62 Comments

• miamicanes | Oct 23, 2012, 11:24 AM EDT

  The cardinal didn't invite me either. Perhaps because my deceased Mother was a Protestant whom the nuns would tell my sisters classmates to pray that my Mother would turn catholic so she wouldn't burn in hell. Ah, the memories of a catholic education 1941 to 1948. Guess what folks, I don't believe in the cardinal. I was even toll not to associate with Protestant when I attended catholic hs for four years. I told one christian brother that woudl be impossible as my Mother was Protestant. So, how many of you good people still think if your not catholic when you die, you'll go to hell?

• eiriamach | Oct 22, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT

  It's not only the cost of contraception and related medical care to the family, BrianO; it's also the cost to the NATION! From NY Times about the recent Peipert study: "When price wasn't an issue, women flocked to the most effective contraceptives —-the implanted options, which typically cost hundreds of dollars up-front to insert. These women experienced far fewer unintended pregnancies as a result, reported Dr. Jeffrey Peipert of Washington Univ in St. Louis.... The effect on teen pregnancy was striking: There were 6.3 births per 1,000 teenagers in the study. Compare that to a national rate of 34 births per 1,000 teens in 2010. There also were substantially lower rates of abortion, when compared with women in the metro area and nationally: 4.4 to 7.5 abortions per 1,000 women in the study, compared with 13.4 to 17 abortions per 1,000 women overall in the St. Louis region.... That's lower than the national rate, too, which is almost 20 abortions per 1,000 women." Half the nation's pregnancies are unintended, and 43 percent end in abortion. The HHS mandate is the most morally responsible approach to this problem we've ever had & save$ billion$.

• lajollajan | Oct 21, 2012, 06:47 PM EDT

  We are ashamed of what the Cardinal did. You don't play 'footsie' with you know who. Let us hope he learned his lesson and will take these decisions to prayer first. We know he wants to be popular and keep everyone happy, but he sure stirred up a hornet's nest here in the U.S.

• redhand32 | Oct 20, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

  BrianO dude I read your stuff. You are dumber than a sack of hammers, man. "Insurance is for big ticket items." whatever that means. Hey folks if you break a leg, need a flu shot, eye exam. Wait. Pay cash. Your insurance is only for $300,000 stuff like brain (or Brian) tumors, stuff like that. I know; Imy costs for multiple brain surgeries wwere $300,000 in '07. So I guess that is a Brian O "big ticket" item. The other stuff -not so much the man says ! What right does any employer have to dictate individual insurance coverage. It is between the employee/patient and the insurance company once he receives the benefit as a condition of employment. It would be no different than employer who as mater of conscience will not allow a paycheck to be spent on pork because he is a Jew or Muslim. Know, you have CEOS telling employees that if they don't vote for Romney they will be laid off ? When does the control of individuals' lives end in this right wing bizzaroworld ? Henry Ford used to have the Ford Motor Company Department of Sociology. He made sure that his staff of spies reported on who stopped off for a beer, didn't go right home after work, etc. The right wing nuts want this kind of social control over the complete lives of individuals as a kind of Christian Taliban.

• BrianO | Oct 17, 2012, 09:43 AM EDT

  Insurance is for big ticket items. That is so lost on these controllers. Contraceptives are cheap. You get insurance on your car so that if something happens you can fix or buy a new car, you don't buy insurance to fix a bicycle tire.

• eiriamach | Oct 17, 2012, 09:31 AM EDT

  maggiepoo, the new lawsuits have already lost. Judgment in the O'Brien case is thoroughly grounded in existing constitutional and federal law. Note that O'Brien's company health insurance currently covers contraceptives, so the ACA will make no difference to his 87 employees' insurance (p. 5 of the dismissal order 9/28/12). The court dismissed the case because Judge Jackson found no "substantial burden" imposed on O'Brien's company nor violation of his Constitutional rights. O'Brien remains free to exercise his religion "by not using contraceptives and by discouraging employees from using contraceptives." Even if O'Brien helps pay for the insurance that pays for contraceptives, his religious exercise is unburdened. Protection of religious liberty "is not a means to force one's religious practices upon others," particularly "individuals who hold religious beliefs that differ from one's own" (12). The ACA ends discrimination: "in general women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men.... This fundamental inequity in the current syste is dangerous and discriminatory...." (14). This reasoning will prevail in the many other suits inspired by the USCCB.

