The University of Notre Dame invited President Barack Obama and Catholics were stunned. Georgetown honored HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Catholics everywhere were horrified.
Meghan Myers, the Executive Director of the annual fundraiser for Catholic Charities, told LifeSiteNews that U.S. President Barack Obama was invited to keynote the Al Smith dinner by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
And for the life of me I can’t see why Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s invitation to President Obama to the Al Smith dinner is any different. I know the Church isn’t honoring Obama but come on. Right on the home page of the Al Smith event is this picture:
Horrifyingly, you can go to the Al Smith foundation right from the Archdiocesan website
and then just click on “dinner” and you’ll see this pic.
Why is this invitation different than Notre Dame or Georgetown’s invitations? You can say that it has nothing to do with politics and that it’s a fundraiser for children but didn’t Georgetown and Notre Dame say that it wasn’t about politics and that it was all about the students?
I’ve been to two religious freedom rallies with my kids in Philadelphia. I traveled down to Baltimore for the kickoff Mass of The Fortnight for Freedom with Archbishop Lori. And yeah, this ticks me off.
When millions of Catholics who prayed and protested for religious freedom see the pictures that will surely surface from the event with Cardinal Dolan and Obama how will they feel? Pray tell what will that do to the morale of millions of Catholics? What will that do to the pit of their stomachs?
It’s just unserious. We can say it’s all for a good cause. But its just unserious. Either those 50 million babies count as human beings or they don’t. Either marriage is worth fighting for or it’s not. Either religious freedom must be preserved or not. To say we’re taking a “time out” from politics a few weeks before election day is just unserious. And it says to millions of Catholics that we can take a time out from those important issues to yuck it up. I hope and pray that this invitation is rescinded. I’m serious.
August 7, 2012 at 3:15 pm
It makes my head explode. I hope the optimists here are right.
August 7, 2012 at 3:21 pm
P.S. Making an invitation and then rescinding the invitation is much more visible then simply letting the invitation to go by the wayside. I believe Cardinal Dolan wants the laity to force the disinvitation…just before the election.
August 7, 2012 at 4:42 pm
I would highly doubt that Obama's people would allow him to make a speech just before an election if there were not some stipulations put into place beforehand. With that being said, some of the thoughts of what might happen are good but I am not sure if they are necessarily going to occur.
This is a "mixed signal" type of situation and we wonder why Catholics vote and support what they do. Our bishops say one thing and then do another. I am disappointed that Cardinal Dolan would invite him to this. I like Cardinal Dolan but I think this is bad for what he was just trying to do with getting Catholics rallied to vote these people out.
August 7, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Forget it, I went to churchmilitant.tv and signed the petition and made a donation. This is wrong.
August 7, 2012 at 5:54 pm
I'm willing to wait and see what happens at the dinner. This is, after
all, a very public opportunity for both the Cardinal and Mr. Romney
to direct some pointed questions to the president.
Notre Dame was a one-sided affair, which Bishop D'Arcy boycotted.
All voices at that fiasco were singing Obama's praises. At this upcoming
dinner, the president will be addressed not only by Cardinal Dolan, but
also by candidate Romney.
August 7, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Like y'all, I can see the risks involved here. But remember: Cardinal Dolan isn't a craven sap like Fr. Jenkins.
August 7, 2012 at 6:16 pm
It says the Cardinal and the USCCB are not really against the baby killing obamination; they are only rattling their chains and will capitulate. They continue to confuse the faithful and refuse to truly take a firm stand for CHRIST!
Shame on them.
August 7, 2012 at 7:11 pm
It says "confusion", "naïveté", "poor pastoral sense", "set up to be set up", "giving Obama and the Democrat propaganda machine something to use to deceive simple Catholics", "dangerous perception that Obama is not the enemy of religious freedom", "castrated shepherd", "WTF" …
August 7, 2012 at 7:11 pm
It says to me that the whole fortnight of freedom thing was hooey.
August 7, 2012 at 9:17 pm
I think that this is *very* different from Notre Dame. Notre Dame came with an honorary degree. And being invited to give a commencement speech is itself an honor.
Perhaps this is still bad, but it is very different from ND. I think this is a tremendous opportunity to lay bare the issues, and I'd rather more from a position of hope.
August 7, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Wow.
Is this still CMR?
These comments read more like the NCR.
It seems that a rush to judgement is unwise, and the name-calling and bad-mouthing of a Bishop, especially this Bishop, on one report, before knowing the whole story… come on.
August 8, 2012 at 12:18 am
@Laura: I love when my husband is right. Among other things, it says I made a good choice in marrying him. Concerning this, my husband and yours would get along well.
August 8, 2012 at 2:09 am
Without the Archbishop's comments, without his side of the story, how can we know for sure?
Reserve judgment.
August 8, 2012 at 2:39 am
Look folks. We gotta stop pretending and gotta drop the gooey clericalism. This is a fundraising dinner. More properly the dinner is a roast. The President will sit next to the Cardinal as a guest of honor, if he attends, and everyone will smile and tell jokes and laugh and laugh and laugh. The reason you invite the POTUS to your fundraising dinner is because it torques the collection plate pure and simple. You could be a John Cardinal O'Connor and NOT invite the POTUS which is exactly what he did during the Clinton years but that's not what we have here.
August 8, 2012 at 2:48 am
"Maybe Cardinal Dolan does have a plan. Maybe he will say, 'Mr. President, I know you have a speech prepared but …'"
… 'I'm a giant cocktail weenie and far be it from me to interfere.'"
August 8, 2012 at 3:51 am
I think Cardinal Dolan to not disinvite Obama is the upmost in hipocrosy.
August 8, 2012 at 4:28 am
This was not the time to go wobbly. Cardinal Dolan went wobbly…at the very least.
August 8, 2012 at 4:37 am
@ Jeffrey Pinyan, 9:09 PM: I wholeheartedly agree.
August 8, 2012 at 2:33 pm
The photo ops for Obama will be just the ticket faux Catholics need to vote for him AGAIN. I am sick in my heart about this.
August 8, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Cdl. has an openly sodomite parish in his diocese. He attended services of that parish. Why should his invitation to Barry be such a surprise? If you compromise in one area, it's going to happen somewhere else.