  They had full control from 2002 to 2006 and did what about abortion?  I will make it easy for you so you don’t have to go to wikipedia:  THEY DID NOTHING WHEN THEY HAD THE POWER (VOTES) TO COMPLETELY BAN ABORTION!!!  Oh the Pro Life Repubicans..  What a joke!!  And Mittens, he was prochoice until very recently.  So there you have it, people who had the power and chose to do NOTHING with it. 
——
Catholics were and still are the working class.  Unions were supported by Catholics and Catholics were supported by unions.  Catholics though thankfully not the church, have become anti-labor and anti-union and have aligned themselves with the Republicans. Why? A fair wage for a fair days work.  What Catholic would cheat someone out their fair wages?  Oh its because the union might not donate to the “right” candidate.  Why is that your business again?? 
Bottom line: Go re and re-read the Matthew 5-7 Beatitudes (Sermon on the Mount).  If you can go through them and find what Republicans stand for, more power to you.  Vote your conscience.  Personally, I read them and see more the Democratic Platform than the Republican.

To the Catholics who vote Democratic:

Remember, when you get home from the voting booth, you can’t wash off the stench of the abortion mills and the homosexual bathhouses that your vote has embedded on you, notwithstanding all your pathetic rationalizations for voting for the Party of Death & Perversion.

Starzek, I don’t believe for one minute that you are a Catholic Democrat or, if you are, you haven’t a clue about the Catholic faith. You spew absurd comments as if they were facts…really, are you another troll for Obama pretending to be a ‘Catholic’ - well, maybe you are a ‘Catholic’ Democrat like Pelosi, Biden, Kerry, Kennedy, Sebelius, et al, who stand against the Catholic Church with Obama…who chose them for that very reason. You spout the Dem. talking point that pro-life Catholics care only about the life of the unborn but once born, they’re left on their own. How ignorant, really! No organization does as much for the living and for the unborn than the Catholic Church and Catholic charitable organizations.  As for God willing suffering…there is such an underlying thread of evil in your rambling comments that you don’t merit a response…go back to your master Obama and ask him to assign you your next task…

Starzec ,
Your comments sound more like an appeal for pediatric euthanasia.Why allow any suffering by that logic?

I have to humbly agree with Robyn. I’m a sinner - Obama is a sinner - Dolan is a sinner. Christ’s mercy is infinite. He can handle this. He can “write with the crooked lines” that we’re all marking up the face of the earth with as we try to bring others (yes - even President Obama) closer to the Truth. Have some mercy as we witness our dear Cardinal Dolan *try* to navigate these waters. He never ever claimed to be perfect - let’s give him some slack!!

@head in the starz(ec)
Your post is absolutely perfect…it should be the poster child as to why dems should change parties if they are Catholic or Christian brothers and sisters.  To align smoking pregnant women with women who abort their babies?!  Most of what you said is so far off base from the absolute beauty of Catholic doctrine, I am quite certain you could use some teaching and formation.  It could take days to dissect your absurd logic…why don’t they go after such and such and stop going after abortion?!  As for the “social justice plea” regarding healthcare, should those brilliant minds who came up with an unreadable, unjust, and unwanted plan instead have focused on the very low percentage of the population that wants healthcare and is unable to obtain it instead of another way federal government will tax everyone it chooses and still not balance spending at the end of the day (every day).  Additionally, one thing I mentioned in my earlier post, God, being all good, cannot be a contradiction to/of Himself.  God cannot plan abortion…that is man’s heinous sin.  Your argument with pretty much the whole issue is inadequate.  I just wish I had some money to post my personal thought about our upcoming election…I’M PERSONALLY OPPOSED TO OBAMA—NO BUTS ABOUT IT!  I must give up my time on our computer.

@starzec ‘Also, if you agree that life begins at conception, and you believe this life is governed by God’s plan, then you have to believe that abortion was in God’s plan for the unborn.’ If you are Catholic then you should know that God never ordains evil but He can permit it (9/11). He leaves humans to their own devices to make choices. Sometimes they are good and sometimes evil (as in abortion). Why people suffer is a mystery but we should also know that suffering is redemptive. We don’t understand the why of everything but we should know that God is love. As Catholics we simply cannot vote for a human being who permits evil. To do so is to cooperate in that evil.

Thank you, Sue.  I was beginning to think no one remembered or cared that Romney was invited too (and I am not a fan of either one).

Posted by Joel on Saturday, Aug 25, 2012 12:36 PM (EST):
The cardinal is not a politician; he’s a pastor.

Joel, you got this exactly backwards. Unfortunately, The good Cardinal is acting like a politician first and a pastor second.  There is only One Cardinal Rule (no pun intended) you need to know when dealing with politicians….to wit…“Watch what they do and ignore what they say”. It’s a variation of…“You want me to listen with my ears and deny my own lying eyes?”.
Cardinal Dolan is a highly skilled politico….X 2. He is a genial, gregarious, glad handing, back slapping prelate who just happens to wear a red beanie. Take off the beanie and robes and put him in a business suit and there is no doubt. One must remember that homosexual marriage passed in New York State on his watch. He claimed “surprise” even though the margin was supplied by 2 reps from Brooklyn…both Catholic and members of the Knights of Columbus. Got to understand the K of C’s “practical” approach to fully appreciate the long time institutionalized hypocrisy of the
K of C.  Not surprised after listening to Dolan speak at the re-dedication of St Matthews in 2010. Again when in doubt..recall the “One Cardinal Rule” when watching all politicians. Then no surprises, no disappointments, just reality of frail human beings. The only one who never disappoints was entirely innocent and crucified 2000 years ago.

I heard a comment on this subject on relevant radio,
Jesus caused controversy by eating with the worse sinners in his time.
We can not offer the Gospel to people we refuse to talk to

Too Funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOLAN-DNC Aug-28-2012 Cardinal Dolan to pray at close of both parties’ conventions By Catholic News Service:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1203618.htm

@ Sam
Who is claiming their status as a sinner at the dinner? The politicians were not invited because they are sinners. If you really believe that is the case, please tell me if you think the Cardinal will be inviting sinners like the ones that Jesus ate with, prostitutes.
If the Cardinal is correct, then if I follow his example I would have to invite the local Planned Parenthood leader to speak at the next parish charity dinner. The Cardinal has plenty of opportunities to speak with the President.

@Dismas—yep!

This is exactly why I stated that Pat’s blog and the Catholic Leadue’s story were moot.

It is sad, however, that some many Catholics carry their political affiliations and biases in front of and above their faith. In doing so, they are quick to judge and quick to make knee-jerk reactions blindly with no examination of the facts. Being Catholic is no justification for spreading rumours about any politician or political party. To do so with no just cause is no more than moral relativism. Recall that similar tactics were used against JFK in 1960 when scaremongers pushed the message that the USA would be ruled by the Vatican if Kennedy was elected.

