Off the Record

hey, lighten up! By Diogenes | October 17, 2008 10:14 AM

 The American bishops have generally agreed that political candidates who favor unrestricted legal abortion should not be given opportunities to speak at Church-sponsored events. 

• unless the events raise $5 million for Catholic Charities
• unless the events are hosted by the cardinal-archbishop of the nation's most prominent city
• unless the events are covered by every imaginable major media outlet
• unless the events are light-hearted, humorous affairs.

Because under those circumstances, you see, the archdiocese isn't endorsing the pro-abortion candidate. It's just showing that someone can support the deliberate slaughter of unborn human beings and still be a heckuva fun guy. 

 

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Sound Off! Comments

• Posted by: gairdawg - Oct. 22, 2008 3:48 PM ET USA

  Well, Jesus had dinner with the tax collectors, so I would guess that the Cardinal was not out of line. It might be different if Obama were Catholic, but he isn't, so perhaps the Cardinal isn't holding him to as high a standard as he did John Kerry, who was not invited some years ago.

• Posted by: James the Least - Oct. 20, 2008 6:18 PM ET USA

  I don't so much fault the Cardinal for allowing Obama in as I do any yucking it up that may have occurred (I didn't watch). Protocol may demand that the devil, being one of the two major candidates for President, be hosted at an event. I can even imagine someone like St. Paul allowing that. What I can't imagine is St. Paul smoking and joking with him or exhibiting any kind of pleasure in his presence. His Eminence should have been staring daggers through Obama.

• Posted by: extremeCatholic - Oct. 19, 2008 5:51 PM ET USA

  The Cardinal has really become the prisoner of this event and its celebrity status. Once the precedent was set that guests of honor include those who accept the murder of the unborn, it was all over. The accommodations that Card Egan has made with the culture of death during his New York tenure would fill a thick book. The tales of his effective opposition to it would not fill one side of one page.

• Posted by: hUMPTY dUMPTY - Oct. 18, 2008 11:31 AM ET USA

  Faith makes a virtue out of not thinking.

• Posted by: lghsubs1231661 - Oct. 18, 2008 1:43 AM ET USA

  I cannot believe that a Catholic Cardinal had gall to sit next to a pro abortion Presidential candidate and then have him as a featured speaker. No wonder Catholics are left with questions. And why have the US Bishops not reprimanded him? What would Jesus say?

• Posted by: Pseudodionysius - Oct. 17, 2008 11:59 PM ET USA

  To paraphrase Archbishop Chaput: All the best on Judgment Day with that reasoning, your Eminence. I wonder if the Apostle John gave a send up at Herod's banquet before he lost his head? Didn't think so.

• Posted by: opraem - Oct. 17, 2008 11:48 PM ET USA

  the most dangerous place in the ny church is between his eminence and big donors. i wonder if all the $ millions can explain his covering up the sexual abusers? or the lost teaching moments on abortion? on gay marriage? etc. eddie needs our prayers, and so does his soon to be announced replacement.

• Posted by: Chestertonian - Oct. 17, 2008 5:51 PM ET USA

  Thank you, Diogenes, for noting this. I hoped Egan was coming around, after his response to Pelosi, but no funds were directly involved in that case. How telling that McCain slipped in comments early in his remarks about his support for Catholic teaching on the value of human life, and the cardinal didn't have the chutzpah to recognize and expand on the topic before the captive audience. Too afraid of losing out on the big donations, I suppose. "What does it profit a man . . ."

• Posted by: 30 year priest - Oct. 17, 2008 1:22 PM ET USA

  I was simply stunned to see the many pro-aborts prominently seated at this dinner.

• Posted by: adamah - Oct. 17, 2008 12:31 PM ET USA

  Obama was not funny at all. The only person less funny was Cardinal Eagan.

• Posted by: Exaudi nos - Oct. 17, 2008 10:56 AM ET USA

  Do you really think Obama was a fun guy last night. He looked very uncomfortable and stiff. Did someone throw Holy Salt on his food?