As usual, I am late to the party. I happened on this site and noted a post with a positive assessment of how Cardinal Dolan handled the Obama invite to the Al Smith dinner. I have a very different view, which I communicated to the Cardinal in a letter of September 1, 2012 and an email of October 19, 2012. I set forth the texts below.
Dick Coleman C’57; GL ’61.
THE LETTER
Your Eminence:
I have previously written on May 21 and July 9, copies enclosed. I have not received a reply to the latter. I continue to urge our local parish to have the following prayer petitions included at every Mass:
For an end to abortion-on-demand, we pray.
For the restoration of our First Amendment right to the free exercise of our religion, we pray.
Neither petition has been implemented. These petitions comport with Catholic doctrine and seek God’s help. They also alert the faithful to these problems, which is necessary because the mass media are hostile to these values and do not report fairly on them.
Why do we not urge these prayers? Is it fear of offending democrats? Is it fear they will not attend Mass if we speak out? Has our forbearance improved attendance? Has it improved the democrats’ treatment of Catholics? Could the HHS mandate be any worse? Have they stopped appointing and confirming pro-abortion Supreme Court Justices?
My hope was with your Eminence. Earlier this year, you cogently pointed out that, despite the Jesuit magazine America’s endorsement, the Obama “accommodation” was no accommodation at all. The blatant violation of the First Amendment and the accompanying rhetoric from the White House constitute the most vicious attack by our government on our religion in my lifetime.
But now I read that you have succumbed to the Jesuit magazine’s demand that you give a benediction at the Democrat convention, where the most pro-abortion president in our history, and the author of the HHS mandate, will be nominated for a second term by a political party committed to promoting and enforcing abortion-on-demand as a basic international human right.
This is not a matter for neutrality. I am reminded of the words attributed to Lenin, “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them.” To the world, it will appear that we Catholics bless the democrats’ efforts to destroy the lives of the innocent and to remove us as protectors.
In 2009, the Superior General of the Holy Cross Fathers, responding to the outrage that resulted from the honor conferred by Notre Dame upon President Obama, asked in an open letter: “How are we Catholics to go about getting ourselves to be taken seriously by our government leaders? “
Is not the answer apparent? Assume a politician knows he can act against the interest and values of a group [here, Catholics] and still be honored by that group; assume he knows that, if he acts similarly against another group,[here the Left], that group will criticize him, and contribute money, effort and passion to defeat him. To which group is the politician more likely to be responsive?
Your Eminence appears to be of the same mindset as the Holy Cross Father. You have invited President Obama to the Al Smith dinner. Your spokesperson has stated:
“It is the tradition of the Smith dinner to invite the presidential candidates in the presidential election years in the spirit of nonpartisanship, good humor and good fellowship.” The dinner includes seven minute humorous speeches by the candidates.
I submit there is nothing humorous about abortion-on-demand or the deprivation of our First Amendment rights. I have read what your Eminence has proffered as explanations of your decision and respectfully ask your Eminence to reconsider each of your points.
1. “We bishops, including yours truly, have been unrelenting in our opposition to these issues, and will continue to be.”
I regret to say that I disagree. Since your initial marvelous, courageous statement, I have asked the bishops for help in organizing demonstrations against the HHS mandate, as our non Catholic brethren have done and continue to do.
I initially received form replies from bishops in the Los Angeles diocese and from your Eminence, replies which ignored the substantive points of my letters. When I pursued those points, my subsequent letters were ignored. Your Eminence, I can write the president of American Express and receive a responsive letter to whatever complaint I state. Should I not expect at least that from my shepherds? We received no help in organizing demonstrations.
2. “…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.”
Please help me to understand: 67 years ago did different political loyalties involve the deprivation of constitutional rights to Catholics? If not, is that a significant difference? I would appreciate your Eminence’s views.
3. “…the teaching of the Church … is that the posture of the Church towards culture, society, and government is that of engagement and dialogue.”