Now I know that there will be some that will say that Cardinal Dolan was only invited as a result of the uproar. Unless some other Catholic leader was initially considered and invited, then withdrawn, we shall never know, making such speculation quite invalid.

We must pray now that Cardinal Dolan will use this opportunity to evangelise on behalf of the Church and the culture of life.

@Defender - Looks like this election season is shaping up to be much harder on his Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan than on any of the Presidential nominees.
.
It’s also interesting how we seem to behave like wolves toward the leadership of our Church yet sheep when it comes to the political representatives and parties of our choosing.
.
Geeze, this is only August still.  Another three months to go.

Starzek, thanks for your comment. We “few ... we band of brothers,” you, GHU and myself will form a “majority of three” put put on our teflon coats of armor (etc) and keep them on their toes. On the other hand, it’s almost useless. Here’s a suggestion. There’s no purpose in trying to point out the obvious flaws in their neo-Ayn Randite version of rightist-“catholicism” ... they’re convinced that Paul Ryan is so Catholic that he overshadows the good Bavarian in the Vatican. Nein! Nein! Nein!
Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to my kids back when they were in full teen-hood mentally speaking. All of a sudden, they pull the heaviest drawbridges up on the day after their 16th birthdays and there’s no chance of reasoning with them till they purchase their first car , get into their first accident, land their first big job, face their first big bills and get married and have their first kids. Oh, well ... then the freeze melts. It’s big time climate change then. Adulthood has a way of melting even the thickest ice.
UNLESS, the topic involves politics and the ones pushing their views on others happen to be the always right (pardon the pun please). That’s when even all the flamethrowers of truth need to be replaced by one of the gov’t's newest toys, “rail guns” or better yet, nuke-flame throwers.
Okay, I’m having a little fun ... but what gives me the most fun is thinking just how fast even they’ll toss up their hands and surrender to a stronger bit o’ political/economic/social logic should the most hard-wired of hard-to-starboard rightist conserva-catholics in the land get Glenn Beck to return to the Church and become the Conservative Rush Limbaugh. After all, with the exception of Bill Buckley’s family and Russell Kirk, most of the nation’s leading lights have been WASPs. Sure, there’s O’Reilly and Hannity, but O’Reilly’s had it with radio and Hannity ... he makes me wish I was anything but Catholic and Irish.
When you think about it: when most reasonable-minded conservative-thinking Catholics get enough of the “new n’ improved neo-catholic Glenn Beck” as the “Catholic Rush” ... they’ll all come back to their senses and it’ll really be Happy Days Are Here Again for our side.
If the price is right, we’ll see Beck running back … and telling the nation this is what Jesus told his followers about the Prodigal Son, had it not been for “progressive” gospel re-write hacks employed after the Church “ceased being Christian” after Constantine’s seized the Roman purple when his army won the day at the old rickety wooden North Bridge. (First he’ll have to stop getting copy handed to him from either/or Michele Bachman.)

Yup, that’s it.

All Catholic should become Democrats because ‘social justice’ washes away the crimes of murdering babies and the perversion of the homosexual bath houses.

And let’s not forget the union halls. Aren’t they still adjuncts of the Catholic Church like they use to be? They must be, given the way many priests and bishops talk irrespective of the violence used by many unions to keep its members in line.

Ah, the Democrat Party. If it’s not the Party of God, it must be the next closest thing. Right?

Steven Barrett:

Like you Hannity makes you wish that you were anything but Catholic & Irish, I also wish you were anything but Irish and Catholic ... and here in the U.S., too.

Thanks Kenny for hanging in there!  Just a few more comments…I gave Obama credit for not inviting our Cardinal…now I guess I have to take even that away from our current President.
To Steven (and his band of brothers)...I now understand why you need our prayers for the thoughts and remarks you have made… your quote, “
Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to my kids back when they were in full teen-hood mentally speaking. All of a sudden, they pull the heaviest drawbridges up on the day after their 16th birthdays and there’s no chance of reasoning with them till they purchase their first car , get into their first accident, land their first big job, face their first big bills and get married and have their first kids. Oh, well ... then the freeze melts. It’s big time climate change then. Adulthood has a way of melting even the thickest ice.”  How very sad that has been your relationship with your children.  Of course you are just like those “12 Angry Men” in the movies many a year ago.  I thank God for my 4 teenagers (19, 18, 17, 15) who have never shown such a lack of respect thus far in our relationship.  They love the Lord, the faith (Catholic), their family, and their education (Profoundly Catholic Liberal Arts College reading and discussing the Great Books) for our eldest two.  The other 2 are really quite innocent and special—autistic.  I pray that you disconnect with the culture of death and the party that continues to advance that agenda.  Until then, may the wind be always at your back, and however that very nice Irish blessing goes.  People who love life (from conception…) know joy.

Kenny, I can see you’re all heart ... for those who agree with you. If they don’t, well, they can simply get out of town. What a Christian gentleman. I’m just overwhelmed, and I’m sure others are too.

Cheeriosinmypocket: Your attitude towards life is far more positive than what I’ve encountered from quite a few other repliers. This speaks volumes about your faith and dependence on God to help you with raising your children. The way I described the passage through adolescence and its effects upon the parent-child relationship may have mislead you to think everything that happened in the little scenario was a blow-by-blow description of how things went between our kids and their parents. Our four kids and their mom and I are all on “speaking terms” as we have been throughout our nearly 30 years of marriage and raising them to adulthood. Not to say there haven’t been “those trying moments,” LOL, but that’s life. Kids will test us, even using the “silent treatment.” I’ll ‘fess up to exaggerating the scenario I described in the post you’re referring to. It was only to make a point.
I will take exception to your closing remarks, however well intentioned I could discern you were trying to convey your thoughts. Perhaps this article about abortion, as it relates to MassHealth, created by Romney will help you understand why I’m for Obamacare and the President.
I grew up receiving excellent medical care as a military dependent and I know what forces for good the government can do on behalf of everybody, no questions asked. And when I think back on those years, it’s impossible for me to avoid asking myself and others, when health care comes up for discussion, “why isn’t this available for others?”
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/24/741861/republicans-working-to-repeal-obamacare-are-opposing-pro-life-policies/

Steven Barrett:

1) I applied the judgement you used for Sean Hannity to you, and you bristle. What, are you that ‘special?’ Maybe your mommy thinks so, but that’s it. It the real world, you need to prove you case, and it is here you flop.

2) I am not all heart. I am a balance of heart and mind, and it’s that latter component that separates me from the typical Kool-aid drinking liberal Democrat like yourself.

Quid pro quo. Now that is an explanation from the Cardinal that I would have believed. He wanted to be invited to the Democratic Convention. As stated by the spokesman for the archdiocese of NY he will only offer prayers and will not ‘Endorse’ any platform.  Which also means he will not condemn any platform or promote the pro-life cause.  What a shame!

