WASHINGTON — Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York defended his decision to invite President Barack Obama to the annual Alfred E. Smith Dinner, but acknowledged, and even sympathized with, the concerns of his critics who said the president’s appearance at the Catholic fundraiser would be a cause for “scandal.”
“Some have told me the invitation is a scandal,” the cardinal said in a blog post on the website of the Archdiocese of New York. “That charge weighs on me, as it would on any person of faith, but especially a pastor, who longs to give good example, never bad. So I apologize if I have given such scandal. I suppose it’s a case of prudential judgment: Would I give more scandal by inviting the two candidates, or by not inviting them?”
The archbishop of New York rejected any suggestion that the invitation extended to the president constituted a retreat in the U.S. bishops’ campaign to address the federal “contraception mandate” through legal or legislative remedies. Rather, he presented the appearance of both President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, as an affirmation of other, important elements of Catholic and democratic virtues: civility and openness to dialogue.
“For seven decades, the Al Smith Dinner here in New York has been an acclaimed example of such civility in political life. As you may know, every four years, during the presidential-election campaign, the Al Smith Dinner is the venue of history, as it is the only time outside of the presidential debates that the two presidential candidates come together, at the invitation of the Al Smith Foundation, through the archbishop of New York, for an evening of positive, upbeat, patriotic, enjoyable civil discourse. This year, both Obama and Romney have accepted our invitation. I am grateful to them.
“The evening has always had a special meaning, as it is named after Gov. Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic nominated, in 1928, as a candidate for president, who was viciously maligned because of his own Catholic faith.
“Smith was known as ‘the Happy Warrior’ because, while he fought fiercely for what he believed was right, he never sought to demonize those who opposed him. And the dinner named in his honor is truly life-affirming, as it raises funds to help support mothers in need and their babies (both born and unborn) of any faith, or none at all,” wrote Cardinal Dolan.
Since the contraception mandate was approved on Jan. 20, Cardinal Dolan has accused Obama of “strangling” the Church and of betraying a promise to resolve the Church’s concerns about an “unprecedented” threat to religious liberty. In recent months, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gave teeth to the heated rhetoric, approving more than 23 legal challenges to the mandate across the nation and a two-week period of prayer, education and action dubbed the “Fortnight for Freedom.”
No surprise, then, that some Catholic and pro-life activists reacted with shock and dismay when they learned that Cardinal Dolan had invited Obama to the annual dinner.
“We cannot set aside our deeply-held differences and put in any place of honor those who continuously attack the tenets of our faith, and even our very ability to practice that faith,” Human Life International’s president Father Shenan Boquet said in an Aug. 9 statement about the Smith dinner invitation.
“We cannot pretend for one moment that such an honor at any function promoting the work of the Church doesn’t give legitimacy to their position while harming the Catholic Church’s image.”
Engage the Culture
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in an interview with the Register last week, described the decision as “inexplicable.” But in a statement issued today, he noted that he had spoken with the cardinal on Aug. 9, and learned the cardinal was as determined as ever to fight the HHS mandate Subsequently, Donohue then “vigorously defended” the dinner invitation on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on the Fox Business Channel that evening.
“If Catholics want to change the culture, they need to engage it,” Donohue said today.
During presidential election years, the Smith dinner has become a favored destination for both Democratic and GOP presidential candidates to deliver humorous speeches and trade jokes in a civil manner.
In his blog post, Cardinal Dolan drew readers’ attention to a new initiative of the Knight of Columbus designed to promote civility during a contentious election year.
“Last week, I was out in Anaheim for the annual Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus. It was, as usual, a most uplifting and inspirational event.”
“In his rousing address to the thousands of delegates, representing 1.8 million knights, Carl Anderson, the supreme knight, exhorted us to a renewed sense of faithful citizenship, encouraging us not to be shy about bringing the values of faith to the public square,” wrote Cardinal Dolan.
“This duty, he reminded us, came not just from the fact that we are Catholic, but also from the fact that we are loyal Americans.
“He then went on to announce a promising initiative of the Knights of Columbus to foster civility in politics. Quoting a very recent study, he noted that over 80% of Americans are fed up with the negativity, judgmentalism, name-calling and mudslinging of our election-year process and eagerly want a campaign of respect, substance, amity — civility!”
It is far from clear whether Cardinal Dolan’s statement will resolve the controversy. Critics of his decision to invite the president say that too much is at stake: Obama should not have been invited, given his extreme record on abortion and his refusal to restart negotiations to resolve the impasse on the contraception mandate.
Michael Hichborn, director of Defend the Faith for the American Life League, argues that many of the faithful will be confused when they see the president’s “photo-op” at the Smith dinner on the front page of newspapers just weeks before the election.
“It is highly inappropriate for the Church to host him at a dinner while it is in the middle of a contentious legal battle over something deeply moral,” asserted Hichborn.
He added: “It is not unprecedented for a sitting president or a presidential candidate who strongly opposes Catholic teaching not to be invited to the Smith dinner.”
Joseph Zwilling, the archdiocese’s longtime spokesman, acknowledged that the dinner’s organizers have occasionally departed from the practice of inviting the presidential candidates. But he downplayed critics’ suggestion that some candidates weren’t invited because of their record on abortion or other hot-button issues.
“It is true that in 1996 and 2004 the foundation did not invite the presidential candidates,” said Zwilling.
“They did not discuss their decision in 1996,” he added, in an email message last week that responded to a request for comment. “There was a statement from me on behalf of the foundation in 2004 that said, in part, ‘The tradition of the Smith Dinner is to bring people together. Given that issues in this year’s campaign could provoke division and disagreement that would detract from that spirit, it was felt best to proceed in a different direction, while maintaining all of the ideals and values of the dinner.’”
Not a Religious Event
Ed Mechmann, who works with the New York Archdiocese’s Family Life and Respect Life Offices on public-policy issues, had also defended the cardinal’s decision to invite the president in a blog posted on the New York Archdiocese’s website.
“An invitation to the current incumbent president to the Al Smith Dinner actually sends a message, one that is important in this time of pathologically toxic politics.”
Last May, Cardinal Dolan publicly criticized Georgetown University’s decision to invite Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services and a strong abortion-rights supporter, to a graduation event at the Jesuit institution. Increasingly, it has become the policy of the bishops to bar or discourage abortion-rights supporters from receiving awards or giving speeches at Church-affiliated institutions.
Mechmann did not directly address this common Church policy in his blog post, but he noted that the Smith “dinner is not a religious event in any way — it’s a civic/political event that raises money for Catholic charitable institutions. It’s not held at a religious building — it’s at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.”
The public statements of the cardinal’s critics have not suggested that he is endorsing any candidate or departing from his strong leadership on pro-life issues. Indeed, Catholic and pro-life bloggers have speculated that he might be gearing up for another phase of intense negotiations with the White House on the mandate.
Further, some commentators have suggested that the decision to invite Obama was the cardinal’s way of responding to attacks by some Democratic leaders and their Catholic allies that the Church leadership has become too “politicized” in a way that provides traction for GOP social conservatives.
In a May 23 column in The Washington Post, E.J. Dionne, a self-described “progressive” Catholic, claimed that some leaders of the Church were increasingly concerned about the “outspokenness of its most conservative bishops.”
Dionne’s assertion was promptly denied by one bishop cited in his story, but similar charges continue to be leveled against the Church leadership, reflecting a consistent effort to characterize their opposition to the mandate as both unnecessary and potentially counterproductive for Catholic interests.
