Cardinal's Dying Wish: Keep Clinton Out of St. Patrick's
As Cardinal O'Connor battled brain cancer and faced death during the past eight months, he remained steadfast in his distaste of Bill Clinton. A source close to the Cardinal tells NewsMax.com that O'Connor had a long-standing order to keep Bill Clinton out of St. Patrick's Cathedral _ no matter how important the occasion. Last week the White House announced that both Bill and Hillary Clinton would be attending the Cardinal's funeral mass at St. Patrick's, set for Monday afternoon. "O'Connor would have gone berserk if he knew Clinton was coming," the source said.
O'Connor was said to be extremely hostile to Clinton, a man who annoyed him on several levels. O'Connor had been a veteran, a Navy Admiral who had served in the military and in the front lines of Vietnam. Clinton's draft avoidance record didn't sit well with the Cardinal, nor did Clinton's corruption.
O'Connor was also annoyed with Clinton's strong advocacy of partial birth abortion _ a procedure O'Connor likened to infanticide.
O'Connor's animus toward the president erupted after the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. In the days after the tragedy, Mayor Giuliani had organized a memorial service for the victims' families at JFK Airport.
Cardinal O'Connor was set to officiate, until he found out Clinton planned on attending. "If Clinton is coming, you can count me out," O'Connor's office bluntly told the mayor's office. Clinton was quickly disinvited.
A month or so after the crash, O'Connor hosted his own memorial mass at St. Patrick's for the victims. Clinton was in New York that weekend for a birthday party and the White House called the Archdiocese and asked if he could attend.
The answer from the Cardinal's Office was blunt: Bill Clinton is not welcome at St. Patrick's.
And in the end I suppose Clinton kind of got his revenge by showing up at the Cardinal's funeral. He was that kind of guy.