Aug. 29: Feast of the martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist.  I really fear for our people.  The Democrats will celebrate abortion and same sex marriage as major themes of their convention…they put the mother against her unborn baby by making it all about the mother’s right to choose to order her baby’s life to be terminated. I know prayer is powerful but so is ‘presence’ - would the Cardinal offer a prayer and blessing at an abortionists’ convention without speaking about the horror of what they are doing? Well, in celebrating the mother’s right to exterminate her baby, one is also celebrating those who do the killing. Would the cardinal go to an abortion facility and offer a prayer there without a word about the killing taking place?  I’m not trying to judge the Cardinal - but I am afraid. I can’t explain it but I really am afraid of what is happening in our country and in our Church. Soon, we will begin our 40 Days for Life - every Catholic, every person, should be out marching in the streets in defense of the lives of the unborn babies AND their mothers. No mother benefits by having her baby killed. I know we are all praying here that God’s will be done…and trusting that He can and will bring good out of evil…

Steven Barrett
Thank you for your kind words and open heart in sharing your family and your benefits.  I did read the article and I heard your blessing of receiving healthcare being a military dependent.  Obviously, one of your parents (or both) was working, so those great benefits you received were being paid for by the taxpayers (and rightly so to provide for our military).  However, my perspective is that unaffordable healthcare came as a result of a few disrupters…malpractice lawsuits hence sky rocketing malpractice insurance for doctors…every hospital buying the best/highest priced technology when it is unnecessary at so many locations…to name a few.  In addition to that, our tax-crazed government continues to dream up new rights—our right to receive healthcare.  While they dream up rights, they dream up taxes to go along with those rights…if you receive healthcare from your employer, you should pay taxes since it is really “income”...soon (if not now under Obamacare) if you do not purchase healthcare (by choice), you will receive a penalty (tax).  I, personally, feel all Americans are being bamboozled by these tax happy government leaders who are irresponsible,  untrustworthy spendthrifts who pander to those who are lost souls (at this moment in their lives—having been there once, myself).  They promote behavior that leaves people empty and wounded inside as well as constantly increase entitlements (which are failures…Star Parker is to be commended for her work in trying to help persons be freed from the bondage of entitlements).  I wish that all of my fellow Americans would stop giving dollars to the campaigns.  Enough spent!  Let’s vote!  We clearly know the difference between President Obama and soon-to-be President Romney.
As for the Romneycare being pro-life, I do not believe it.  I read the article, and there are probably more flaws than I could intelligently discuss (some regarding the statistics). I just tried to read it since I’ve been interrupted quite a few times in the last 10 minutes, and I can’t find it.  I’ll look later if you want to hear my thoughts, if not, that’s ok, too.  Remember that social justice begins in the womb…and that trumps all other concerns.  It is from there that we branch out.  God bless you, your wife and family!

@Kenny: Why don’t you do yourself a favor and leave the junior high level of your political expertise behind, not to mention tone, for kids in middle school. Can we safely presume you’re capable of doing so? You’re certainly not doing Hannity any favors if he has to rely on your level of discourse on his behalf.
@Paul B: The Cardinal’s been put in a very tight spot by the GOP simply by voting for a near word-by-word copy of the Vatican’s position on abortion. No abortions, no exceptions: period. Now the GOP, of all parties, given our overall political history, has really become Rome’s favorite party, when for years it was the party of, by and make-no-damn-mistake-about-it, FOR the WASPs party. When it’s come to abortion, or even adding in civil rights, the parties have pretty much switched roles on a dime during the late 60s and early 70s, thanks to the perfect little storm cooked up by Nixon’s gang who came up with their Southern/Sunbelt Strategy to pick up alot of the Dixiecrats completely turned off by the Democrats’ badly needed change of heart on Civil Rights. It was northern Yankee Republicans who helped Johnson carry the day on both Civil/Voting Rights Acts. But, in fairness to the Democrats, it can’t be said they changed as rapidly regarding their present-day stand on abortion as fast as the GOP did regarding both its very calculated decision to tap into the Dixiecrat Sunbelt voters and the disenchanted former urban northerners who fled that way (for a variety of reasons.) While the moderate Republicans of the mid-60s were genuinely interested in righting a nearly 300 yr old moral wrong; one would be very hard pressed to find the same sentiments at work the moment Nixon’s more Machiavellian political operatives got to working on turning the electoral map on its head. Do you think it’s any small coincidence that many of the older Catholic Tea Partiers are sounding much like the same folks down south in the immediate aftermath of the Civil Rights legislation who all of a sudden discovered the joys and benefits of enrolling their kids in mostly evangelical Protestant so-called “Christian academies” that all of a sudden sprouted across the South?
I’m sharing this not as a critique of your points but rather to point out that the Church has to walk a very, and I mean, very, tight line to avoid giving off any impression She’s siding with one party or another or even allowing her people to be manipulated by one particular party or sub-movement working from within that particular party.
When the Boston desegregation crisis was reaching its nadir, and I remember those days quite well since I worked for the same Federal District Court responsible for ordering the schools to desegregate and its use of busing. (I didn’t work directly under Judge Garrity, however.) White parents who could claim generations of attendance in a particular ward or district’s schools from elementary to h.s., all of a sudden were inundating the Archdiocesan school system for the same reason many of the white parents down south, Catholic as well as the predominately Protestant population, chose to yank their kids out of the public schools. The GOP had culled all its Archie Bunkers and Lester Maddock voters, added in the abortion issue, and before long, they also had a movement which attracted the likes of Jerry Falwell and other Protestant preachers who previously had no great love for Catholics. Let’s face it, many white preachers down South resented the largely northern make-up of the Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations as “outside agitators.” Remember that phrase? What a great “family values” guy Falwell and his ilk were. They only cared for making alliances with Catholics when it suited THEIR purposes. And boy, did they milk it and did far too many socially-conservative Catholics, who weren’t fiscal hawks or even defense hawks go along with them because of two words: busing and abortion.
Cardinal Dolan must be having all this in the back of his mind while he tries to keep as many Catholics on board Peter’s Barque as he possibly can without giving the slightest impression he’s giving any specific party a “pass” on any given issue dear to the Church, especially abortion, health care, contraception, Obamacare and economic justice. There’s no one side dominating the discussion(s) here and there’s a lot of pulling from all sides; not to mention what the hothouse of political conventions can add to an already dicey mix. It’s easy to take a black/white stance and sometimes it’s necessary to do so and tell all the rest take a hike.
Has it really come to this point yet? I’m not sure. Nor do I think the Cardinal’s sure. Let’s not forget, he’s a politician in his own right within the Church’s inner self-governing system, our hiearchical form of “government,” i.e. the (Ordinary) Magisterium. (The more eggheady, theologian-oriented part of the Magisterium works in Vatican City and throughout our pontifical system of colleges.) Cardinal Dolan has to keep in mind what they, being closer to the Pope(!) are saying even before he sits down with President Obama, or the latter’s opponent. At least we can say regarding Barack Obama, he’s been consistent. Wrong on abortion, yes; but at least the Cardinal’s not having to wonder as he must surely be doing now with all Romney’s political baggage coming to light. How sincere is he? Nobody can pin him down for the longest time when it comes to standing firm on the biggest issues in life. This is the guy who, 18 years ago ran to the LEFT of Ted Kennedy on abortion and gay rights. Why? It suited him then. Let’s face it, regardless whether you like Romney as a candidate or not, he’s a real piece of work to figure out and count on staying true to his word. FDR was said to be a conniver, liar and manipulator, and he purposely did so but it was for a focused, and never given up ideal, the New Deal, not to mention defeating the Axis from his second term on. Romney? With you today, gone tomorrow, but only after he’s left a sharp n’ shiny souvenir in your back before you know what hit you.
The Cardinal needs to be there, and make his presence not only available for the purpose of reminding the citizenry there’s God to answer to; but also to be there if he can craft out an acceptable working arrangement between Rome and Washington on health care.
Cardinal Pacelli, before he became Pius XII had to hold his long Roman nose when dealing with Hitler, even knowing it’d take decades for his reputation to be cleared no thanks to the dirt the press, and the Reds would subsequently throw at his white smock if Hitler lost. And they sure did, didn’t they? But he was no fond admirer of Hitler either. The latter wanted him dead as much as Stalin.
It’s a very fine line. And I just think a lot of people don’t realize just how fine it is or appreciate the delicate nature of Church didplomacy and political finesse it takes for Cardinal Dolan to muster here. Better to give him the benefit of the doubt and a ton of prayers than what I’ve seen dished out by far too many instand Vaticanologists in this thread. I suppose I might’ve been harsh before, and I regret it. Well, at least I’m trying to make up for it.
Have to admit the best line delivered last night didn’t come from a pol; but an observer of them (albeit hardly unbiased, LOL) Chris Matthews, who described Mittens’ appearance after Mrs. Romney’s bland Junior League quality “speech” ... Saith Matthews, Romney, looked like Prince Charles visiting the locals in Papau New Guinea, out of place and not knowing how to relate to the people he’s supposed to be with. Even Al Sharpton couldn’t help cracking a good laugh on hearing that!
Thankfully Cardinal Dolan’s will never be mistaken for another Prince Charles. Our prince has a lot more class n’ real charisma!

