Offering a benediction to close the Democratic National Convention last night, many wondered if Timothy Cardinal Dolan would raise the issue of religious freedom. He did.
Many wondered if he would pray for the unborn. He did.
Many wondered if he would pray for the sanctity of marriage. He did.
The DNC asked Cardinal Dolan to offer the benediction after he had been asked to offer the closing prayer at the RNC event. The invitation could be seen as a bit awkward as Dolan’s Archdiocese of New York is currently suing the Obama administration over the HHS contraceptive mandate.
But Cardinal Dolan didn’t seem awkward. That seems to be the thing with Cardinal Dolan. You ask for Cardinal Dolan, you get Cardinal Dolan. He doesn’t seem to shape himself to his setting.
But consider for a moment the bravery it takes to step to the podium in front of thousands and thousands of people who had just voted for a DNC platform that called for federal funding of abortion, supported a redefinition of marriage, and excluded (albeit temporarily) God from its official statement of beliefs.
But Cardinal Dolan wasn’t there to convince them of anything. In fact, he wasn’t even there to speak to them. He was there to speak with them. To God.
Everyone in the room knew what Cardinal Dolan meant when he thanked God for religious liberty:
We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love.
Dolan also prayed for the unborn saying, “We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected.”
This was a beautiful prayer. And a brave prayer.
It was not an admonishment. It was Cardinal Dolan’s prayer for this country.
Here’s the full transcript:
With a “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:
Let us Pray.
Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society’s greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.
We beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.
We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom’s defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.
We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.
We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.
And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom’s cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.
And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.
For we are indeed “one nation under God,” and “in God we trust.”
So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen!
September 7, 2012 at 10:55 pm
A beautiful prayer.
September 7, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Beautiful, indeed.
September 8, 2012 at 1:02 am
He hit all the bases; the right to life and protection of life from conception to natural death; true marriage; religious liberty; the natural law as a whole; false political idols(!) and even the persecution of Christians around the world (which the Obama administration ignores). Not to mention all the social justice issues like the care for the poor.
I'd say it was a home run for Cardinal Dolan.
September 8, 2012 at 1:36 am
Liberals were just going nuts cussing this man of God. Just shows that animals in the Democrat circus. http://www.divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2012/09/liberal-outrage-at-card-dolans-prayer.html Link has entire video of his benediction. I have to say this man showed himself a real shepherd of souls reaching out to the godless bastards regardless of the cost.
September 8, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Rick,
Please, the "godless bastards" are God's children, too. It makes me very sad when I see this sort of name calling on good Catholic 'blogs.
God bless Cardinal Dolan for doing what he did at the DNC.
September 8, 2012 at 6:07 pm
I can't understand why everybody is so ga-ga over this event. Dolan has provided no effective leadership for the American Church. He has, like too many bishops, mishandled the the sex abuse crisis, he allows a gay parish to exist in his arch-diocese, who's service he attended and never criticized, and was totally snookered by the New York political establishment in the fight against abortion in New York. He is allowing Obama to come to the Al Smith dinner. Yet, I'm supposed to believe he's a "real shepherd of souls" with this nonsense in his back trail?
September 8, 2012 at 9:27 pm
So when does he start excommunicating the Pro death Catholic Democrats? When does he start walking the walk and enforcing Canon law?
September 9, 2012 at 12:37 am
I love how some have nothing to say no matter what Cardinal Dolan does. I suppose they would do a much better job and understand so much better how things work, the mission of the Church, Canon Law, and such. Pity God hasn't called these so much better than thou to serve Him and His people in this capacity. I wonder if they would be so cavelier if it were their actions he was condemning…always easier to demand punishment for others than it is to call on it for oneself.
September 9, 2012 at 12:44 am
good to say…. that is
September 9, 2012 at 3:38 am
Fr. Peckman, we laypeople know there's something wrong with the leadership of the American Catholic Church. We also know that Dolan has shown a great deal of incompetence in handling the crisises he's been involved in. Allowing an openly queer parish to operate in his Archdiocese is one of them. He has even attended services there, so he's not ignorant of what goes on at St. Frances Xavier. Rather, he refuses to do anything about it, like Cdl. George refuses to do anything about Fr. Pfleger of St. Sabina.