Pro-life activists assert that there is good reason to fear how the Obama campaign might try to use the “photo-op” generated by his appearance at the dinner. That said, it can be hard to predict how such public meetings and occasions will actually play out.
In February 2009, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., paid a well-publicized visit to Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, and her critics in the Catholic and pro-life communities predicted that she would use the resulting photographs of the papal audience to tamp down criticism of her abortion advocacy.
But no such photograph was ever released because photographers were not present at the meeting. Subsequently, the Holy See confirmed that the Holy Father had “briefly greeted Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.”
The statement added: “His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”
Joan Frawley Desmond is the Register’s senior editor.
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
Tom Hoopes: Why Catholics Are Grateful to George W. Bush
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I can’t wait to hear obama crack his one-liners…how about starting off with how he forced the Catholic Church to shut down the adoption services to prevent homosexuals from adopting children and teaching them their perverse lifestyle…or how about how in his next term he’ll force the Catholic Church to marry same-sex deviates…and if that don’t get the religious laughing out loud how about ending it with how he can hear the screams of the little children in the womb screaming as they are ripped apart in their pro-choice mothers womb…...WOE TO THOSE THAT CAUSE SCANDAL IN THE CHURCH…................have a nice laugh Cardinal Dolan, Satan can just sit back and watch as Christ own representatives can do his dirty work for him.
This reminds me of the passage from Deuteronomy 30:19…‘I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him…’. Americans will clearly see the choice they have before them, I pray that they will vote accordingly…!!!
Aug. 15th “..other more important elements…civility and openness to dialogue.” - more important than the ongoing slaughter of unborn human babies - the agenda of death and destruction advanced aggressively and relentlessly by Obama?! This is unbelievable! Especially since there is precedent for NOT inviting those who stand against the Church. Surely the Cardinal knows that the Ads declaring Obama has made things right with the Church have begun! And surely he realizes that during the time that he is wining and dining with Obama, the slaughter continues! He has tried civility and dialogue with Obama and Obama made a fool of him. Now Obama will make a fool of him again and the Cardinal will go on his merry way while Obama laughs and declares the victory of his death agenda while human babies continue to be slaughtered. It seems to me that Card. Dolan tries hard to be politically correct…but this is not about politics - it is a choice to honor the most radical proponent of death for the unborn and to give him a platform from which to prove to wavering Catholics that he is indeed right with the Church as evidenced by photographs of him partying and laughing and drinking with the good Cardinal from New York. If Obama wins in November, it will be because Cardinal Dolan chose political politeness/correctness over the lives of millions of unborn human babies. Tragic!!!
Cardinal Dolan seems to be deaf and extremely obtuse. The decision was not a difficult one at all if one weighed the gravity of what the administration is trying to do to Catholic institutions in particular. The Cardinal Archbishop of New York should not be using such a dinner, given its symbolic historicity and connection to the basic freedoms of Catholic in the political sphere of our country, to spur dialogue and have dinner with the “tax collector.” “Dialogue” is not the purpose of such a dinner. We have a president who wishes to willfully and with impunity diminish and disenfranchise the Catholic Church’s right to practice and teach its faith within its own charitable institutions invited to the Al Smith dinner. The Cardinal can meet with Sebellius and Obama and other of their minions in private at other dinners, not at the Al Smith dinner. Bad move, but not surprising in the least.
It should be noted that Bill Donohue, after his conversation with the Cardinal, not only did a 180 from his former position on the Lou Dobbs show, but also went on to label those still opposed to the Obama invitation as “the Piety Police” with “their little petitions” who fancy themselves as “more holy that the Pope.”
Donahue essentially admits that his conversion came about as the result of his little chat with the Cardinal. The only question in my mind is which one of them came with Donahue’s new talking points, complete with those disparaging remarks about faithful Catholics.
Clips of Donahue’s disgusting tirade can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMcMHyswPd4
This is not a simple dinner with sinners, of which I am. It will almost surely be portrayed by the national media as “all things are well” and they are certainly not-
It’s too near the time of election for this type of posturing.
ANATHEMA to any religious who does not get up and walk out when obama gets up and goes to the podium to give his serpent inspired speech. I f you truly walk with Christ you would not hesitate to get up and walk out..however if you are like the worldly who like to get their ears “tickled”, you will swarm around the Gospel of Obama..
Maybe this is teachable moment for us. The Cardinal is calling us out of our comfort zone, just like Christ did to all those he encountered back in the day. I am confident good will come out of this, so let’s continue to pray for our leaders in the Church. Let’s not forget that the monies for this dinner go towards unwed mothers, those that chose LIFE.
To Robert Waligora and Fran Gaspari: Wow it sure is nice to see some people on this board who think they have a guaranteed ticket to heaven??
Pray, pray, pray!
“Would I give more scandal by inviting the two candidates or by not inviting them.”
This statement makes it seem as though Cardinal Dolan does not discriminate between the ideologies of the two candidates. Although it is true that we may disagree with how we can best provide for the welfare of this Country, we cannot, in Good Faith, deny the Sanctity of human life, or the Sanctity of Marriage and The Family, without always causing scandal. Perhaps the Time has come to change the format of the Al Smith Dinner, have only one speaker, and make the focus of the Dinner be about the fact that not only is there nothing in our Catholic Faith that precludes Catholics from being Good citizens, our Catholic Faith remains consistent with the founding principles of this Nation, the self-evident Truth that God Has endowed us with our inherent, unalienable Rights, our inherent Right to Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness, depending upon our securing and protecting our fundamental Right to Life, to begin with. Make it clear that it is only logical to assume that since it is true that God Has endowed us with our fundamental, unalienable Rights, the purpose of our fundamental, unalienable rights must be what God intended. Then, if the invitaion to the Al Smith Dinner remains extended to both candidates, we can guess who is coming to dinner, and Pray that our message regarding The Truth of Love, will be received in the Spirit for which it is given.
“Would I give more scandal by inviting the two candidates or by not inviting them.”.
Although it is true that we may disagree with how we can best provide for the welfare of this Country, we cannot, in Good Faith, deny the Sanctity of human life, or the Sanctity of Marriage and The Family, without always causing scandal. Perhaps the Time has come to change the format of the Al Smith Dinner, have only one speaker, and make the focus of the Dinner be about the fact that not only is there nothing in our Catholic Faith that precludes Catholics from being Good citizens, our Catholic Faith remains consistent with the founding principles of this Nation, the self-evident Truth that God Has endowed us with our inherent, unalienable Rights, our inherent Right to Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness, depending upon our securing and protecting our fundamental Right to Life, to begin with. Make it clear that it is only logical to assume that since it is true that God Has endowed us with our fundamental, unalienable Rights, the purpose of our fundamental, unalienable rights must be what God intended. Then, if the invitaion to the Al Smith Dinner remains extended to both candidates, we can guess who is coming to dinner, and Pray that our message regarding The Truth of Love, will be received in the Spirit for which it is given.
Didn’t Jesus sit with Judas at the table of the last supper, even though he knew he would betray him? Did’t Jesus dine with tax collector and other so-called undesirable? I will follow Jesus’s example. I will pray for the lost soul of our president. Dr Nathanson, an abortionist who was involved in over 60,000 muders, spent the last 20 years of his life being a campion for the unborn. Our president is young. Hopefully, God will rejoice some day and greet him in paradise. Hopefully he welcomes him with open arms and says “My good and faithful servant”. The church is experiencing a great teaching moment. Let’s take full advantage of it.
Didn’t the Pharisees condemn Christ for associating with sinners? And aren’t we all sinners? How can Christians reach the hearts of those most entrenched in sin if we shut them out? I think this was the perfect opportunity for Cardinal Dolan to plant the seed of truth in President Obama.