Well, looks like you should add a postscript to your article : Cardinal Dolan has been invited and will be offering a benediction to both the Republican AND Democratic conventions. This has the awesome benefit of hilariously embarassing both liberal journalists who denounced Cardinal Dolan’s appearance at the Republican convention as support for Romney (the Cardinal is now supporting both Romney and Obama ?) and conservative journalists who wrote that Cardinal Dolan’s absence at the Democratic convention was a proof of Obama anti-Christianism (is Obama suddenly pro-Christianity ?).

Steven Barrett, he needs to go back to the abortion mills that he supports whether it is directly or tacitly by his public and shameful support for his Party of Death.

And no doubt, when the sanctimoniousness Barrett is among his Democratic pals, he never tries to convert them or his beloved party to the life position.

Knowing Barrett’s ilk, it can be assumed that he rather plot to defeat the one party that actually stands against the murdering of babies—the GOP—with his false logic and twisted words.

Folks, watch the Democratic National Convention. It will be a celebration of abortion (death) and homosexuality marriage (perversion).

Okay Barrett, square the Democrat’s position on those critical matters with Catholic teaching. In doing so, you’ll show yourself for the troll you are.

Steven
I just wanted to finish my thought about the article that you referred to re: Romneycare and a decrease in abortions.  The quote is: “When women have more stable access to medical care, they’re more likely to see doctors, they’re more likely to have somebody inquiring about their sexual health,” he said. “The fact that you have somebody who cares about you results in people being healthier, and that includes not getting pregnant if they don’t want to be.”  ...This is truly sad.  When someone cares about someone, they hold their beloved’s wants (if not sinful) above their own.  The Catholic answer is abstinence.  Pregnancy is a gift from God between husband and wife, not a choice…I can be pregnant or not?...I don’t think so.  We are talking eternal souls that are conceived.  However, with quite a bit of help from Hollywood and disordered music, we have convinced ourselves that all that matters is what I desire, and it’s only tissues (not really a baby—although when a man and woman conceive, it is ALWAYS a baby) and because I am me and you aren’t keep out of my multiple sexual acts/partners…except, Obamacare wants us to fund those multiple sexual acts with contra-ception (against life) drugs (that are long term damaging and sometimes short term).  In Catholicism we need to wake up and stop listening to the culture of death.  We Catholics need to take off the Hollywood blinders, embrace the beauty of our faith and share our treasury with others.  Sacrifice—that is God’s love…sacrificial.  If we cannot control our sexual appetites when we ought, we increase while Jesus decreases.  Cardinal Dolan should not be praying at the upcoming DNC.  It would be much better to be hosting a 24/7 vigil throughout those days.  Prayers for each soul promoting their agenda vs. God’s Truth.  Again, God bless you and your wife of 30 years and your family.

@Steven Barrett: “I grew up receiving excellent medical care as a military dependent and I know what forces for good the government can do on behalf of everybody, no questions asked. And when I think back on those years, it’s impossible for me to avoid asking myself and others, when health care comes up for discussion, “why isn’t this available for others?”
True statement, so does everyone working in the Government get good healthcare. Of course the military dependents should get more..lets face it the military does not make that much money. The trouble with the people on this blog is that they know nothing of the past. All of you should read about the Great Depression of the early 30’s. All of you should study WWII. I am a product of The Depression and my dear Mother who was not as educated as you bloggers stated to me as a child “The democrat party wants to “give” to the poor and keep you down…The republican party wants to give you a job and raise you up”. Pure Wisdom.  If you are “living on the government, such as welfare, you are not getting much at all, yet it becomes a habit. The saying yrs ago in the 60’s was that people in some poor states are “so used to WELFARE that it is a way of life for them”.  As to WWII the saying was “twenty dollars a day once a month”. The government OWES our soldiers who are fighting for our freedoms.  It just sounds to me that Steven Barrett wants a government who will “take care of you” and that is Marxism/Socialism. Try living in England. I have relatives there, I know first-hand. ONCE YOUR GOVERNMENT IS SOCIALIZED, YOU LOSE YOUR FREEDOMS. COMMON SENSE. 
The only thing I agree with Steven on is that Cardinal Dolan is in a difficult situation because he is a religious leader to all parties.
P.S. to Steven: My husband was in chemical warfare for 7 months during WWII dipping uniforms in carbon Tetrachloride & wax to protect the soldiers from mustard gas. Carbon Tetrachloride stays in your system the rest of your life and as a result, cancer. My husband died at age 62 in l985. I found out just a few yrs ago that the government did inquiries on this & decided not to do anything about it. [are you aware they took it off the mkt and it is not longer used for dry cleaning?  Where was his healthcare, where was help for me, his widow and his children…none. He asked for a transfer and went thru 5 battles as a paratrooper, so he knew what being in the Service of his country was. He was proud & held his head high…no complaints from him. He died for your and my freedom & Obama wants to gradually take those freedoms away. I am sure Romney won’t be perfect but he is has a business background and not a social worker background like Obama.  My 85-yr-old opinion…my freedom to say so…so far.

