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Al Smith Dinner (Cardinal Dolan explains reason he invited Obama)
Archdiocese of New York ^ | August 14, 2012 | Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Posted on 08/15/2012 1:25:57 PM PDT by NYer

FEAST OF ST. MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE

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, Dr. 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. 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!

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 President Obama and Governor Romney have accepted our invitation. I am grateful to them.

The evening has always had a special meaning, as it is named after Governor Al 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.

The Al Smith Dinner has never been without controversy, since, as Carl Anderson reminded us, politics can inspire disdain and negativity as well as patriotism and civility.

This year is surely no exception: I am receiving stacks of mail protesting the invitation to President Obama (and by the way, even some objecting to the invitation to Governor Romney).

The objections are somewhat heightened this year, since the Catholic community in the United States has rightly expressed vigorous criticism of the President’s support of the abortion license, and his approval of mandates which radically intruded upon Freedom of Religion. We bishops, including yours truly, have been unrelenting in our opposition to these issues, and will continue to be.

So, my correspondents ask, how can you justify inviting the President? Let me try to explain.

For one, an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner is not an award, or the provision of a platform to expound views at odds with the Church. It is an occasion of conversation; it is personal, not partisan.

Two, the purpose of the Al Smith Dinner is to show both our country and our Church at their best: people of faith gathered in an evening of friendship, civility, and patriotism, to help those in need, not to endorse either candidate. Those who started the dinner sixty-seven years ago believed that you can accomplish a lot more by inviting folks of different political loyalties to an uplifting evening, rather than in closing the door to them.

Three, the teaching of the Church, so radiant in the Second Vatican Council, is that the posture of the Church towards culture, society, and government is that of engagement and dialogue. In other words, it’s better to invite than to ignore, more effective to talk together than to yell from a distance, more productive to open a door than to shut one. Our recent popes have been examples of this principle, receiving dozens of leaders with whom on some points they have serious disagreements. Thus did our present Holy Father graciously receive our current President of the United States. And, in the current climate, we bishops have maintained that we are open to dialogue with the administration to try and resolve our differences. What message would I send if I refused to meet with the President?

Finally, an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner in no way indicates a slackening in our vigorous promotion of values we Catholic bishops believe to be at the heart of both gospel and American values, particularly the defense of human dignity, fragile life, and religious freedom. In fact, one could make the case that anyone attending the dinner, even the two candidates, would, by the vibrant solidarity of the evening, be reminded that America is at her finest when people, free to exercise their religion, assemble on behalf of poor women and their babies, born and unborn, in a spirit of civility and respect.

Some have told me the invitation is a scandal. 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?

No matter what you might think of this particular decision, might I ask your prayers for me and my brother bishops and priests who are faced with making these decisions, so that we will be wise and faithful shepherds as God calls us to be?

In the end, I’m encouraged by the example of Jesus, who was blistered by his critics for dining with those some considered sinners; and by the recognition that, if I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I’d be taking all my meals alone.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: catholicvote
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp
Doc, I know you stand and respect you, so I ask this honestly and frankly.

In the US Catholic Church, does “social justice” trump abortion?

Ryan gets called out by name for his budget, Obama gets an invite to dinner.

21 posted on 08/15/2012 3:38:59 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: NYer
Three, the teaching of the Church, so radiant in the Second Vatican Council, is that the posture of the Church towards culture, society, and government is that of engagement and dialogue. In other words, it’s better to invite than to ignore, more effective to talk together than to yell from a distance, more productive to open a door than to shut one.

Why do they sue the 0bama Administration, then? Just try to sit and discuss their differences with the Administration should be enough, no?

22 posted on 08/15/2012 3:40:36 PM PDT by paudio (Two stubborn facts remain: (1) Romney is better than 0bama, and (2) Romney is the Republican Nominee)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp
Dear Dr. Brian Kopp,

“Did Pope PiusXII invite Hitler to a public celebration dinner while he was working to stop Hitler’s attack on Europe and the Jews?”

Oh, but you see, that's such an impolitic way of thinking!! We don't want to be confrontational with Mr. Obama. We just all want to go along to get along!! Just tweak that Obamacare a bit, and all us bishops (or at least 95+% of us) will go away quietly, happily, because underneath, all us bishops (or at least 95% of us) of the American Catholic Church are dyed-in-the-wool socialists!!

Jesus told us about these ones in Matthew 23. They speak from the chair of Moses, and we must obey what is actually taught from the chair. But we are not to emulate them.


sitetest

23 posted on 08/15/2012 3:41:08 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: NYer; Mrs. Don-o

I give Dolan props for at least addressing this. But, Judy Brown sees the situation more clearly. It’s not business as usual, Your Eminence.

A simple shepherd knows about wolves and sheep.


