Most pro-lifers cheered when Cardinal Dolan was given the position of president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. However, he may have just created a huge controversy by inviting President Barack Obama, the country’s most pro-abortion president ever, to the annual Al Smith Catholic Charities Dinner. Obama has accepted the invitation, and he will be not only attending, but speaking as well.
This is outrageous for a number of reasons. First and foremost, that Cardinal Dolan would invite the man who not only is the most pro-abortion president ever, but also voted three times against a law requiring that babies born alive after an abortion be protected to a Catholic event is absolutely unconscionable. He was previously invited to speak in 2008, along with fellow presidential candidate John McCain, and the decision has been made to welcome him back again.
But why should Obama be welcomed to any Catholic function? Two ardently pro-abortion candidates have previously not been invited (Bill Clinton and John Kerry), so there’s certainly a precedent to not invite Obama. Considering that Obama’s love for abortion puts both Clinton’s and Kerry’s support to shame, it makes no sense that he’d be invited. Add in his blatant attack on religion, and Catholicism in particular, with the HHS mandate, as well as his attacks on the Catholic position on marriage, and the decision is both baffling and infuriating.
When you’ve got an extremely pro-abortion president who is attacking religious liberties, then there’s no reason he should be there whatsoever.
The Catholic Church is one of the most ardent supporters of the pro-life movement. You could argue that the Church even started it, and that they’re the most pro-life organization in the world. So why are Catholic Charities and Cardinal Dolan allowing all of that to be pushed to the side? It may be a common courtesy to extend the invitation to presidential candidates. But courtesy does not and should not trump the importance of protecting life.