WOWWEE SUE!  Thank God for your 85 year old opinion!  AND THANK YOU, TOO!  My sympathies on the loss of your husband so many years ago.  May God bless you each and every day and fill your heart with His Love, Peace and grace.

As to Posted by Steven Barrett on Wednesday, Aug 29, 2012 8:03 AM (EST):

With all due respect.  What a load of pretentious Balonius Sacralosus!

@Sue (old): I’m glad you put that qualifier in first. Just tell everybody you’re 85 years young!: I wouldn’t have had the nerve to say otherwise, and I’m only 60. More seriously, I want to thank you for your husband’s service to our country and I’m terribly sorry about your loss due to the circumstances you shared. Not everybody who works for the government is perfect, no matter how hard they try, be they doctors, firefighters, police officers, attorneys or judges. By and large, however, they are. I know of one very conscientious Christian doctor who served in the Army before he went into private practice and formed what became (to the best of my knowledge) the first HMO in western Massachusetts. He later helped build the Holyoke Community Health Center which boasts a wonderful staff of doctors, nurses, dentists, psychiatrists and up-to-date medical equipment. A lot of hard work went into building these services ... and the last one serves primarily the urban poor. He could’ve gone into the more lucrative “real” private practices and made a huge boodle of money. But something he learned from his days of serving his God and his nation motivated him to more for the common good of all people, not just those fortunate to be fully covered. And you and I know there are other doctors like my friend. Why do we disparage government service in medical field so easily? As you are probably also aware, it doesn’t take a lot of negative scuttlebutt, which most political rhetoric and talking points are to begin with, to create waves of demoralization throughout the medical or any profession; and this could lead to dire consequences later on.
I never met a Democrat who wanted to give me a handout, or a job I didn’t deserve: Never. Nor have I ever met anybody who did. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but much of what I’ve read in your reply sounds just like the things the GOP has been saying for years and keep on saying it till they get everybody else believing this stuff…THEY KNOW BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE, IS PATENTLY UNTRUE…but does anybody for a moment think they’re going to let on to that fact? No more than they have with this lie of the welfare ad and the nonsense about the “stolen $716B” from Medicare. A transfer of funds is not stealing especially if the money’s been taken from one government funded health care system to a newer one the government is in the process of finally getting up n’ running.
As for Obama’s background in “social work” or the constant derision he’s received for his community organization work, what’s the big deal? This man knows more about how government works at the local level than Mitt Romney will ever be able to grasp. When Romney started his administration in Boston, one of the first things he did was take a meat axe to the Mass. Rehabilitation Commission. Boy, I’ll bet that did a lot for the agency trying to help people become more self-sufficient. Big man. He also prevented the building of a new handicapped access elevator in the statehouse at the same time he took the only other elevator that could’ve been used by the handicapped for his own private use. Guess that’s a businessman-in-government’s idea of yet another form of privatization. Big man. Didn’t he ever hear of using the stairs? Folks in wheelchairs can’t.
Obama, when he left Harvard Law, could’ve gone into the myriad of areas any bright president of the Harvard Law Review had awaiting him; instead he packed up his used car and headed west to Chicago to work in the inner city and he sure as heck didn’t make a lot of money.
Take the abortion issue aside for a moment. Now, when you look at Obama’s life and work, considering what the Church teaches about subsidiarity, and compare Obama’s record to Mitt Romney’s, there’s no doubt in my mind that if Obama was prolife or even moreso than he has been, Catholics woujld be voting for him in droves. They wouldn’t be paying any attention to all the crap about Saul Alinsky, (which was thrown at Hillary Clinton,too) and they’d be a lot more trustful of a man who cut his teeth in government service helping people to become more self-sufficient, finding them jobs to apply for, not giving them out like candy compared to Mitt’s record with Bain Capitol where he made his millions practically kicking the middle class workers in many plants his company took over ...  in the teeth.
Had it not been for Medicare, a person I know on SSDI might be staring at colon cancer. Now, somebody might say, “Well, tough luck (I know you wouldn’t, but there are some other repliers in this thread and others like it on the Register’s website who would in a heartbeat) ... but why should my tax dollars go to somebody who’s disabled ... hey, we all have our problems,” and so forth. What big people they are.
If Jesus’ parables about the forgetful stingy deadbeat, the prodigal son and the sheeps n’ goats could never wake them up, what can I say?
@Cheeriosinmypocket: We have to remember one thing before we get on our Catholic high horse: This is NOT a “Catholic country” nor was it even ever considered to become formally recognized as officially “Christian.” What does that mean, of course? We have to respect that no matter what we want, we have to recognize the simple fact that no matter that the Catholic Church is the largest religious body in the nation, it represents only 65 million people, far short of even a 50/50 split.
If you want another civil war, that’s your choice, but should the day come when it appears as if we’re pushing for that, I will fight for the Union, and the Union this time will be fighting for what’s already been plainly stated and spelled out in the 1st Amendment for over two centuries and we’ve done pretty well by it.
How many Jacobite-like wars do we need to restart?
If we don’t want to be imposed on, we’d better be damn well careful not to even give the most ardent anti-Catholics the slightest (albeit perfectly legally justified) provocations to do so. And they’ll do it with glee.
I’ve had it with the selfishness of the so-called new conservative Catholic right wing. It’s as if the dead spirits of both Ayn Rand and Joe McCarthy have taken over what Bill Buckley, Russell Kirk and Fr. Neuhaus worked so hard to establish as the paradigm of conservatism in the U.S.
In that case for everybody, with apologies to Edward R. Morrow, there’ll be a lot of not-so-good and dark nights ahead you’ll need a lot of luck for. It’s your pick, but don’t make it my pick, nor my friend whose chances of a longer life were greatly improved thanks to SSDI and Medicare. If you don’t want affordable health care (which you’ll NEVER get from a private for-profit insurance company especially with a Ryanesque happy meals voucher that won’t even buy a cup of coffee at the hospital snack bar, that’s you pick; don’t impose it on others. They want to LIVE and not go into the poor house or drag their heirs in with them.