• tombegs | Oct 16, 2012, 07:24 PM EDT

  Could that "insult: happen because Obama is black, American or Christian????

• Smyrnian | Oct 16, 2012, 04:04 PM EDT

  Good one, BrianO. Thanks for the laugh. ;)

• BrianO | Oct 16, 2012, 01:47 PM EDT

  Looking at the picture all I can think of is Obama being held at bay by the cross, I imagine there is garlic and a wooden stake their too, Nice Halloween imagery IC.

• pilib04 | Oct 16, 2012, 11:33 AM EDT

  Dolan has more important things to worry about including the $20,000 payoffs to the pedophile priests.

• righton | Oct 16, 2012, 10:49 AM EDT

  What a phony he is. A little Irish lore: My Irish ancestors were all Democrats in New York until the Democrats rejected Al Smith because of his Irishness or his Catholicism or both!(That's what they said.) My father told me many years ago that his family "men" were active Democrats and switched to Republican because of that. Do the Irish hold a grudge? You bet. I voted for Catholic Kennedy on behalf of my ancestors. I'm a Republican.

• righton | Oct 16, 2012, 08:29 AM EDT

  "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." It is well known that Dolan was involved with the cover up of the pedophile priests and not with helping the victim children and their families. Regardless of this, it is the presidents responsibility to help all Americans, not just the rich. The religious leaders should concentrate on tending their own flock and promote whatever doctrine that the men in the church have decided is best for them. The church "rules" in the Catholic Church and some other religious sects are against women and designed to maintain men in a superior position. What a crock !!! These rules were made by men. The refusal to permit women to become priests is an example of a rule that the men of the church have maintained by using religious arguments against women. The translations were done of course by men in a times that men dominated and women were merely "slaves" and the Catholic Church hierarchy is trying to live in the past so they can maintain control and live the life of the rich and famous. The women of the Catholic Church need to rise up and let their voice be heard for it is often their influence that determines if their children will follow the Roman Catholic religion. The declining numbers of the Roman Catholic religion is a very telling indicator that the "men of the Roman Catholic Church" are not doing a good job. Get rid of the pedophile priests and pedophile protectors like Dolan and revamp the church to reflect today. Give the nuns control and see how many of the pedophile priests would be protected. ( Perhaps all pedophile priests and their protectors should be put in a dark room with the victims and their relatives and let justice prevail) Sorry I got away from the main subject. The bottom line is that the church and state should not be in bed together. The government should make laws and policies that treat everyone equal and the church should do the same within their flock.

• Smyrnian | Oct 16, 2012, 07:59 AM EDT

  odubs - how about respect for the unborn? Also,helpful hint those who post painfully long posts - nobody reads them.

• Smyrnian | Oct 16, 2012, 07:56 AM EDT

  Odubslaine - How about "common sense and respect for the unborn or is evil on the rise again"? Something to think hard about.

• KatieMurphy | Oct 15, 2012, 10:13 PM EDT

  Let me please make one more comment - Ryan, a catholic sworn to protecting life - he wants to abolish not just Obama care, but medicaid and medicare, and give people voouchers..................there are many like me, older, and though I look 10 years younger then my real age - 71, I have everything from low kidney function (not yet critical) a damaged heart valve , and have had multiple breast biopsied, all negative thank God............No insurance company would touch me without a govt mandate, and if that existed the premiums would be horrendous and unafordable...............Ryan is to catholics like me the Anti Christ in person. Meanwhile I was told this by my daughter there- while Gov Romney was campaigning in OHIO, Bain took over a manufacturing company with 830 jobs. Almost all of them are being sent to red china, and we can expect Bain to get several million for its dirty work..........Also we wshould thank Obama for what he did to bring us back from the edge of econommic disaster like 1929 (the year my dad graduated college - I know the whole story)......It was the collapse of the world economy in Europe that led to the election of a madman, and WWii by people so desperate they bought into the worst lies in history.............Further more, early in the current congress it was eighther Boehner or Cantor who said their goal was to "make Obama a wone term president. They are pandoring to there sothern religious base of evangelicals - southern baptists - wwho are still fighting the civil war and Obama is their nightmare come true= a black president.............Shame on the repubs - I was once one and long ago confessed to the terrible mistake I made.