Fr. Peckman, we informed laypeople have plenty to say. And thanks to good men like Michael Voris, our voices are getting louder and louder by the month. Or message is this, get rid of the heretics, get rid of the sex perverts in the clergy and lay leadership, and restore the true teachings and worship of the Holy Catholic faith, instead of the garbage that has come down the pike since the so-called Spirit of Vatican II came to dominate the clergy and the laity.
September 9, 2012 at 4:42 am
Yes…and it all is negative. It is one thing to sit on the sidelines and criticize…but what else? Where do you think all the 'heretics…sex perverts' come from? the laity! I can assure you I did not come out of my mother's womb with a roman collar attached. I have never found it useful to criticize from the outside, but to reform from within. What positive changes are YOU making? Other than criticizing the foibles of others, which I see so much of in this country, how about supporting when right decisions ARE made. Cardinal Dolan went into the lion's den and stood his ground and faith in a highly unwelcome place. Have you done such on a scale? Have you stood in front of a crowd of thousands who have just reveled in upholding nefarious behavior as good and used a prayer to both chastise them and pray for them? You want to bet that Obama isn't really uncomfortable now about the Al Smith dinner? If this is what Dolan will do in Obama's house…what will he do in his own? No, instead of praising such behavior, focus on the negative, pronounce all as lost and wonder why you provoke little more than negative emotions from others. Another person's sins cannot be justification for one's own…and pride is one of the deadly sins!
September 9, 2012 at 5:49 am
Father, your reply is typical of the cadre of professional Catholics that has wreaked the American Catholic Church. You accuse us of being 'negative'. Well Padre, with all the 'negative' stuff going on, what are we supposed to do, sing "Feeling Groovy?"
"Positive changes/" I'm supporting Michael Voris who's educating folks about the real teachings of the Catholic faith.
"Reforming within?" When we get enough people in the priesthood and episcopal offices we will start reforming from within. Until then, we will do our work outside the camp until God moves us inside.
Where did all the heretics and sex perverts come from? I already told you, Father. However, the clergy bear the ultimate responsibility for this, because if they would have defrocked the queer priests and bishops years ago, we would not have the festering mess we have today.
Father, you remind me of the leaders of the cult I was involved with years ago. They got very angry when they were questioned or doubted too. They accused their critics of being negative too. they would cry, "Look at the great work we're doing" and attack the dissidents without mercy until they were crushed or out of the cult. Too many of or bishops are the same way.
They hollar, "Look at our great works!" Yeah, look at the socialist monster they have built up since the 30's with their 'social justice' foolishness. And now, Dolan is inviting the king of socialists to a dinner. Yeah, a 'great work' indeed!
September 9, 2012 at 6:41 am
Where do you think all the 'heretics…sex perverts' come from? the laity!
So the seminaries — particularly the so-called "pink palaces" — have no responsibility?
Bishops like Cardinals Law and Mahony had no responsibility when such priests inhabited their archdioceses?
Popes like JPII and Benedict have no responsibility when it comes to confronting the problem?
What you said, Fr. Peckman, is an insult to every Catholic with more than two functioning brain cells. It is an insult to every parent who has tried to impart decent values to their children, and who has tried to teach the Catholic faith despite the confusion that those in ecclesiastical authority have fostered.
No, instead of praising such behavior, focus on the negative, pronounce all as lost and wonder why you provoke little more than negative emotions from others. Another person's sins cannot be justification for one's own…and pride is one of the deadly sins!
First, are you assuming that prelates should be immune from any legitimate criticism?
Second, are you saying that the laity should be about the business of confronting their own sins to the exclusion of calling a spade a spade, as it were? If so, you are engaging in a logical fallacy; one can confront one's own sin and others' simultaneously.
You also are indulging in the worst form intimidation: putting a guilt trip on people who tell the truth, as best as they see it. I realize that's the Catholic way of keeping people in line. Sorry, but go sell crazy somewhere else.
Finally, a benediction is an easy thing to do. It only takes a few minutes and can be written on a scrap of paper. Once it's finished, the person delivering it can leave the premises and not deal with any immediate reaction.
It's people like you, Fr. Peckman — people who exhibit a sense of entitlement that contradicts Christ's very teaching, people who arrogantly distance themselves from the people (let alone the God) they claim to serve — who are destroying Catholicism in the United States, not people like Steve Dalton and Michael Voris.