Chamberlain comes to mind.
Why? The Church should learn from their past mistakes. i.e. Let’s have Obama come to the University of Notre Dame. Then, Obama forces Notre Dame to pay for contraception. Again, Why would you invite Obama? Are you trying to look the fool again?
I believe the invitation is a golden opportunity for Obama campaign and the liberal media to exploit and create the impression of Catholics’ camaraderie with pres Obama. One picture of the dinner in a friendly atmosphere of participants smiling would be sufficient in confusing or convincing many many uninformed Catholics to believe Catholic Church does not have problem with pres. Obama
If he does not receive an award or give a speech, all it shows is that Catholics do not hate Obama, it shows that we hate his message.
Aug. 15th: PLEASE CALL FOR A MORATORIUM!! Card. Dolan may not mean his invitation to honor Obama to be an endorsement of him and his policies but it will be seen that way by many. I know that God can bring good out of evil but satan can bring evil out of good intentions. Obama has betrayed Card. Dolan’s trust before and he can now use the Cardinal’s invitation to prove to wavering Catholics that they can vote for him because he has made things right with the Cardinal and with the Church. Keep in mind that during the dinner and the party and the drinking, babies will be being slaughtered in the wombs of their mothers. One can put aside politics but the slaughter will not be put aside - unless Cardinal Dolan ask Obama to CALL FOR A MORATORIUM ON THE KILLING! Obama can issue an executive order to stop the killing during the time of the dinner. There is a story about the Germans and the Americans calling for a moratorium on Christmas eve during the war so each side could enjoy a brief peace to honor the Prince of Peace. Let those babies scheduled for death in the womb be given a reprieve…Cardinal Dolan: it’s surely worth a try! Please! May God give you wisdom and courage to act according to His will and in defense of the unborn.
What amazes me is that the very same people who demand complete obedience from the religious women meeting now to consider prayerfully their way forward in compliance and communion with the Church, feel no hint of hypocrisy when they gainsay the decisions of an Archbishop. Evidently, neither “progressive” nuns nor the Church hierarchy have the Magisterium. It belongs to “right-thinking” conservatives in the pews.
I remember reading in an article on this site that MA Senator John Kerry, running for the presidency in ‘04, wasn’t invited to the dinner. Someone else wasn’t invited either—can’t remember who. So there’s been a precedent.
We pray on this day that Mary the Mother of Jesus will enlighten President Obama, and he will see the error of his mandate. God bless Cardinal Dolan.
I find it interesting that among those who are so willing to give His Eminence Cardinal Dolan a pass on the Al Smith Dinner invitation, are those who hearken back to the scriptures and the fact that Christ would not hesitate to sit down to a meal with sinners – the implication being that Obama is a sinner and so Christ would want an opportunity to effect a change of heart in the person.
Now I have no qualms at all about the reference to Obama being a sinner. Anyone who advocates that it is morally right to take a full term otherwise-healthy baby, allow its head to emerge from the birth canal and then proceed to use sharp scissors to pierce the base of its skull to make a hole in its cranium in order to insert a tube used to suck its brains out in order to render the baby dead is indeed a sinner.
But there are other people in the scriptures whom the Lord loudly denounces and whom he chooses not to sit and eat a meal with – those who are rich, powerful and who lord it over others. Those who cause harm to small children and he says should have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the abyss. Obama also fits into these categories.
This is a man who lords it over others and uses his power to do so. He tramples on the religious rights of others and rather than working to solve the economic miseries his policies has caused, has managed to take in more than 40 rounds of golf in the past 4 years and innumerable vacations. Among the millions of people his policies have put out of work and have had their houses foreclosed on and who have had to declare bankruptcy, how many have played 40 rounds of golf? No, Christ did not hob-nob with the powerful who lord it over the weak and vulnerable, the poor and the children. He rightfully condemned them. And this, our dear Cardinal just doesn’t get.
And while ‘being nice’ is a lofty Catholic virtue, zeal for the faith and courage in the face of evil are even loftier. Cardinal O’Connor simply refused to invite Clinton to the Al Smith Dinner that election year. That silent witness was very powerful indeed. He refrained from causing any confusion in the minds of the sheep he was called to shepherd.
If the Cardinal feels he is forced to invite the candidates to a very expensive dinner at a fancy NY hotel (while people all over the country are hurting so much financially) in order to slap each other on the back and make jokes, then at least do NOT let the candidates speak. Rather, use this as a time to fulfill one of the three munera of the episcopacy: to teach. God knows the culture is in dire need of much better instruction than is reflected in the morals of our country at present.
Even Christ said to St Peter “Get behind Me, Satan!” Peter had too much pride and caused this rebuke from Christ. Pride here too, along with lots of $$$, power, prestigue, and the famous pc culture. Humility? Not so much.
I cannot believe how intelligent minds will think this invitation to dinner amongst friends is about dialog. When I host a block party I do not invite the neighborhood burglar. If you don’t think the burglar analogy applied to Obama as he has attacked the Church is fair there is no reaching you. Nobody said cut off communication with Obama. Having diplomatic talks with your adversary such as the Pope did with Pelosi is as far from this dinner as is visiting your neighborhood burglar in jail compared to inviting him to dinner with the family. I hope this clears it up for those who don’t get it. We are called out of World. We are not friends with the Democratic Party.
It’s pretty obvious that the “pew Catholics” are not swayed but such tripe as “civility and openness to dialogue.” What dialogue can there be when there is open slaughter of innocents, presidential promotion of “alternate” lifestyles and so much more that is in direct contradiction to our faith. Cardinal Dolan is willing to set aside the cries of dying babies to support “civility and openness to dialogue.” He can have NO moral authority to discuss these issues of faith by compromising on this issue. This is NO different than the bishop/priest sex scandal when the bishops though they could maintain their moral authority while secretly supporting deviant behavior.
In short, the PRESIDENT OF THE BISHOPS will set aside OUR faith to give a forum to a pro-abort, pro-death, pro-LBGT president simply because he’s the president of a country!?! Which is more important: our faith or a secular president?
Catholic martyrs DIED to protect their precious faith - the ENTIRE revealed truth. In contrast, Cardinal Dolan would rather SACRIFICE FAITHFUL CATHOLICS for the faith. Can there be a greater contrast?
I see no way that this will not work in Obama’s favor wrt his re-election campaign. In fact it might be different if the future of the nation was not in peril and it was two years until a presidential election. But at this critical time, the best option is not to invite and to issue a statement concerning the decision. The Cardinal could just as easily written the opposite discourse. The possibility of scandal is large, but perhaps even more importantly, the appearance diminishes the Church’s arguments wrt to the fundamental issues we face in November.
Cardinal Dolan, you ask which gives greater scandal, hosting two candidates or not hosting them? You truly do NOT understand what a scandal is, then. You’re deceiving people by using the common understanding of scandal, and _not_ the religious one. YOU are CREATING A SCANDAL TO OUR FAITH by failing to lead the flock of faithful Catholics. You are willing to cause US to question WHY we are Catholic in the first place by being so flexible with the core truths and consistent teaching of the Church.
You can NEVER give ANY pro-abort, pro-death, pro-LBGT person, not even the leader of a country, to ANY Catholic event because of the VERY SCANDAL _you_ are causing now!! My dear father in faith, it’s a sad day and a religious scandal when your spiritual children have to correct their spiritual father.
Two things stick a bit with me…
1. He apologizes for scandal given. Seems to me an acknowledgment that it was, and if so, he has the obligation, as far as it goes, to remedy that.
