Um, Cardinal Dolan, You Know What You're Doing, Right?

By Jennifer Hartline
8/12/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

I will be praying that God gives you keen insight and wisdom, as well as courage to fight the good fight.

I couldn't believe the news that Obama was invited to the Al Smith Catholic charities dinner with your blessing. Like a lot of other people, I find it hard to see how this can end well and easy to see how this could be a disaster just weeks before the election. Your Eminence, please tell me you have an ace up your sleeve. Please reassure your concerned sheep that you've got this and all is well. You have never given us reason to doubt you or question your courage and fidelity. So I'm choosing to believe the best and pray that God gives you wisdom and courage. Lead on, Smiling Cardinal.

Cardinal Dolan

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - Dear Cardinal Dolan,

Well, you've had an interesting week, haven't you? I thought rather than talking about you I'd talk to you. Who am I? Nobody special, just a daughter of the Church. Just an Army wife, a homeschooling mom raising three kids, and an American citizen who's very worried about her country.

You, on the other hand, are a breath of fresh air for the Church in America. You are the embodiment of the courage, enthusiasm, joy, and faith we need now more than ever. Your election to the head of the Bishop's conference was music to my ears. It gave me great hope in many ways. God has not forsaken us here in the U.S.A., even though we've forsaken Him. He has given us you in this critical hour. I know I'm not alone here -- any Catholic who's paying any attention at all is grateful for all you've done.

I want to thank you for the leadership you've provided. I want to thank you for having a spine. Thank you for your forthrightness and fidelity. Thank you for fighting and defending and teaching and admonishing and for doing it all with your unbeatable smile. You're a big bear -- part teddy and part grizzly. It's exactly what we need, so don't ever change.

When this story of the Al Smith Catholic charities dinner first came to light my first thought was that the reporter had his facts messed up. I thought, "There's no way Cardinal Dolan invited him!" Then came some disbelief, then an out loud, "What?!?" when I learned it was true.

The firing squad quickly took aim at you, and the Catholic blogosphere was soon crackling with a lot of angry Catholics who could not fathom why our Church leaders were inviting the worst President in history to dinner.

In my own small circle, I tried to encourage folks to take a deep breath and not rush to join in the condemnation. Cardinal Dolan, I said, has never given us a reason to doubt his strength or his loyalty. Let's give this a chance and see what comes of it.

But I have to admit, I'm not crazy about it either. The whole thing makes me nervous, to say the least.

The man sitting in the White House does not behave like a President, so I won't call him that. He wants to be king, and he acts like a tyrant, so from now on, I will refer to him as the tyrantking. He is the enemy of life and freedom in America. I don't think anyone can dispute that assessment. I think he is a wolf who barely bothers to put his wool on anymore.

He is the enemy of Catholicism, as far as I'm concerned. He uses the Church to cover his behind and give his evil policies some sort of legitimacy, thanks to apostates like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Kathleen Sebelius, and thanks to the inexplicable Fr. John Jenkins. (Why is he still the president of a Catholic university, by the way??)

After this last year and the all-out assault he has waged on religious freedom and the child in the womb; after his pathetic and manufactured "war on women" that revolves around contraception; and after all you have said and done to stand up to him and lead the Church in the battle to defend what is right, why why why do we have to invite the guy to dinner for drinks and a few laughs??

As of this moment, Catholics in America must decide whether to violate Church teaching and their own conscience, or whether to disobey the HHS mandate and risk their business and livelihood. The war is ON, and we're gonna tell jokes and have a good time with the tyrant behind the oppression? Seriously?

Your Eminence, please tell me you have an ace up your sleeve. Please tell me there's more to this that the rest of us just don't know about yet. Please tell me you haven't taken leave of your good senses.