24 posted on 08/15/2012 3:47:48 PM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.)
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To: NYer

**No matter what you might think of this particular decision, might I ask your prayers for me and my brother bishops and priests who are faced with making these decisions, so that we will be wise and faithful shepherds as God calls us to be?**

OK, I finally understand the purpose of this invitation, Cardinal Dolan. Our prayers are covering you.


25 posted on 08/15/2012 3:48:17 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: sitetest

See my post #20


26 posted on 08/15/2012 3:48:51 PM PDT by NYer (Without justice, what else is the State but a great band of robbers? - St. Augustine)
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To: NYer

Dear NYer,

I read it. I think it’s grossly inappropriate.

sitetest


27 posted on 08/15/2012 3:57:11 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: sitetest

Sometime near the end of the world, but before the rise of Antichrist, the world and the Church will be in a terrible state. Faith is greatly diminished and, well, let St. Nilus tell it. “There will be no respect for parents or elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society.” Well, that sure fits. But then what?

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/catholic-prophecy-europe-and-the-return-of-the-king#ixzz23erlmSmO


28 posted on 08/15/2012 3:59:29 PM PDT by billys kid ("Bury me on my head for one day this world will be upside down." (Diogenes))
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To: NYer

This man stands for death. I need not know anything else.


29 posted on 08/15/2012 4:41:29 PM PDT by maxwellsmart_agent
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

Thanks for your post.

This is a tough decision; he either invites both or neither. The Church does not want to endorse one candidate over another. She does want to endorse or reject certain actions and principles by one candidate or another.

Every Catholic paying the least bit of attention knows their Church’s position and Cardinal Dolan has certainly spoken and acted in accord.

This event will occur shortly before the election and is an opportunity to bring the issue of religious freedom to the attention of the electorate -which is a good thing.

The two sides know where each other stands, this event will not change that.

I think it’s a tough decision and I’m ok with the invitation and the civility towards the office of the President.


30 posted on 08/15/2012 4:56:08 PM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: sitetest; NYer
Unfortunately I have to agree. This is indefensible. We are in the midst of a holocaust of biblical proportions (abortion) and marriage is under the greatest assault in the history of post-Christian western culture, and Obama is the architect of that assault. Furthermore, ObamaCare is to coerced euthanasia what Roe V Wade was to abortion. And Obama is to blame.

This is indefensible. There is no way to spin it, and no ridiculous spin by twisting scripture out of context to excuse it is acceptable.

Attempts to do so make us faithful Catholics look like as big a rube as Dolan.

This too is indefensible.

By the way, I'll be on EWTN radio Saturday afternoon 2:00-4:00 discussing euthanasia and ObamaCare.

If this situation with Dolan comes up, I'll be polite and respectful, but I will not engage in trying to spin it away as excusable.

31 posted on 08/15/2012 5:01:35 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM (Sin Makes You Stupid.)
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To: D-fendr; don-o; NYer
I have written to Archbishop Dolan 5 or 6 times now. It can't hurt. It might help. That, prayer, fasting: what's needed to cast out demons.

archbishop.dolan@archny.org

alsmithfoundation@archny.org

joseph.zwilling@archny.org

(Zwilling is Director of Communications for the Archdioese)

32 posted on 08/15/2012 5:02:47 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious." George Orwell)
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To: risen_feenix

I AM A PRACTICING CATHOLIC AND GIVE NOTHING TO THE CHURCH.I BECAME DISGUSTED WITH THE CARDINALS, BISHOPS,AND LOWER CLERGY REMAINING SILENT ABOUT PRO-ABORT POLITICIANS AND ABUSIVE CLERGY.I HEARD NOTHING ABOUT OBAMA WHEN HE WAS RUNNING.THE ROMAN CATHOLC CHURCH CLERGY IS A SOCIALISTIC DEMOCRATIC ORANIZATION AND I’M SURE THEY VOTE THAT WAY.THE ONLY TIME I HEARD ABOUT CARDINAL DOLAN WAS WHEN HE SPOKE ABOUT OBAMACARE AND THE MANDATES FOR CATHOLIC INSTITUTES.I ONLY SEE HIS REASON FOR INVITING OBAMA AS A CRUTCH AND I READ IT IN DISGUST.


33 posted on 08/15/2012 5:19:07 PM PDT by castlebar lass
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To: redgolum
In the US Catholic Church, does “social justice” trump abortion?

Fortunately there is no such animal as "the US Catholic Church." There is only the Catholic Church.

This "social justice seamless garment" lie was created out of whole cloth by an evil liberal dissenter cardinal who ruled the USCCB with an iron fist, and whose demonic influence over its bureaucracy obviously continues to this day from beyond the grave.