2. “Engagement” and “dialogue” are important, as far as they’re possible. The Lord said if anyone is in error, correct him personally, and if he refuses to repent, take the brothers to him. If he persists, take him to the Church, and if he still resists, let him be anathema. Miracles always occur, but frankly, I’m not sure how much more we can do with this clown.
3. While Dolan and the lefties at the USCCB see this as “dialogue” and “dining with sinners,” Obama and his minions see it as a HUGE coup. “See?” they say? “We’re OK with the bishops.” I think it’s a mistake to give them leverage. Certainly, Count-Bishop von Galen did not invite Hitler to dinner on Easter Sunday in the interests of “engagement” and “dialogue.”
I’m all for sitting down with those we disagree with for dialogue. I get that the President is not being granted an honor, per se. But it’s rather ironic, and on the verge of feeling slimey, that the President is being used to raise funds for an organization that very likely will have to shut its doors because of this administration’s policies and mandates.
I realize that the bishops were probably never taught about scandal but you’d think they’d learn. The cardinal can’t even police his own archdiocese (gay churches, the presumptive NYC mayor to be, etc), so why should anyone expect him to fair better at the national level? If the cardinal can’t understand why Obama is no good, then he joins the other members of the Catholic hiearchy that should never have become bishops. Why can’t the Vatican do better in their selections?
Cardinal Dolan Aug 15, 2012
If Cardinal Dolan has a problem with prudential knowledge on how to avoid the possible accusation of scandal connected with inviting our nominated presidents to the Smith dinner , I would advise that he not invite either of the gentlemen to the dinner. I don’t understand morally how a president who spends almost one billion dollars per year promoting abortion, contraception, euthanasia and same sex marriage can be invited to join with the leader of the US Catholic Church for an evening of positive, upbeat, enjoyable civil discourse, back slapping, hand shaking, deprecating humor, humorous speeches and trading jokes type evening. This is really quite disgusting.There should be civility in politics sufficient to provide a negotiation climate that can produce results. Civility by its self is not necessarily good. Sometimes direct tough talk is needed to bring a solution to hotly contested opinions. I shudder when I think of the photos of our cardinal and the president that will be published in the New York Times with articles endorsing the performance of the president. I was disappointed in Bill Donohue to see he gave up his opposition to the dinner after a meeting with the Cardinal. I’m glad I never donated any money to his organization. I hope the example given by the Cardinal does not influence too many Catholics to change their vote to favor the president.
Picture this scenario: Just before the end of October, Obama has a news conference. He states that due to his meeting with the Cardinal at the Smith Dinner, he has issued a waiver to the Catholic Institutions, so not to worry, all is well. Bells ring, the bishops jump for joy as they tell us, see, civility in dialogue worked. Now, election day comes and goes, Obama is still in office. White House releases news flash that Obama has reversed the waiver because it was not workable or blah, blah, blah. Making deals with the devil does not now nor never has worked to our benefit. People should read “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, or better yet read the Bible.
While many Catholics do not doubt His Eminance’s moral strategy to combat the HHS mandate and cultural relativism in his diocese and the country, this remains a remarkable tactical error by the Cardinal; he seems to not comprehend the resulting mass-media impact and commercialized cries of Catholic hypocrisy. The Democratic marketing plan for the 2012 election, with a focus on ‘support from and working with Catholics’ towards a compromise is already underway; plenty of Cathlics will see all they need to vote for the pro-abort Democrat ticket.
Clearly Cardinall Dolan has the best of intentions, but this decision smells like week old fish.
Whenever an apology begins with ‘I apologize if’, I understand that they are not really apologizing but just trying to make it look like it. So Cardinal Dolan isn’t sorry and is just making an excuse. The excuse is just a question that he doesn’t answer except by his actions. I am not surprised that Cardinal Dolan has chosen to honor Obama over God. Google his response on the day the lie of the accommodation was announced. It was used by the media to stop the protest against the mandate which will force you to pay for the sterilization of children without parental consent. Cardinal Dolan you are choosing popularity and the praise of man over God. You might have a secret deal for catholic institutions on the mandate which requires the purchase of abortion inducing drugs but what about the faithful catholics who week still be required to violate their conscience? You are feeding them to the wolves and opening the gate to let in the leader of the pack. I wonder if Judas justified the money he was going to get with his betrayal. Maybe he was going to give it to charity. Please Cardinal teach the teachings of the church and give up your leadership positions with the bishops.
In the name of civility I will have to invite the leader of planned parenthood to the next church fundraiser. I guess I can ask the Cardinal for his contact details since he invited him to dinner. Cardinal Dolan should I invite the local Planned Parenthood leader if Obama is busy? I would hate to cause a scandal by not being civil. I forget which Beatitude being civil was, but it must have been a big teaching of Our Lord Jesus, no?
At the WH, Obama ate Dolan’s lunch. Now Dolan invites Obama to give it a go for dinner. Planned Parenthood must be LOL.
Christ caused scandal when he visited the taxcollector Sackeus, Christ caused scandal when he extended an invitation to the kingdom to the prostitutes, adulterers, and all the people of inconvenience - he drew them all to himself, to bear their sins, to bear ours. In the body of christ the sinners found Gods love and care. Woe be to the church when she closes her door to the sinner, then nobody, and I mean nobody, may enter the kingdom. Woe be to the church when she doesn´t want to carry the burden of the cross anymore. The cross of this worlds ineptitude to seek out and believe in the gospel. Let´s risk a little scandal for our Blessed Lord, He risked everything for us.
Deacon Ed Peitler;
Well said… your comments clarify reality of the situation.
Thank you & God Bless.
Me thinks the Cardinal has weak knees. He is no Fulton Sheen. Parishioners need not wonder why the pews are empty with our so called leaders of the flock. Who can respect this dribble.
The Cardinal has some very good points, but, still it is wrong as Obama is NOT a politician, but a dictator that is out to destroy God’s Church and our country. Jesus ate with Judas as stated, but, this was an exception, and Jesus ALWAYS used the moment to teach and to heal. The media will use this dinner as fuel to show that the American catholic church is confused in it’s teachings and of course, this will only confuse the pew-warmers, especially those that only visit once or twice a year. This dinner should be done away with and by-the-way, how many of us could afford to go to such a dinner? Why hasn’t Bishop Blaire and his so-called ‘nuns’ protested about this affair with so many starving people in New York? Until “catholic’ charities becomes Catholic, I will not support it, nor will I support CRS anymore as they can’t see anything wrong with giving grants to CARE. Such blind people!! +JMJ+
You’re Eminence:
I have a dear friend and learned priest friend who said once he would not refuse communion to anyone. I asked him, “even the devil himself?” How would he know? The devil writes it on his forehead or shirt or has the horns and tail to prove it and confirms it by word of mouth. In short he removes all doubt. I don’t recall getting an answer from my friend.
For 41 years, all in New York State (NYS approved abortions 2 yrs before Roe vs Wade), I have been praying, teaching, writing and marching for life and have not found a devil’s advocate who stands out like Obama. You know all that. I’m sure you also know that a picture of Obama with your Eminence is worth millions and will no doubt be used to
show Obama as a friend of the Catholic Church. It will be ammunition for Catholic Obama supporters and those whose faith is the seed amongst the thorns. I say this because I still find people, after 39 years who are in the dark regarding abortion. When you explain partial birth abortion they respond, “I didn’t know that?”