In my head, the conversation is going something like this:
Cardinal Dolan is no idiot. True. This ain't his first rodeo. True again. He's certainly no Obama sycophant. Very true. He must have a good reason for doing this. I sure hope so. But c'mon, really? Are we suddenly no longer fighting for our lives against this guy and his evil policies? Exactly... This will end badly with one opportune photo, and Obama will milk it for all it's worth right through the election. Yep. Okay Jesus, I trust in You. Please prove me wrong about this.

I'm waiting anxiously to hear what your thoughts are about this whole mess. Please reassure your worried sheep that you've looked at this from all sides and all is well.

I beg you, please promise me that you won't gift the tyrantking two ...

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1 - 10 of 82 Comments

Diane
8 months ago
Great article Jennifer! I agree. Too many Catholic politicians and citizens have had their focus and faith corrupted by the world and it's harping on racism and poverty as the most important issues while a river of blood from babies of all races and income levels flowed daily from all the abortuaries in this country. Also I wouldn't call Obama a tyrantking as he doesn't have enough class to be a king. He is an amoral socialist.
JoAnn
8 months ago
Deb: Thanks for the suggestion. Besides the MSM, Fox, Daily Caller, Newsmax, Dredge, Washington Post, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, MoveOn. org, Media Matters, Reuters, Telegraph.co.uk, Politico, Associated Press, The Examiner. foreignpolicy.com, minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com, Library of Congress, archive,catholic.com/thisrock, biggovernment.com, britannia.com/history, humanevents.com, Americanthinker.com, moneynews.com, & C-span, Time mag. Forbes, Newsweek, & Weekly Standard, I'm pretty busy. Do you have any other suggestions? God bless.
Carol
9 months ago
To Rob,

The first issue is not Medicare or finances--you are getting sidetracked. The first issue is life. Catholics cannot support intrinsic evils (e.g., abortion, contraception, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, gay "marriage") under pain of mortal sin. If a candidate supports intrinsic evils (the current President supports all of the above intrinsic evils and propagates abortion all over the world at our expense), a Catholic cannot vote for him/her under pain of mortal sin. The ACA is not about healthcare, but about redistribution of wealth, population control, and denial of medical care.
When we stand before Our Lord at our particular judgment, we would not want to have to defend voting for a pro-abortion politician when there was a pro-life alternative.
Deb
9 months ago
Jo-Ann, you say you do your own research... I would recommend you check out non-partisan sites for a change. This would NOT include Fox, CNSnews, Newsmax etc!
JoAnn
9 months ago
Rob: I forgot to address the tax question. Romney has released the amount of taxes required by law. The same as Obama did according to law. Obama releasing more is purely by choice. What we can deduce from that is, no matter how many years taxes a candidate releases, it will not keep a Marxist/Socialist from being elected as president. Romney is telling us who he is and if we are honest with ourselves, Obama told us who he was too, Only too many people were mesmerized by his personality, and did not listen to him voicing his political philosophies. They heard him but did not "listen." I know Judy, Vance, Me and some others on this board did listen, and we know full well who Mr. Obama is. God bless.
JoAnn
9 months ago
Rob: It has been brought up before by the GOP, many times. The Dems always fought it. Look, we both agree something has to be done. All I know is that Ryan's plan is 100% better than what Obama is offering. At least I would be in charge of my own money, life and healthcare. You forget I have two children under the age of 50 that I am concerned about. At least they think, Ryan's plan is a good start. We wouldn't be in any of this mess if FDR wouldn't have started SS and Lyndon Johnson didn't start the "The Great Society". They were just ways to get control of the people and get votes. You wouldn't believe what Johnson said after he signed the civil rights bill and the great society bill. He was despicable. And, by the way, our Black brothers and sisters would have had the civil rights bill way BEFORE Johnson got in office if Johnson hadn't FILIBUSTERED it when EISENHOWER tried to get a civil rights bill enacted. Johnson was the senate majority leader at that time and he killed it. SS was only meant to be emergency income for people who lived passed 65. The life expectancy at that time, was 60 for men and 64 for women. It was never meant to be a "Retirement Fund." It was meant to be a supplement, not a way of life. Hence, the present culture. The progressives have succeeded in breeding a society with "Help me, help me. The government owes me a living" mentality. Now, according to a report from Senator Jeff Sessions, 110 million of our citizens are on some sort of government program. That's 1/3 of the population. That really makes for a healthy nation doesn't it? Thank God I had wise parents that encouraged me to save for my retirement. I thought it was nonsense at the time,but am very grateful to them today. I worked from the age of 15 and always paid myself 10% of my income first. I worked until I was 70 and HAD to retire only because of health reasons. If I were still ship shape, I would still be working today. By the way, Rob, are you still upset with me? I noticed you didn't even acknowledge my apology I made a few days ago. I really hope you accepted it. God bless.
Rob
9 months ago
JoAnn, Obama has released tax returns going back to 2000. The returns are easily found on the internet.