September 9, 2012 at 11:48 am
A falling tree makes a hell of lot more noise than entire forests growing silently. To put things in perspective, there is less than 1/100th percent of clerics that are sexual perverts. And of all the clerics in all religions, the Catholics have the lowest number of sickos. The media tends to focus on priests because the media is worldly, irreligious, Liberal and pro-Obama. Those are facts. Feel free to verify.
Second point. If there is doubt in what someone says, why not ask for clarification instead of going for the jugular. Just recently, a very good priest, Fr. Benedict Groeschel got canned because he did not accurately convey his position of an extremely hot button topic. We're all in the same family of the Lord. Why not cut each other a little more slack? Then again, if some people are Kennedy Catholics, then they are not in the same family anymore.
September 9, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Rick, it doesn't matter if only 1/100% of the Catholic clergy are sexual perverts or that we have the lowest percentage of sickos. It only takes one deadly germ or virus to make a human body sick, and if the disease caused by it isn't treated in time, permanent damage or death may result.
The media maybe "worldly, irreligious, liberal, and pro-Obama" but that doesn't get the Church off the hook. That bit of knowledge should drive us to root that 1/100% crowd out of the Church so these "worldly" folks will know we take the Catholic faith seriously, even if they hate and despise it. Please "Feel free to verify".
"Clarify?" Fr. Groeschel was saying the same things ten years ago, long before he had that accident, and assuring that the pedophiles he was treating were 'cured'.
Cut a little more slack? Tell that to people who's lives were destroyed by these devils in human form. Tell that to the family members and friends who had to watch the victims self-destruct. Tell that to the good priests who tried to give real help to the victims and inform their bishops of the problems, only to have their callings destroyed. The only 'slack I see here is the 'slack' in your reasoning Rick.
September 9, 2012 at 3:41 pm
It was beautiful, courageous and timely. It seemed so out of place. I had the image of a Christian standing before the people in the Colosseum.
September 9, 2012 at 5:49 pm
The Church did not have to deal with pedophilia in such a large scale until after Vatican II so, the bishops were at a loss. There was no set precedent. So, the pious ones heard the priests confession and commended him to the Lord. The practical ones isolated the predator by putting him in a safe place like in a seminary or Africa or the dessert of New Mexico. No one thought of turning them over to the secular authorities because of St. Paul's admonition, among other things. This was new. I don't excuse the poor judgment but I understand how these good people were at a complete loss. But the Church takes this seriously now. In MD, I know 3 priests (one personally) who were sent to jail for this. One of them is dead already.
I also understand the victim's point of view. I know victims and I might even be one of them. Is it enraging? Hell yes. But Christian living moves beyond rage. So, when I say, "Cut people slack, I am more than entitled to make that assertion."
September 9, 2012 at 5:58 pm
To those who are questioning what I said: What are you doing to make things better? What positive actions are you taking to turn things around!? I acknowledge that there is much in the church that needs addressing, not its teachings, but how it is lived. That said, I take issue with that when something is done right, you still find reason to complain.
I am not sure what 'professional churchmen' is, but I am sure it is a slam. I fell no necessity to defend myself to people who know nothing of me. Yes I am aware that SOME seminaries are woeful, nut some seminaries are excellent. I am aware that some bishops need more intestinal fortitude, but most of them show it everyday. There are lousy materialistic priests, progressives undermining the gospel, cowards and such..but what I chose to do is get involved, follow God's will, and work actively to set things right in space to which I have been assigned. I do believe…and this is my point to the two who have answered me prior post…is that all I see you do is make complaints and snarky comments week in and week out. I do believe that if one is going to be quick to point out other people's mistakes, that one should be just as quick to be joyful when they do something good and brave. To give example..this blog has been critical of Cardinal Dolan in other instances, but they were just as quick to note when things went well. That is called being just and fair.
September 9, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Fr. Pecknman what on earth can we do? Cardinal Donal is a public figure. His actions matter. Laypeople plead for help and all we get is to be too to shut up by our own leaders.
September 9, 2012 at 9:40 pm
All this discussion on here reminds me of what Cardinal Burke said regarding the high disregard by priests for canon law and church discipline. Reminds me if what Psalm 1:1 says. Read it and learn the meaning of those words.