“Love they neighbor” and “shake the dust off your sandals” and “who is my brother
and sister” all apply. Obama is not Matthew. Maybe Saul, but it was heaven who intervened not mere mortals. Jesus’s reply to Judas’ actions ring in my ears. The flock yearns for a firm voice who speaks out the truth.
Cancel the invitation to Obama.
Help me your Eminence understand where do you draw the line or maybe there isn’t
any line? Having raised 6 children, I must say had I not defined limits for them they
would readily be accepting the secular world and all that it teaches. Obama supports
evil values and every Catholic should clearly know that.
Yours in Christ ;
Charles Venus
179 Mountain Rd. #5
Concord, NH 03301
Did Christ throw out Judas during the Last Supper? Did Christ eject Peter because he knew of his denial during Christ’s time of trial? If we are to show charity, we need to look to Christ as an example and show his love even in times of persecution.
I trust that the Bishop is following Christ.
The Cardinal action followed his asking himself the question: “What would the hippie, wimp Jesus do?” He should have asked himself, “What would John the Baptist do?”
What did Jesus say to Herod? Nothing, and Herod wanted to see him so bad. Not very civil of Jesus. I guess our Cardinal knows better than Jesus. Not!
Your Eminence,
I will pray for Your Eminence, but as one who was admonished by a Bishop over the tomb of martyrs to “receive the Book of the Gospel of Christ, Whose herald you now are,” I am bound in conscience to admonish Your Eminence that the Lord has already recorded a message for the shepherd who would be “civil” to the wolf seeking to ravage the flock entrusted to his care (Cf. Ezekiel 34). And as a father of young children I can assure Your Eminence that it would be a denial of my paternal identity and role to treat with “civility” one seeking to harm my children (Cf. Mt. 21:40). Finally, when Your Eminence speaks of practicing “civility” in the face of that which Vatican II referred to as an unspeakable crime, I can not help but wonder to what extent, in the present context, civility corresponds to lukewarmness (Cf Rev. 3:14-19). The possibility of giving scandal is a very serious matter (Mk. 9:42, Lk. 17:2) and, for clerics, even the appearance of scandal should be carefully avoided. I will indeed pray for Your Eminence to repent and will do my best to shield my own children from the scandalous pictures that will appear in many Catholic publications after the Al Smith political fundraiser.
Respectfully Yours in Christ,
Barth E. Bracy
P.S. I had the great privilege of knowing the holy, humble, and courageous Jaime Cardinal Sin. Perhaps Your Eminence may find it fruitful to become acquainted with the courageous manner in which this good Cardinal defended his flock from tyrannical presidents.
Sadness is my reaction. Notre Dame appearance of Obama taught the Church nothing. The Cardinal and the KofC should never consider dinner and affording a speech oportunity for this radical, proven anti-Catholic. In addition by inviting Romney it sends a further message, the Church really is not above politics, supporting what the left has been saying about us for decades.
Cardinal Dolan’s response causes even more confusion. What an opportunity for President Obama! The only respone by the good Cardinal is to withdraw the invitation to President Obama and Governor Romney. By including Governor Romney in the withdrawal of the invitation, it won’t cause hurt feelings. And, of course, we must be civil. I continue to pray about all of this and ask for God’s guidance for the Church in these very difficult times.
Jesus did sit down to dinner with sinners, but it seems to me in every case of his encounters with sinners it was because he read their hearts and saw repentance in them. Is that what Cardinal Dolan sees in Obama? Does he think this man will change his heart? LOL
Aug. 16th: No feeneyja, Jesus did not reject Peter; Peter was sorry for what he had done and wept bitterly; Judas was sorry for what he had done but instead of seeking forgiveness, it is said that he committed suicide. If someone was molesting your children, would you invite him to dinner if he had every intention of continuing?? We are talking about someone who is advancing an agenda of death and destruction aggressively and is using everyone and every situation to advance that agenda. And who has chosen dissident Catholics to stand with him in his agenda of death in order to swing wavering Catholics and bring them into his corner.
Aug. 16th Jakob, I understand your point about loving the sinner but we are not talking here about ‘risking scandal’ but about risking the lives of millions of unborn babies. Would you risk your children’s lives in order to honor the man who is proposing to have them killed? And another risk is to the souls of those who have joined Obama’s death agenda…when they see him being honored, they can believe that he is doing honorable things and standing with the Church and the Bishops and then will vote for him and then…when Obama wins a second term, he can go full force ahead and become more open and aggressive in his fight against the Church and against innocent unborn human babies.
I have heard compelling arguments on both sides. To me the bottom line is did the Cardinal pray to God for guidance on this. I hope and pray he did. If so, who are we to question?
Fascinating - follow the bishops, honor what they say, until they say/do something I don’t like and then conservatives catholics attack liberal catholics - same coin just a different side.
I’m surprised to see how many holier-than-thou self-appointed Popes we have, all coming down on the Cardinal for not doing what they want him to do. The Cardinal has explained why he has invited Romney and Obama, and that should be that.
Richard, I am not surprised that there are so many faithful catholics who believe what the church teaches and recognize when that teaching is being compromised for money and prestige. Why should you be surprised that we actually want the Cardinal to defend us? If you went back in time and a Cardinal invited Hitler to a charity dinner would you’re response be the same?
I dont see scandal, I see the perfect set-up, just think of Pope Leo the Great. Then you will see it too.
For the Archdiocese of New York to say this is not a religious event is paper thin at best. It raises money for Catholic charities and the archbishop is there. Hmmm. Would the Archbishop of Berlin have invited Hitler and his opponent to a fundraiser to promote civility? I’m tired as a layman of having to explain away another clerical scandal.
@desertwatch333,
Yes, this is what risking scandal is all about. Extending an invitation to the president is first and foremost not a sign of approval of his heinous policies, but an appropriate christian responsen to aggression. Will the invitation signal subordination to evil political schemes? No! Thanks to good christians all over the U.S. the whole world have their eyes fixed on Obamas aggressive anti religious, anti catholic agenda. People in general expert the catholic church to stand up to this bully by not inviting him to the feast. What they don’t expect is for the church to invite an enemy of the holy church. Now, things suddenly has turned intresting. what will come of it? What will the Blessed Lord do through his servants? Btw, this feast must not be about worldly political strife, I think it would be a grave misfortune if catholics tried to use this moment to gain political advances. The kingdom of God is not of this world, the kingdom is about rightousness. Invite the president, and perhaps he will invite rightousness.
