Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Posted on 08/08/2012 2:26:48 PM PDT by NYer
When it involves the fabled Al Smith Dinner in New York, all you have to do is invite President Obama:
By tradition, the storied Al Smith Dinner has provided a few hours of comic relief from the angry volleys of the campaign trail — a white-tie charity banquet held in the weeks before Election Day, hosted by the archbishop of New York and featuring speeches by the two presidential candidates on the condition that they lob nothing more than good-natured jibes.
But the Catholic hierarchy’s fierce feud with President Obama, abetted by the increasingly sharp tone of the 2012 elections, is threatening to invade this demilitarized zone and give New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan a case of pre-dinner agita.
Dolan has reportedly extended an offer to Obama (as well as his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney) to attend this year’s dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria, scheduled for Oct. 18, and reports say the president has accepted. That has mobilized abortion opponents, who view Obama as the worst thing since Roe v. Wade and an enemy of religious liberty because of his administration’s controversial birth control mandate.
The Rev. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, a leading abortion opponent based in Staten Island, said Monday (Aug. 6) that “the polite putting aside of differences for a while amounts to scandal.”
“There comes a time when enough is enough and we can no longer afford to give people a reason to doubt our position as a Church,” Pavone wrote in an email. “So no, I don’t think the invitation is appropriate at this time.”
“Better to cancel the event than have it become another cause for scandal in the Catholic Church,” Randy Engel, head of the U.S. Coalition for Life, told LifeNews.com, an anti-abortion website.
The New York Archdiocese has not formally announced that Obama and Romney have been invited, or have accepted. But Meghan McGuinness Myers, executive director of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, which organizes the annual fundraiser on behalf of various children’s charities, told LifeSiteNews that Obama had been invited and had accepted.
UPDATE: The Associated Press indicates Obama has accepted the invite:
New York Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan is suing the Obama administration, but he’s inviting President Barack Obama to dinner anyway.
Dolan has asked both Obama and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to attend the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation charity dinner on Oct. 18, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York said Tuesday.
Romney has accepted. The Obama campaign hasn’t said publicly whether the president will attend, but Dolan’s spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said Obama has accepted, too.
Despite his differences with Obama, Dolan held to the tradition of inviting the president because “this is not a partisan event,” Zwilling said. “It is an evening to put politics aside and come together in a spirit of civility.”
I understand perfectly. That is why I posted the option of signing a petition to disinvite him in my #2 comment.
(1) Dolan's brain has inexplicably turned to bathwater, he has forgotten everything he learned in past 45 months, and is toddling up to smooch the man who lied to him in public.
(2) Cardinal Dolan has, without cause or motivation, morphed into baby-sacrificing Orc.
Or:
(3) Dolan knows Obama is too much a narcissist to turn down a ("historic!") dinner invitation, and is luring him in to the most media-heavy charity event in the Media Capital of the World --- TWO WEEKS before Election Day---- to expose him as the most deadly threat to the Church in U.S. history.
Who's the pawn on this chess board? And who's the bishop?
Think, think...
If you still have serious misgivings, please take them straight to the padre:
Dolan’s predessors didn’t invite nominees or presidents that crapped all over the Catholic Church. Obama has not only spit in the face of the Church he is trying his best to destroy it.
I can see the campaign add now. The minute the dinner is history there will be pictures of Dolan and Obama the church hater hugging and high-fiving. The White House is laughing in the face of Dolan and must think he’s the biggest moron this side of the moon.
Unless Dolan comes to his senses and this invitation is recinded Dolan might as well be working for the reelection of Obama the sodomnite-loving, baby-killing, Church hater.
I have lost all respect for Dolan.
bfl
Not being familiar with the Al Smith dinner, I checked out their web site. It appears there is a long history of inviting the Presidential candidates to speak at the dinner. I think it’s a delicious irony that President Obama’s presence will help support Catholic health causes.
And the long-term effect of this is to give cover to the little old ladies who faithfully attend Mass and say their rosaries to continue voting D(emoncrap) year in and year out.
And the long-term effect of this is to give cover to the little old ladies who faithfully attend Mass and say their rosaries to continue voting D(emoncrap) year in and year out.
More on Cardinal Dolan’s betrayal.
http://on-this-rock.blogspot.com/2012/08/cardinal-dolan-invites-president-obama.html
There appears to be an honest disagreement on strategy on this.But I look at what I think Cardinal Dolan has done recently to convince Catholics that we must get rid of the most anti-life President of all times.Not much to change the Catholic vote.In fact my NY parish bulletin had to go to Archbishop Chaput to get a great article on religious freedom.I think of how much better Cardinal O’Connor would have handled this great pro-life opportunity.
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/what-is-cardinal-dolan-up-to
What is Cardinal Dolan up to? According to reports, Dolan has extended an invitation to President Obama to the annual Al Smith dinner in New York City. The president, reportedly, has accepted.
Historically, the dinner is one of the most prestigious political events in New York City particularly during a presidential election year and candidates from both parties usually attend.
Known for its lighthearted political speeches, the major speakers deliver a series of self-deprecating jokes while ribbing their opponent at the same time. In October 2008, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama both attended the dinner, accepting an invitation by Cardinal Egan of New York. During the dinner, Cardinal Eagan expressed his “delight” that Obama and McCain had attended, called them “outstanding exemplary Americans.”
But this year, some Catholics are surprised to hear that Archbishop Dolan had invited Obama, now that he is president. Should the Archbishop associate a fundraiser for Catholic Charities with a leader whose administration remains defiantly opposed to Church moral teachings?
It’s not unprecedented in a presidential election year for a candidate not to be invited. In 1996, Cardinal O’Connor did not invite President Clinton or Senator Dole to the dinner and, in 2004, neither Sen. John Kerry nor President Bush were invited.
Please delete after your read.
CatholicSeymour
AKA Don Hammond
Fort Worth, TX
I'm guessing this didn't work out!
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