@ Steven Barrett - you still haven’t answered my question.  Which democratic value are you most attached to?  It’s unconstutional marxist attack on Religious Liberty, it’s attack on authentic sacramental marriage or it’s worship of Planned Parenthood and attack on human life in general?
.
For charity’s sake, could you please keep your response to less than say a hundred words or just a couple of paragraphs?

@Steven Barrett: You are a year younger than my oldest child. In all due respect, you speak as a social worker does.  I have worked with many of them in another capacity and they do a lot of good. I will not take that away from them. However remember that “God helps those, who help themselves”. Remember when Jesus told the Apostles to throw their nets into the sea. He taught them to work for many meals and not just to be handed one meal. The Republican Party is known for growing jobs, rather than give-away programs, but that does not mean that they do not help the poor, who cannot help themselves. My generation is the one who profited from WWII. Many jobs were created and we were therefore able to work, bring up our children, buy homes and send our children to college. As to voting, I do not vote ‘Party’, I vote “the person running”.  You ought to check out Obama’s background on your own.  “You are known by the company you keep”.  Come on, these old sayings have a lot of knowledge & experience behind them. Remember the Weather Underground whom Obama’s “friend” started. Check out on the internet the “Brinks Robbery in Nanuet, NY”.  No, his friend was no longer in the weather underground but his ‘friend’ did bring up one of the robber’s son to adulthood, while she was in prison. The thing is Steven that if the government has control over everything one does, it is no longer a democracy or republic but a socialized type of country.  People say that if the Republican Party gets in, taxes will raise. Taxes will raise no matter who is in because we have a debt to pay and it is on the citizens of this country to pay it. A debt that a Republican started and one that a Democrat made worse instead of making it less of a debt.  Remember this is OUR country THE PEOPLES COUNTRY and WE put in office people to run it for us..we don’t want our elected officials, whom we pay, to RUN US. It is that simple. Right now Obama healthcare is for whatever you can afford…meaning, if you are rich, you get great coverage and if you are poor you get less.  Just like the supplemental to Medicare…all according to what you can afford. I could go on about the Unions too, which started out doing good and then got too big for its britches.  I know, my Mom, when single, worked in one of the sweat-factories.  As you said neither Party is perfect, neither person running for President is perfect; but what we need are jobs and many feel Romney can do it. Running a country is a business!

Steven, Keep up the good fight; I will as well. 
To those whose ad hominem attacks on my Catholicism and my person in general, thank you for exposing yourselves for the real Catholics you are. 
Cheerios- perhaps you should switch to wheaties because it is exceptionally well documented that tobacco smoke is often harmful and potentially fatal to the unborn.  So yes, a smoking pregnant woman puts her unborn in harm’s way.  But please continue to believe that as long as the baby is born all is right in the world. 
Veritas- 9/11 was an act of war, similar to Pearl Harbor, not an act of evil. We can debate this all day but 9/11 does not equal abortion.
Lastly, where in my post do I condone abortion?  I said Catholics have no business being against abortion as long they continue to turn a blind eye to ALL the issues that result in the death of the unborn.  Please learn to read. 

@ Steven Barrett - you still haven’t answered my question.  Which democratic value are you most attached to?  It’s unconstutional marxist attack on Religious Liberty, it’s attack on authentic sacramental marriage or it’s worship of Planned Parenthood and attack on human life in general?
.
For the sake of charity, could you please keep your response to say, less than a hundred words or so, or just a couple of paragraphs?

@Sue (old)
Thanks for all you have shared.  My Dad was quite brilliant.  He for so many years would share that “the unions are killing this country”—he believed, as you, that they were quite necessary in their beginnings, but then my uncles and cousins would laugh at how they would sleep on the job most of the day (steel worker supervisor), would rake in the money (assembly-line for auto maker), with benefits and vacation time that was over and above the administration, the managers, the industrial engineers.  He watched his company move south (away from unions) along with so many others.  Thanks, again, for all that you shared and God bless you and your loved ones.

Cheerios: here is a few other notes on Unions. My uncle by marriage had a small milk delivery business and had to close when the Unions came in…they made it hard on his small business to make a profit. Also my husband worked at a small plant in a tiny town as an accountant. A supervisor went into the plant one day and this man was not working but reading. He was reprimanded and said “I was reading the Bible”...like that made a difference?  Also my husband, as a favor to some of the men in the shop, used to deposit their pay checks in the local bank. It was NOT part of his job.  Yet, when the plant went on strike, these same men threw nails in front of my husband’s car when he approached the plant. What was sad is that it was a small plant and everyone knew each other. Well, my husband being a tough paratrooper from WWII very quietly told them that from now on they could deposit their own checks. He would never take that kind of nonsense from them. Yet, when my husband was at a meeting at the corporate headquarters, he was told to do something and my husband said that is against union rules and he was told to do it anyway.  It is a shame they cannot get along as I do think miners and steel workers, etc. need the unions. We really need each other…I guess we need a scale of balance.  True, they did move South.
As to saving women’s health: Yes, give them free pills and they may end up with heart attack, blood clots and many other things..Abortions; how many have had their insides ruined thru one. You all should have watched Fr. Groschel the other night talking with a woman who knew all about abortions, etc.  They should have her on again. Contraceptives and abortions are not for women’s health, they are for killing babies.

@Steven and your not so nice buddy, Starzec
1) Please check out Star Parker and her cause.  She wants to free people from the bondage of entitlement.
2) Thanks for bringing up Saul Alinsky!  Yes.  All who question our current President’s background in community work, please key in Stephanie Block.  I heard her speak a few years back on this subject.  I highly recommend keying her name in regarding Saul Alinsky…youtube has some enlightening things she has shared.
3)  Don’t all daughters to the King ride high horses?  Please know, I am very much aware of my sins…God is Mercy!  My dignity comes from God and not from our country.  I am Catholic first and foremost, and all that I discern, decide, ponder, etc., must be done with that in mind.
4) As for our country (and those who were here at her beginning—native americans respectfully not part of the European settlers), I believe our brothers and sisters in Christ who have not yet found their home in the Catholic Church, will reunite with us someday.  What a homecoming that will be!
5) The cheeriosinpocket were the way I helped my children attend Mass and be quiet during homilies…one day I discovered some old ones in a coat I had worn to church years before but now my children had passed that age.
So, wheaties aren’t necessary.  I do agree that smoking should be avoided—at all times, but especially when pregnant.  However, let us say 2 pregnant women were walking down the street.  One of the women was smoking a cigarette (and wishing she could be freed from the addiction); the other woman didn’t smoke, but turned and walked into the abortion clinic to abort her baby (thus wishing to be freed from motherhood).  There is quite a difference.  Intentions make a difference.  My heart goes out to the little soul who is about to be murdered; my heart goes out to the woman.