In Christ,
Jacob
It is true that Jesus ate with sinners. However, Jesus only ate with sinners in order to attempt to bring about their conversion or, at least, attempt to lead them to conversion! However, in this case, Cardinal Dolan absolutely has no intention of calling Obama or Romney to task for their present support of the wicked homosexual agenda and Obama’s and Romney’s past and present support for the horrific slaughter of untold numbers of unborn babies. A very pointed rhetorical question for all of you; Herod was a “wicked” sinner - we know he slaughtered the innocents at the time of Jesus’ birth. Would Jesus have wanted Mary and Joseph to wine and dine with Herod after this horrific event had occurred, based on the oft quoted reference to “Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors.” The answer, of course, is; “No!” Use common sense. Instead, God guided the holy family to flee from this wicked baby murderer—Herod, into the land of Egypt. When dealing with the obviously notorious and reprobate (unrepentent) sinners of history, such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Lenin, Obama, etc., the Church should flee from such wicked political leaders, rather than compromise with them. These evil leaders should be prayed for and told to repent of their wickedness from a very very very safe distance. The “ate with sinners” cliche is being used, I believe, by Cardinal Dolan as a cover for his real hidden agenda. What might that be? Cardinal Dolan’s evil actions, with respect to this “dinner of wickedness,” seem to indicate he may possibly be a registered democrat and be inviting Obama to this dinner to give a nod and a wink to liberal Catholics to vote again for Obama. Romney, however, is no better than Obama when it comes to protecting the unborn; although he claims he now respects the pro-life position, I believe this is only an election year conversion of heart. Please research Romney’s horrific track record as governor of Massachusetts; including state programs supporting the homosexual agenda and Romneycare that to this day funds the mass murder of unborn babies in that state. When it comes to Romney, by analogy would some of you Catholics have voted for Hitler to be the next Chancellor of Germany after WWII ended (assuming he had survived) if he claimed he had repented of killing 6 million Jews and many Christians? I hope not! The only answer to the sorry state of politics in this country is not to vote for any politicians directly, but to instead pray that God put the best leaders in office; otherwise, you are become an accomplice to evil—even if that is the lesser of the two evils. Jesus has very clearly warned in scripture that lukewarm Christians will be rejected by him—and of course we should all pray for the conversion of many of our current wayward Catholic leaders within the Church, including Cardinal Dolan.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But, I say to you, love your enemies; do good and pray for those who persecute you, so you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For, if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And, if you greet your brothers only, what is so meritorious about that? Do not the pagans do the same? Therefore, be perfect (in love) as your heavenly Father is perfect (in love).” (Mt 5:43-48)
Please PRAY for the Cardinal, the dinner, and the election, as the Cardinal asks. God can bring good out of anything, and he is greater than the media, the PR people, and—to the shock of some people—even than Obama.
So, the Cardinal is just another politician. If I understand it correctly, he frames his decision on whether to invite one or both politicians, Democrat and Republican so as not to offend the Catholics who vote Democrat and accuse the Bishops of leaning Republican. Which is the lesser evil, Cardinal? Dis-invite both if you can’t answer this question. Wow, it’s not easy being Catholic and putting up with this foolishness.
Although our wonderful Savior did dine with tax collectors and other sinners, I do not recall our blessed Savior dining with the Pharisees, Ceaser, etc… who all had agendas to go against God’s laws and commands. He rightly overturned tables within God’s temple, but no where else. However, He used strong words outside the temple, such as ‘brood of vipers’. There were times that called for visible righteous anger and times that were not and our wonderful Lord has perfect judgement. Whereas no one else does. We can receive help from our Lord with decisions but we are still finite. Bishops have a great responsibility and I understand the position Cardinal Dolan has faced. Georgetown, which is supposed to be a Catholic institution…not secular ground…that seemed a simple decision regarding the invite of Sebellius and I believe Cardinal Dolan chose well in that situation. But, this recent invite to Obama, I’m not so sure. This will transpire nowhere on Catholic ground…and yet I wonder what decision Jesus would choose when dealing with someone who so opposes the Christian faith in so many ways and was deceptive to our dear Cardinal at the beginning as Obama has been and continues to be.. All I can think of are our Lord’s words about forgiveness and yet also to beware of how Satan works. Did Cardinal Dolan choose wisely this time, I cannot say, but I pray and hope our Lord will use this dinner to only help the Church fight against this evil. Andd to comfort my concern, I recall many examples of how our mighy Lord used evil intended and turned it around for use of His great plans,and how nothing is impossible for our God. For all I know God may use this very dinner to answer our prayers. It could happen. If not, I trust our Lord to bring good out of it.
my final word to all you new york city Catholics…if you disagree with Cardinal Dolans invite of this DESTROYER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, then STOP GIVING MONEY TO CARDINAL DOLANS CHURCH, beginning with this sundays and all monetary collections..HIT THESE SHEPHERDS IN THE POCKETBOOK UNTIL THEY SEE THEIR ERROR, JUST DON’T GIVE ANY MORE FINACIAL SUPPORT TO CARDINAL DOLAN, ITS JUST THAT SIMPLE….who knows he still may cancel the invite and start giving his homilies from the DOUAY-RHEIMS BIBLE
Those who refer to Jesus as our “blessed Savior” mock Him for they presume to put themselves above the Archbishop of New York who is the direct successor of St. Peter on whom Jesus (the Blessed One the Cardinal and I worship, not the merely historical figure whom you mock) built His Church. These scummy “Catholics” see the world in no more than wholly secular political terms and to them Cardinal Dolan is just another wardheeler. A pox and a loss of their salvation on these “Catholics”!
Dear Cardinal Dolan, Civility is not an acceptable excuse for your actions in helping the man responsible for promoting abortion internationally and domestically at taxpayer expense. Your invitation to the man responsible for requiring the purchase of abortion inducing drugs by everybody even at the violation of their conscience is not excusable in the name of civility. Was Jesus civil to Herod? No he wasn’t. Would you have dinner with Hitler in the name of civility? I don’t think so. So there must be a higher truth than civility if it wouldn’t be true in that case. That truth is Jesus. Jesus didn’t give Herod what he wanted in order to be civil. Jesus never invited Pilate or Herod to dinner. If I were to follow your example I would have to invite the leader of Planned Parenthood to the next charity event at my Parish. But since he will be busy having dinner with you, I will have to invite the local Planned Parenthood leader. What a shame that so many people are wasting their time praying at abortion sites when they should just be civil and extend an invitation to dinner for charity and give them an opportunity to mock us instead. How naive I have been to believe that we should be faithful to God even above being good Americans or being civil. Maybe I disagree with your actions Cardinal and Bill Donahue can call me all the names he wants but I will choose Christ over Obama every day of the week.
I wish Cardinal Dolan had not invited Obama. If he wished to talk to Obama yet again, it could have been done in Cardinal Dolan’s office, and not in the eye of the public like this event. My personal feeling is that Obama will not change his mind about his decisions about abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. because of conversation with the Cardinal at this event, or even, for that matter, because of conversation with any other person at that event. Obama, for whatever reason, seems very determined in his beliefs. I feel that we need to pray that God shed the light of truth on to Obama and hope that Obama is willing to see the truth and change his ways.
How uncatholic these Protestant posters are who condemn the Cardinal for inviting the two presidential candidates to a banquet. It’s all about disinviting the President to them, politics and nothing else. Would they want to disinvite the GOP candidate as well? I think not.
Posters in other dioceses can do what they want, they don’t count; but those who live in the New York diocese need to show Cardinal Dolan the respect due him as their spiritual leader and that applies to his conduct as the bishop of the diocese, not just to his person.
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with EVERYONE, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that NO ONE be deprived of the grace of God, that NO BITTER root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled
Running in the background: 1) Elections have consequences 2) God might chastise Americans to some degree but we can avoid stiff chastisement IF…
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Dear Cardinal Dolan,
I’ve signed no petition on this difficult matter of “the invitation”. I do sincerely respect you and your calling to be a Bishop & Cardinal and have publicly defended you on other serious matters. What and how I write herein is never talking down to you; a lot of it is to help NCRegister forum visitors, many who may not understand a certain seemingly mysterious paragraph in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, possibly bearing on your controversial decision you suggest is a prudential judgment.
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I have grave duty to protect both the Republic and our extended families should you make a prudential judgment error and we get a *second term* President Obama (POTUS). Whether your confidence about the invitation to the current POTUS might actually be based on the little-known “personal infallibility” clause in the Catechism’s CCC1806 paragraph needs to be considered since others can be confused thus:
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1806 excerpt: “With the help of this virtue [ prudence ] we apply moral principles to particular cases *without error* and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.” [emphasis added]
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Conditions behind CCC1806’s reference to personal infallibility include the necessity of sufficient degrees of acquired prudence and of wisdom whereby—via God’s design—infallibility is granted to the well-formed conscience to aid moral decision-making, at least for “immediate applications” of principles. In complex cases (more remote applications) such as how best to design and run a huge economy and a civil government, “personal infallibility” is not assured by “1806” for laity and hierarchy.