This seamless garment social justice claptrap is a Marxist ruse and its time for it to be mercilessly and wholly excised from the Church.

The USCCB was in bed with marxist socialists in supporting ObamaCare, yet Dolan was "surprised" when Obama made him look like a complete fool and went back on his word and coerced the Church to cover the abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilizations under the HHS mandate.

What kind of a fool would be surprised by this? And despite this, to then invite him to speak at this prestigious Catholic dinner?

Is Dolan going to act surprised when Obama spins this event too for his benefit with the Catholic voters?

Reprehensible.

Dear Cardinal Dolan,

Here is the only proper response to this administration:

"Defiance
How can we act to make the most of this situation. A glance at the city of Nowa Huta, Poland provides insight. Nowa Huta was described by Brian Whitmore of THE BOSTON GLOBE, as the place “...where George Orwell's dark vision of a perfect industrial metropolis was executed with stunning precision. Until, that is, the workers rose up and overthrew Big Brother"

In this grimy steel town the workers wanted a church. The communists said no. The Archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyla, persisted and defiantly held Mass on the site for years. Workers replaced every cross removed or destroyed by the State. Eventually the State caved.

What is needed now is for our bishops and other religious administrators to publicly defy the mandate and keep the institutions open without compliance. We must not give these Marxists the opportunity to seize the assets of religious and charitable institutions.

Our duty, yours and mine, is to assist them, to encourage them by letters and prayers. But our duty extends far beyond this rally in effort and time. We must make ourselves loud enough to be heard. We must be vigorous and persistent in creating prayerful and lively sit-ins in our politicians offices. We need to wheedle , encourage, beg , plead - what-ever it takes - to get our bishops, rabbis, ministers and priests to get motivated to the point of action. We must help them understand that a single pastoral letter to the flock is worthless without the personal courage to lead from the front. We long ago passed from the diplomatic maneuverings of 1938 to the brutal fighting of Stalingrad.

What is needed is direct, forceful, definitive and ongoing actions by courageous and defiant religious and lay leaders.

We need to tell them we will be standing next to them, saying“I will go to jail with you!”
And above all we must pray daily, unceasingly, for the conversion and confounding of those whose word and deed threaten us and our nation with such malice. We have a right and duty to pray for our deliverance from evil."

34 posted on 08/15/2012 5:23:02 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM (Sin Makes You Stupid.)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

There was a guy on Relevant radio today saying it was good tol invite Obama because it proves the Catholic church doesn’t just support Republicans. Kind of funny in a way.


35 posted on 08/15/2012 5:31:35 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: NYer; sitetest

At Archdiocesan Gala, No Room for Clinton or Dole

By JONATHAN P. HICKS
Published: August 23, 1996

For 50 years, it has been New York's most prestigious nonpolitical political event. And since John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon took off their campaign gloves to attend the glittering dinner three weeks before the 1960 presidential election, most candidates for the nation's highest office have made the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner a mandatory stop on the road to the White House.

But not this year.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has not invited President Clinton or his Republican challenger, Bob Dole, to its $600-a-plate annual charity dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel next month. It is the first Presidential election year since 1960 that the archdiocese has not invited the Democratic and Republican candidates. And there are conflicting explanations.

The dinner's organizers said that the candidates were unable to make firm commitments to attend, and so were not invited. But other archdiocesan officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the exclusion stemmed from John Cardinal O'Connor's annoyance at President Clinton's veto of a bill that would have outlawed certain late-term abortions. They added that Mr. Dole was not invited to keep the dinner from taking on a partisan tone.


36 posted on 08/15/2012 6:21:41 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM (Sin Makes You Stupid.)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

Thank you so much for presenting the picture of the courageous John Cardinal O’Connor.At this point the laity of the Catholic Church will probably have to picket the Al Smith dinner to show that Cardinal Dolan does not represent the vast majority of Church-going Catholics.Abortion is no laughing matter.Some even believe it is uncivil.


37 posted on 08/15/2012 6:58:01 PM PDT by ardara
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To: NYer

A real bad move inviting BO to the Al smith dinner.

Liberal media will use pics of them shaking hands to paint the picture...

...’see there’s really no animosity between church/state some of you are just paranoid’.

After 3 years his Excellency should properly conclude that BO stinks! Don’t make it any harder than it is.


38 posted on 08/16/2012 3:27:55 AM PDT by exPBRrat
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To: NYer

As opposed to your good scriptural examples, the Al Smith Dinner is not a forum for Cardinal Dolan to witness to tax collectors and sinners and expect that he won’t try. In this case it will be a forum for Pres. Obama to preen before the public demonstrating rightly or wrongly the church’s passivity.


39 posted on 08/16/2012 6:43:00 AM PDT by Enten (I don't have islamophobia...I do have islamonausea)
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