In regards to your assessment of the Ryan plan, why would people choose to forgo tranditional medicare if given the choice? If this plan is so good, why aren't current seniors fighting for it right now and choosing to have their care and costs decided by the private insurers? The reason is simple and it's a slight difference between the two plans. Both plans have to look for ways to trim costs and shift expenses. The ACA cuts costs by reducing payments to providers while maintain the full complement of services currently offered. The risk obviously is that provider cease accepting Medicare. However, as most hospitals and providers know, this reduction in reimbursements can be made up by the new number of covered individuals. Ryan's plan does allow you to choose traditional medicare. So assuming 100% of individuals choose the traditional plan, where do the cost savings come from and where exactly is the reform? And let's say a senior chooses to go the private route, well the "savings" are dervied because the burden for the additional expense are shifted to the senior by virture of the difference between the voucher payment and what the provider and insurance company charge. Under this scenario we assume the ACA is repealed, there is nothing compelling private insurers to spend more on actual healthcare. Savings come from increased costs shifted to seniors.

I have a hard time understanding who would pick this plan. Private insurance already profits on the fact that the highest cost in healthcare are covered by the government. I can't imagine what a premium is going to look like for a senior choosing a private plan. But again, if this plan is so good, why not do it right now for all seniors?
Lindangel
9 months ago
When I read the article by Jennifer Hartline, about why Cardinal Dolan has invited Obama to the Al Smith Dinner-it was like my very thoughts were appearing on the page like magic.
She has expressed my feelings exactly. I understand that our Lord ate and sat with sinners and he will forgive everyone who is truly sorry for their sins. But Obama is evil, his actions are almost "anti-Christ" like! Obama will take his appearance at this dinner and use it to his advantage in the upcoming election. There is a quote, "there is a time for peace and a time for war", now is time for war against Obama and his evil agenda. If we, Christians and Catholics do not stop him-who else can we blame? I hope and pray that Cardinal Dolan will re-think his invitation and will uninvite Obama before it is to late.
Judy Claar
9 months ago
Jo Ann: Go Jo Ann! Tell the Truth Like IT IS! I am glad you are on this board because you are True Wisdom, Common Sense, and, Sharp as a tack! I can't be here by myself either!
Blessings!
Rob
9 months ago
Maria, while I don't necessarily agree with everything you've said, I too have some serious misgivings about the lack of financial disclosure. There is a lack of transparency in this that I thought we were protesting against. What makes that issue have more punch for me is the fact that Romney's own father started the tradition. For all the ranting and raving about disclosure of every jot and tittle of Obama's past, I find it amazing that minus a few gutsy conservative commentators, there is silence.

Romney is in a jam. Best case, his returns show a lot of foreign accounts, he made a lot of money and used every creative strategy in the book to avoid taxes (none of illegal but also most not available to most working class Americans). Worst case, he may have had to avail himself of the IRS's amnesty program for foreign holdings. If he had to do that, that is a different ball game all together. And while I have to believe the GOP would not nominate him if he had that in his past, crazier things have happend. John Edwards was really close to the dem nomination.

He and his wife are right, he does not have to show them. And I don't have to vote for him either.

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