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The beauty of CCC1806 is that it is a marvelous illustration of the CONFIDENCE we can have in God who designed right reason and prudence and can grant wisdom. Hence God rightly judged individuals living even before biblical times because basic moral law is put inside us.
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But I was GREATLY surprised to learn by pondering “1806” that its basic operation in humans means we can say, WITHOUT DEMONIZING President Barack Obama and without disrespecting the Office of the President, that he does not demonstrate the levels of prudence and wisdom to recommend RISKING a second term.
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That is a VITALLY CRUCIAL FACT and we ask you, Cardinal Dolan, to make that non-partisan truth known to American Catholics *before* the Conventions begin, August 27. We neither judge nor need to judge President Obama’s soul-status with God. Hence “[T]he negativity, judgmentalism, name-calling, and mudslinging” you specifically mention in your blog do not enter when we invoke such full use of CCC1806.
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The other truth I sought to be widely taught by the USCCB before August 27 —“The Catholic faith does not require a nation to seriously dangerously risk its freedoms by engaging in fiscal irresponsibility in the funding of health-care programs”— is necessary to make up for the unintended yet damaging deficiencies in “Faithful Citizenship” and its “Bulletin-Insert”, some of those problems explicitly recognized in your mid-June Atlanta Meeting. Since the damage—chiefly by key omissions or lack of clarity in a few critical places involving racism which is already ballooning in the campaign—is real and potentially very decisive re November 6, it is necessary to highlight “irresponsibility” in the above truth. That truth should not be put down as simply a “truism” given how Social Justice teaching is abused as in guilt-tripping in unjust ways.
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Dear Cardinal Dolan, to assist your staff and willing volunteer-readers whom you have to help you, given your busy schedule, the below link has two of my Posts; the August 7 post has two links inside it: that first interior link is to “Let Freedom Ring” where there are four of my Posts under “Folger”. The June 11, 7:20 PM Post has a paragraph beginning with “The Introductory Note names…”. That important paragraph gives the principle problems that can easily be corrected for us sheep by a single-page, double-sided-if-necessary Bulletin Insert fixing the few Omissions and making a few clarifications as noted.
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It is important that you help your American flocks avoid undue severe chastisement by making corrections and by urging them to do their spiritual part, starting now, well BEFORE the Election (and Year of Faith) even as we beseech you our Shepherds to teach those two practical truths above noted, one re CCC1806’s full meaning in campaigns, the other aimed at avoiding deadly fiscal irresponsibility.
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Thank you and God’s blessings,
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/building-a-culture-of-religious-freedom
Aug. 18…we - Catholics for Obama - want to thank Cardinal Dolan for being civil enough to invite President Obama as the Keynote speaker at a major Catholic fundraiser. This will give President Obama the opportunity and the platform to show Catholics that he is a good man and that he has done his best to work things out with Catholics, especially with Cardinal Dolan. Catholics will be a key vote in the upcoming election which will be very, very close and we are hoping that this even, this dinner with the Cardinal and other prominent Catholics will bring President Obama across the finish line to victory. The Newman Society is trying to prevent us from rallying the Catholic troops but they will not succeed because we have very prominent Catholics as leaders including several pro-abortion rights politicians and faculty members at Catholic Colleges including Sister Jamie Phelps, director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University and Nicholas Cafardi, a canon and civil lawyer, a theologian at Boston College, Stephen Schneck of Catholic University of American and we will try to show that President Obama is more pro-life than Mitt Romney and we will succeed now thanks to Cardinal Dolan’s precious invite. Kathleen Sebelius is on our side as is the widow of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Her husband, Ted, had been uninvited by a Catholic College at the request of the local Bishops so she is very grateful that Cardinal Dolan has seen the light and understands that we are all one, anti-life/pro-death…the important thing is that we put our differences aside and show some civility in the public square. The Newman Society seems to be worried that this invite will put Obama in office for another term and give him the opportunity to carry out more forcefully and aggressively his anti-life agenda. Pres. Obama will do that but he will do good things for the country and if it is at the expense of the Catholic Church and other faith groups, that is as it must be for the good of all. Pres. Obama respects the Catholic groups that stand with him and is sending out a call to come to his aid and we will be there for him. Thank you, Cardinal Dolan, for understanding and for being there for President Obama and giving him the honor and the platform he deserves. We will not forget.
I have followed the comments. This one was a doozie “Catholic.. We are all one…anti-life/pro-death…the important thing isthat we put our differences aside”. Wow! I don’t understand how you can be Catholic be ” anti-life/pro-death”. Why don’t they start their own church? (I’m waiting for the commints)It really is not compatable with the catechism, the Pope or Jesus to be anti-life/pro-death. I’ll pray for all the misguided. WWJD. He’s crying.
I don’t know if there’s a passage in the bible in which Jesus invited a sinner to dine with Him. What I know of is that He was the one who was invited. Sinners, who went to see Him was awed by His civility, peace and loving gestures and the miracles that he performed. What i know of also is that Jesus visited the sick in their homes and cure them of their illness. Pres Obama is a sinner and spiritually sick. Cardinal Dolan should see him privately and pray with him that he would become a pro-life advocate and that he should issue this mandate: Stop Killing the Unborn.
How about this solution to avoid scandal?
Un-invite both candidates for president to the Catholic Charity Dinner. And then the Cardinal could invite both candidates to his cardinal’s residence for a nice dinner and there they can speak “civilly”. And hopefully the cardinal would proclaim the Gospel to both candidates, so that each would know where Catholics stand on important issues such as abortion, the mandate, homosexual marriage, poverty and economics.
Reynaldo, what you suggest would be grand, but the situation is not one of a private counseling and prayers for conversion. It is about a traditional social occasion - a banquet to raise funds for Catholic charities.
Aug. 19th: Reynaldo, I agree: Cardinal Dolan should meet with Obama privately just as Pope Benedict met with Nancy Pelosi privately. I cannot imagine that there will be a time or place during a dinner party for a quiet, serious talk, but there will be time for photo-ops and back slapping, drinking and laughing. Is it by chance that Obama continues to consult with dissident Catholics? I think not. Is it by chance that Obama chose a rabidly pro abortion/late term abortion advocate like Catholic Kathleen Sebelius as his HHS chief? I think not? Is it by chance that Obama chose Catholic pro abortion Joe Biden for his vice-President? I think not. Obama had his anti-Catholic/Christian agenda in mind when he chose these people. He is more aggressively determined to follow his anti-life/anti-Church agenda now than ever before and will use this invite to his advantage and will pull in his dissident Catholic allies to help him. Liberal and prominent Catholics for Obama groups are already using this invite to prove that Obama is doing things right by the Church and for the Church. And those wavering Catholics will see this as an excuse to vote for Obama. The election is going to be very close…this invite could very well be the turning point in the election, giving Obama 4 more years to advance his anti-life/anti-faith/anti-freedom agendas. Card. Dolan could at least have the dinner postponed until after the election.
Mary, it is impossible that those two men, who have risen to the offices they have and are now running for the highest office in America, would be ignorant of Catholic positions on the issues you mentioned.