Here you go Dismas: But first, I’ve got a multiple choice selection for you: Do you want the Aneid, Odyssey, or War & Peace length version. How ‘bout the LOTR length?
Better yet, here’s a few quotes from FDR that sum things up rather nicely:
“We believe that people are even more important than machines. We believe that the material resources of America should serve the human resources of America. ... We will not again allow people to be regimented by selfish minorities into bankruptcies and breadlines.” 1936

FDR that sum things up rather nicely:
“We believe that people are even more important than machines. We believe that the material resources of America should serve the human resources of America. ... We will not again allow people to be regimented by selfish minorities into bankruptcies and breadlines.” 1936
1.) yes people are more important than machines, but we made many & all kinds of machines for WWII. 2.) Yes, the U.S. has many resources but we do not use them all anymore, they go to other countries because we are so afraid of pollution…let Brazil have the pollution.  3.) But let the taxpayer pay for big business bankruptcies and let the CEO’s use it for retirement.
Hey, this was in 1936 when FDR said this..I was 11 yrs. old.  I remember, Dad lost his business..no bankruptcy…just closed the store…there was 6 children to feed…people were jumping our of windows on Wall St. FDR did not end the Depression…WORLD WAR II DID! Everybody was working during WWII…Dad was working, my two older sisters were working at Camp Shanks, a debarkation camp that was built in our county.  I was in H.S., did volunteer work at the hospital…the nurses went into the Service…rationing..little meat, little sugar..no knew appliances, you name it. Dad put his car on blocks and no longer used it. Blackouts…we did not have fire drills in school, we had bomb drills…we were finger printed in case we were bombed. I lived 16 miles up the Hudson River from NYC. My only brother..in the Army..sent to Saipan as a medic.  I remember a lot.

@ Steven Barrett - you still haven’t answered my question.  Which democratic value are you most attached to?  It’s unconstitutional marxist attack on Religious Liberty, it’s attack on authentic sacramental marriage or it’s worship of Planned Parenthood and attack on human life in general?

In my area, Planned Parenthood is running TV ads saying Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan will cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.

Now, that in-and-of-itself is sufficient reason to vote for the Republican ticket.

Really the Obama Alinsky tie?  Again??  Are you aware President Obama was only 9 when Alinsky died in 1972?  9 year old boys are not interested in community organizers.

Your analogy about the two women is fascinating as both women are killing a child one is just being a little more proactive. Here’s one for you. You cannot choose both and other rescuers are far enough off that their arrival will be long after any rescue will be more of a recovery effort.  If a building were on fire and there was a pregnant woman in one room and a a two year old in another room: which one would you save?

You speak of abortion as if the person entering the clinic is happy about it and is a “frequent flyer”.  But even very conservative pro life statistics do not support this claim. Well over 80% are first time pregnancies.  And, perhaps ironically, those women who identify as Catholic make up nearly one-third of abortions. So I stand by my statement. Catholics you have no business beating the anti-abortion drum until you take care of your own.  Pre take off instructions tell you to put your mask on first,  then assist others around you.  Catholics, the mask is dangling in front of you, will you put yours on??

Posted by Starzec on Thursday, Aug 30, 2012 10:50 AM (EST):

Dear Starzec: to quote you…to wit…“Really the Obama Alinsky tie?  Again??  Are you aware President Obama was only 9 when Alinsky died in 1972?  9 year old boys are not interested in community organizers”

Not to be unkind, but are you serious, stupid, ignorant or just a useful idiot?  Earth to Starzec…what a hoot you are!! Your example is like saying “Don’t you know that PB16 wasn’t even born when St Thomas Aquinas died.? Dah????? Guess fools like you don’t realize that there are things called…“Books”, “Teachers”, “Radicals”, “Indoctrination” & “Useful Idiots”.  Guess you never heard of the book…“Rules For Radicals by Saul Alinksy. Five points for your edification: (1)Alinsky was an avowed Communist, (2)He was alive when he wrote the book, (3)He dedicated it to the first radical…“Lucifer”, (4) The Archdiocese of Chicago paid him $30,000 per year for three years to act as a consultant to advise them on effectively serving the poor, (5) ADOC paid for a young Community Organizer named BHO to attend a conference sponsored by an Alinksy founded organization. All of this is readily available on the net
Please invest a few bucks and buy Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals”. Its a relatively short and easy read. Then Copy the Specific Rules (13) and watch Obama closely. You will then begin to understand what he is doing…to us…and the Church. 

We have suffered a plethora of inane comments from equally “challenged” people on this forum. However, your latest bilge takes the I.R.S. Award…to wit…Idioticus Ridiculosus Stupendiosus.

Yes that’s it you good Catholic. Attack the person. Nice. See you at the confessional.

You’re right on the money, Jacobum.

Facts are pesky things.

B. Hussein Obama was (and still is) a disciple of Saul Alinksy as was (and still is) Hillary R. Clinton.

Obama called himself a community organizer when what he was in actuality was a left-wing community agitator.

And just like his Democratic Party, BHO never accomplished anything to improve the lot of those he purported to care so much about. All he did was cause divisiveness and stir up anger and envy—just like the Democratic Party does.

@Starzec
We really have to stop meeting like this…2 children are about to be escorted to college so this is our last communique.
After I watched Stephanie Block on You Tube, I saw a link to one of our favorites, Michael Voris.  His breakdown of the tie betwixt Obama and Alinsky is an excellent oration.
I’m truly sorry that you misinterpreted what I said about the woman entering the abortion clinic ... you’re still quite blind about it and I can’t figure out why ... her “choice” is certain death to her child…no baby will leave with her once she leaves the abortion clinic…they’ve done as was paid for—they murdered the baby, the life she held inside her body when she entered.  Your statistics are meaningless.  The baby that is inhaling mom’s smoke is alive.  Many, many babies were born and are probably currently born to moms that smoke.  But babies that are aborted are dead.  I did not state (a) she was happy about it, (b) she was a frequent flyer, or anything else you want to charge me with—you accuse wrongly for it was you who said such things.  Many, many women are victims whose consciences are not well formed.  Rather, they have allowed television, hollywood, bad music, a culture of appearance vs. substance, etc., form them.  You are mistaken when you accuse Catholics of not taking care of their own as well as the many false claims that are meant to incite and not to move the discussion toward Truth.  If you open your heart and mind just a smidgen, God’s grace will flood your soul, mind, life.  May you know the fullness of God’s love, mercy, peace and joy this day and eternally.
Sorry, the fire story isn’t a parallel.  Besides, no matter what I would say, you may come back with “we’d all die from smoke inhalation.”