Your Eminence has repeatedly offered such engagement and dialogue and I understand you are ready to continue to do so. You ask “What message would I send if I refused to meet with the President?” I respectfully point out that your Eminence is not refusing to meet with the President. You are inviting him to a celebratory dinner involving comedy monologues. The proper question is: “What message does that send?”
4 “…an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner in no way indicates a slackening in our vigorous promotion of values.”
The reality is that is exactly how it is being perceived, as your Eminence acknowledges in offering your “explanations.”
5. “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.”
The situation is not apposite. “…Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.” But the Gospel is silent on what sins were involved.
What would Jesus do with the situation confronting us: people who have deprived us of our constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty to further the slaughter of the innocent unborn? I do not know. But I do know He said:
“…And everyone who commits an offense against one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a donkey's millstone would be hung around his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.”
And I know that He created a whip from some cords, and "… drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.”
What is involved is not “some considered sinners’ or “people who agreed” or disagreed with your Eminence. This is an invitation to a fun-filled celebration extended to the leader of a political party committed to abortion-on-demand and to the deprivation of our constitutional right to religious liberty. Would Jesus extend that invitation?
Coincidentally, I came across your Eminence’s explanations at a time I was reading a book about Germany in 1936. This was before the concentration camps but after the promulgation of the Jewish laws. Many in the US and Britain said we should not participate in the Berlin Olympics. Their objections were overridden with reasons similar to what Your Eminence has advanced – that we should have civil engagement and dialogue with Hitler. Would history have been different if a stand had been taken in 1936?
The time for non-partisanship is long past. There is nothing civil about the HHS mandate and the promotion of abortion-on-demand.
We must stand up for our beliefs and vote accordingly. We need the Church to help us do so. Given the left-wing bias and anti-Catholic prejudice of the mass media, the Church must use its bully pulpits to declare our values, our interests, our determination.
I pray your Eminence will reconsider and take a stand for us.
Yours truly,
THE EMAIL
Your Eminence:
I have written previously [copy attached] regarding the invitation of Barack Obama to the Al Smith Dinner. The fears expressed in the letter have been realized. On the first page of the LATEXTRA section of today’s LA Times, you are pictured laughing uproariously next to a smiling Barack Obama. The photo is prominently displayed above the fold.
President Obama has been the most pro-abortion president in the history of our country. He is also the only president to direct regulations against Catholics, regulations which deprive us of our constitutional rights. You courageously pointed this out earlier this year. You also courageously demonstrated that the alleged “accommodation” was no accommodation at all and stated that the Administration had not been honest with you. The blatant violation of the First Amendment and the accompanying rhetoric from the White House constitute the most vicious attack by our government on our religion in our lifetime.
How do we square those facts with that picture? How do we convince Catholics, let alone non-Catholics, that the HHS mandate is evil, given that picture? This is not a laughing matter.
The harm done cannot be reversed. Predictably, the President took advantage of the opportunity to claim he admires Catholics, reducing the deprivation of our constitutional rights to a mere political difference of opinion. President Obama, and the world, have concluded, not unreasonably, that Catholics may be violated with impunity.
Please use your authority and influence to mitigate the damage. Please implement two actions:
1. Have the flyers prepared by Priests for Life available at every church and distributed at every Mass. The flyers can be found at these links..
Presidential Voter Guide: Black and white:
www.priestsforlife.org/candidates/2012-voter-guide-bw.pdf or color:
www.priestsforlife.org/candidates/2012-voter-guide-small.pdf Comparison of the 2012 Democratic and Republican Party Platforms:
www.priestsforlife.org/candidates/2012-party-platform-comparison-web.pdf 2. Have the following prayer petitions included at every Mass:
For an end to abortion-on-demand, we pray.
For the restoration of our First Amendment right to the free exercise of our religion, we pray.
I pray the Holy Spirit will inspire you.
Yours truly,