I’m certain that we’ll hear no more than lame jokes at that banquet from both invitees. Knowing Cardinal Dolan’s sense of humor, he won’t need comic writers to provide him with funny remarks that will outdo those of Obama and Romney!
Aug. 19th: Richard Olszewski: I respectfully disagree with you. Reynaldo is right…how do you invite to a Catholic dinner the person who, more than anyone else in the world, is gathering an ‘army’ to fight you and to promote more aggressive killing of human babies?? While they are eating and drinking and having a great old time, human babies will be dying at the order of the very man you are sharing a fun time with. You may be able to put ‘politics’ aside for an evening of fun, but this is not about politics it’s about the wilfull extermination of human babies in the womb. If Obama was mandating the death and destruction of Cardinal Dolan’s family and friends would he still invite Obama to a party knowing that his loved ones were being slaughtered even as they were eating and drinking together? I think not…
This is the continuation of my previous comment. If ther’s any good that the invitation will bring, certainly the good that it will bring without inviting President Obama will be much more. I would like to suggest that the invitation be rescinded because of this: The flock is voicing out their opinion against the invitation construed to be a manifestation of civility. As a good shepherd Cardinal Dolan should attune himself to the voice of his flock. The voice of the people is the voice of God.
Florin, bottom line for me - the Cardinal invited the two candidates for the Presidency to a non-partisan banquet. The Cardinal is not a fool. I am certain he thought through his decision. I support his decisio0n. You are free to curse the Cardinal to Hell if you like. But, not I.
Reynaldo, suppose “the people” all call for abortion. Are they still the voice of God? I’d say no, and support the Cardinal if he did not follow what those voices were asking for.
Richard Olszewski…how bizarre! Just because people disagree that the decision is the right one, we are ‘cursing the Cardinal to Hell’ - there were Cardinals and Bishops who decided to send Priests who had been molesting children to other assignments where children were…Cardinals and Bishops - like all of us - make mistakes. Blind trust is a fool’s choice…
Richard Olszewski…just because people disagree with you, you say we ‘are free to curse the Cardinal to hell..’ how utterly bizarre! Just remember that there were Cardinals and Bishops who made choices to send Priests who were molesting children to areas where there were other children and who were subsequently molested…Cardinals and Bishops, like all of us, make wrong choices and every voice of the faithful deserves to be heard…anyone who trusts blindly makes a fool’s choice…
Florin,
! said that you are free to condemn the Cardinal. That was not to be construed as marching orders.
A dinner invitation is not comparable to giving license to child molesters. Until proven that the Cardinal made a grave error in inviting hose two politicians to the banquet, I’ll support his decision. Are we to second guess everthing he does that doesn’t go along with our personal agenda. Needs he be under surveillance?
richard olszewski….I did not construe your ridiculous comments as ‘marching orders’...and a dinner invitation to one who orders the deaths of unborn and born babies is not, you are right, comparable to giving license to child molesters…it is worse!! And if you want to support such an invitation, that’s your business and your own personal agenda - my ‘personal agenda’ is to stop the extermination of the lives of unborn human babies and to stand against all who take part in the killing…I won’t respond to any more of your ‘personal agenda’ comments…
I was unaware that the President had “ordered the deaths of unborn and born babies.” You do have some proof to support that accusation, don’t you?
Wasn’t asking you to respond to my posts, BTW. Also, BTW, I do support the Cardinal Archbishop and respect his inviting the two presidential candidates to that dinner. If they turn you off, there’ll be other pols there more to your liking, I’m sure.
This will be a defining moment. At this hour it is late. The question is, will this Banquet serve to challenge the issues of the Day in Light of our Faith or will this Banquet serve to challenge our Faith?
Let us Pray there is enough oil for the Lamps.
Comments to Richard’s comments on my comments: 1. Thank you for labeling my suggestion “grand” but it is not after all because “the situation is not one of private counseling…..........” This is precisely the reason why Cardinal Dolan should not invite Pres Obama to this “traditional social occasion” because the latter needs counseling on his being a pro-abortion advocate. What Cardinal Dolan should do is go to the White House and counsel Pres Obama to become a pro-life advocate. 2. The people referred is obviously not calling for abortion. The people referred to are pro-lifers, who would like Cardinal Dolan to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ
He did not invite sinners to his abode. He went out to them, cure them of their illness and told them what is the right thing to do. The people referred wish well Cardinal Dolan in shepherding his flock like Jesus Christ.
I’m certain that his Eminence isn’t going to disinvite the two candidates to suit your desires. The Cardinal has enough of a full load running his diocese than to add to it by taking time off to visit the President to try to convince him to change his stance on abortion. It would be a fool’s errand. Do you have any idea of what the Cardinal’s calendar must be like?
I am certain that Cardinal Dolan is following in Christ’s footsteps. To think otherwise is insulting to a great man of the Church, and to the Church itself.
I did not say that His Eminence disinvites the two candidates much more to suit my desire. What I said was: Cardinal Dolan should not invite President Obama for the reason I’ve mentioned in my comments. This is not to suit my desire but my belief that this is the right thing to do. I understand that Cardinal Dolan is a very busy person. But if he considered, convincing the President to become a pro-life advocate, an urgent matter, then, this undertaking should be given a top priority in his schedule of activities. Certainly, this is not a fool’s errand. I am also certain that Cardinal Dolan is following Christ’s footsteps. But, sometimes, being too busy, so many things to think about, a person may slightly go out of step. That’s why Cardinal Dolan made an apology in his decision of inviting Pres Obama.
Certainly, he could not disinvite the one, but not the other. The Cardinal is not a shill for the GOP.
I believe that the President is set in his pro-choice beliefs, and even if the Pope were to try to convince him to become pro-life, he would not be successful.
The Cardinal did NOT apologize for inviting the President, by the way.
Only through the grace of God does one experience a conversion of heart, a turning back to God, an openness to the will of the Father, and allowing it to flow through every aspect of our life. The role we can take in conversions is prayer, especially asking the intercession of Our Lady. The Al Smith Dinner is October 18. I invite you to join me in praying for the conversion of both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney. If we can motivate people, especially Catholics, in the United States and the world to spend the next 53 days (until the dinner) and 72 days (until Election Day) to get down on our knees and humbly beg our Heavenly Father to have mercy on us, to guide us, and to protect us, I believe we can make a positive difference. While on our knees we need to pray for our Pope, all our Bishops and priests and deacons, since they are on the front lies in the battle for our souls. Finally, we need to pray for ourselves that we have the courage to always seek the Truth, live the Truth, and speak the Truth with great Charity.
Dear Krum, I gladly join you in praying for the conversion of Pres Obama. Here’s my prayer: Almighty and Loving Triune God embrace the whole being of Pres Obama with Your might and love. Bestow on him the grace to have pity on those millions of innocent babies, who were killed, are killed and will be killed by abortion. Let him be aware of the terrible pain suffered by the unborn and the mother while the baby is being dismembered in the womb of the mother. Let his mind with assistance of the Holy Spirit focus on the horrible post-abortion experience and mental anguish of the mother. Let his heart like that of the Sacred Heart of your Son be filled with compassion for the unborn, who were murdered,are murdered and will be murdered if abortionists ply their trade unabated. Let him become a pro-life advocate and whisper to him: Issue this mandate:Stop killing the Unborn. The issuance of this mandate by the US Pres brings you much honor and glory and serves to build up hope and faith to all Your people. Thank You Dear Triune God for the graces and love You bestow on us. This is being asked in Christ Jesus name. Amen. I am also happy to join you in saying prayers for all the other persons you mentioned in your comments. Prayerfully yours, Reynaldo
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