The vitrioulic tone of so many on this website is why so many are leaving the Catholic Church.  The Democrats are pro choice, the Republican favor the Death Sentance.  As far as I know God said, Thou shalt not Kill.  He did not add any extras, like “unless the said person was evil, murdered” There was no addendum, Thou shalt not Kill. Period.  So, if we are going to wage war on the Democrats please also do for the Republicans.  I am so sick of the them and us mentality from both sides, a little compromise and acceptance would be wonderful.  Both parties have good ideas, both have bad ideas.  I don’t get my Spiritual life from any Politician. I get it from God!

Calm down HMC, and be prepared to be edified.

1. God never said “Thou shalt not kill.” He said “Thou shalt not murder.” There’s a big difference between the two.

2. Abortion is murder of the innocent. This is an intrinsic evil—it can never be justified.

Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party fully supports this type of murder as a ‘right.’ This is a fact that you cannot deny or run away from.

As to the death penalty: The state has the right to impose it on those deemed guilty of capital crimes. In doing so, the state kills; it does not murder.

It is a different question whether or not it is prudent for the state to use the death penalty.

It also is legitimate to kill in a just war, but it is not alright to murder in it.

I don’t know anyone who is pro-abortion, even our President.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve never heard those words used except from those who support the right to life.  There happens to be a big difference between pro-choice and pro-abortion.  I’m Catholic and I believe that abortion is wrong and inmoral but I take that one step further.  If I support the rights of the unborn, I also support an economic system which will make it easier for poor families to make it easier to bring a child into the world.  I also support a way out of poverty and hopelessness which causes violence in our world and, in some cases, leads many young children to early, violent deaths from gunfire and gang violence.  I will also support funding for our schools which help to teach young children and give them an opportunity to climb out poverty.  I also support efforts to get homeless people and families into shelters.  I also support affordable health care so that people do not have to go to public hospitals and go through the indignities and red-tape that I do not have to go through.  I also support those social services which attempt to get children out of abusive and life-threatening situations in their own homes.  I also have to take a stand against war especially one like the Iraq war which was condemned by the Catholic Church as a pre-emptive strike and inmoral. Which candidate is also going to provide for all the other pro-life issues?

Why are we so concerned about a government which dictates our moral decisions? As a Catholic, I want to live out my faith and my morality, despite what the law allows.  Instead of criticizing pro-choice politicians, we need to put more efforts into counseling and support for women giving birth, trying the prevent the spread of teen-age pregnancies and educating young women and families based upon our Catholic morals, as well as supporting efforts which help to prevent 3 year olds from losing their lives through the use of handguns and violence.  I might also suggest reading “Froming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” published by the USCCB.

Earth to Gary. Come in please.

1. You say that you don’t see anyone who is actually pro-abortion. If that’s so, it’s only because you have your head in the sand. The entire abortion industry (Planned Parenthood, etc.) is certainly pro-abortion. That is because 1) of the money involved and 2) the desire of those groups to reduce the population, especially of those they consider undesirable like Negroes, the handicap, etc

And by the way, your Democratic Party had 25 speakers at its recent convention supporting abortion rights. You proud of that?

2. You also write, “I also support an economic system which will make it easier for poor families to make it easier to bring a child into the world.  I also support a way out of poverty and hopelessness which causes violence in our world and, in some cases, leads many young children to early, violent deaths from gunfire and gang violence.”

Again, open your eyes, Gary. The so-called poor in America are the envy of most of the rest of the world. That’s a fact. That’s because of the huge amount of resources U.S. taxpayer allow to be GIVEN to the ‘poor,’ many of whom are not poor at all and are leeching off the system. What, all that isn’t enough for you? Are you actually serious, boy?

By the way, is the economic system you are looking for called socialism?

3. And your crying about public education. Look, America is already squandering too much money on the public schools. If you had any real concern about the dismal state of public education in the U.S. and how it is letting the kids down, you’d be crying for choice in education (i.e., vouchers), not for abortion choice. 

Say, are you a unionized public school teacher shilling as a concerned Catholic? Is that it?

What’s a benediction?  A blessing, right?  Would anyone be upset if Cardinal Dolan pronounced a blessing on Putin or the leader of the Chinese commies?  I wouldn’t be upset.  I’d think it a good thing.  And if the Cardinal in the name of dialogue invites Obama to a dinner, and this results in the Cardinal being able to preach the gospel through giving a benediction to democrats, isn’t that a good thing?  Do we not want democrats to hear the message of Christ?  If they don’t hear it at the democratic convention, where else are they going to hear it, since most of them hate many of the teachings of our Church?

Have some charity toward your bishops, my brothers and sisters.  That is your calling and duty.  Part of the meaning of charity is giving people the benefit of the doubt.

This Cardinal is a good man, and a brave man.  He has stood up directly against Obama in relation to the HHS mandate.  He has not been afraid to call out Obama on his failures to be honest and forthright about the mandate.  That he is able to staunchly oppose evil policies, and at the same time, keep open a channel of dialogue with those that propose such policies, shows that the Cardinal deserves great praise.  That is precisely the correct way to deal with our enemies in civil society.  You don’t convert people by telling them that you refuse to be seen with them.

Correct Yan.  Would the DNC invite a Catholic Priest to speak against abortion?  NO!
So Cardinal Dolan put it in his benediction.  Right-on Cardinal Dolan, you got it in there!

“Posted by Kenny on Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 3:19 PM (EST):
Yup, that’s it.
All Catholic should become Democrats because ‘social justice’ washes away the crimes of murdering babies and the perversion of the homosexual bath houses.
And let’s not forget the union halls. Aren’t they still adjuncts of the Catholic Church like they use to be? They must be, given the way many priests and bishops talk irrespective of the violence used by many unions to keep its members in line.
Ah, the Democrat Party. If it’s not the Party of God, it must be the next closest thing. Right?”

Agreed.  We must fight evil at all costs, especially when wrapped around the false banner of ‘social justice.’. There can be no compromise on abortion, homosexual ‘marriage OR redistribution of wealth.

The current regime’s policies HURT the poor.  And women.  And just about everyone else. 

s reno,

This is an excellent statement that goes directly to Cardinal Dolan’s wrong doing. He probably get somes lying promises from the devil who mesmerized and deceived him with fame and political gain. It is a helping hand to decimate Christ Church faster. I pray that God will awake and stop him before it is too late!

In the end what happened. Cardinal Dolan was invited to the RNC and DNC. He knew radical Sister Campbell would be there and also Ms. Kennedy and how they felt about pro-choice.  So in the end, he gave the Benediction and put his own words in about saving unborn babies.  If he did nothing, Sister Campbell and Ms. Kennedy would have been the only voice heard that night. His was the last voice heard and the impressive one. Don’t be too hard on him. [As my mother (b.1885) used to say, you can get more people to listen with honey than with poison) or something to that effect.