• KatieMurphy | Oct 15, 2012, 10:00 PM EDT

  Dolan knew about the endless hidden molestation of his sex starved priests in Milwaukee where he reigned from 02 to 09. He like many other bishops hid these vile crimes against children. And he also moved most of the uncommitted diocese money to funeral trusts, so it could not be touched as recompense to the families of the children who were raped. His reward by the German pope was to be promoted to cardinal............The man belongs in the slammer just as happened to a monsignor in Phila. There the church tried to blame an official who had died. shortly before............According to NCRonline, now the 3rd largest religion is ex catholic in the USA............BTW in the old fox guarding the henhouse, Cardinal Law of the boston massacre of children by his sex starved priests , some years ago was spirited out of Boston to the Vatican so he could not be extradited in his part of the cover up vile crimes. Now he eis accused of being behind the investigaion of the Nuns for doing their job - feeding the poor and nursing the sick, because they werent defaming our gay citizens.

• maryemoore | Oct 15, 2012, 09:12 PM EDT

  What nonsense. The writer and a lot of the commentators obviously have never attended the dinner. The Al Smith dinner is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Archdiocese. There is no animosity there. People are there to have a good time and raise money for the charitible outreach of the Archdiocese. There is lot of joking and dipolomacy where people put aside their differences for the evening for the good of helping the poor who are helped by Catholic Charities.

• eiriamach | Oct 15, 2012, 06:34 PM EDT

  What's at stake for Dolan includes the $ millions in penalties Catholic colleges, hospitals and agencies will pay for violating the HHS mandate, as well the the many million$ these entities receive in federal grant money. This money is the reason, maggiepoo, that there are now about 100 Catholic plaintiffs against the Obama administration's HHS mandate. But the issue is clear to anyone who has ever read the US Constitution; these lawsuits will lose. Winning a federal lawsuit is not a numbers game but a matter of clear principle that Card Dolan and the bishops fail to understand. Al Smith had no difficulty understanding moral principles, nor does Obama.

• Sarah 97 | Oct 15, 2012, 06:33 PM EDT

  Totaly agree with Will Hamilton. If the Dandy fancy dressed bishop did not want anybody who did not follow the rules of the catholic church he would probably have to uninvite everybody including himself. In any case Black American atheists are on the rise whilst catholics are are the decline everywhere in the world.

• eiriamach | Oct 15, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT

  maggiepoo says I'm misinformed about USCCB's lawsuits being dismissed by federal courts. Here's a short list (IC rejects long postings): July '12: US District Judge Warren Urborn of Lincoln, Nebraska dismissed suit filed against HHS mandate by state Attorneys General from NEb, FL, MIch, Ohio, Oklahoma, SC, TX, with Catholic Charities, Pius X HS, and Cath Mutual Relief Society. Oct: Wheaton College and Belmont Abbey College, whose suit was thrown out of federal court, filed an appeal with the DC Circuit Court. These 2 colleges face penalties of $1.3 million and $340,000 per year if they do not allow their employees to purchase health insurance required by HHS. On Sept 29, Missouri federal Judge Carol E Jackson, rejecting O'Brien v. US Dept of HHS, ruled that the mandate imposes no burden of conscience on a religious employer: "This Court rejects the proposition that requiring indirect financial support of a practice, from which plaintiff himself abstains according to his religious principles, constitutes a substantial burden on plaintiff’s religious exercise." Michigan, Oct 7, 2010: Judge Steeh rejected Thomas More Law Center, et al v. Barack Obama; appeal was rejected June 29, 2011....

• odubslaine | Oct 15, 2012, 05:29 PM EDT

  It appears the clown car has become a train... Catholic conservatives need a lesson in civic discourse - how about common sense and respect for the office of the president! Or is "Puritanism" on the rise, again?

• Chiefjustice | Oct 15, 2012, 05:21 PM EDT

  It is insulting...

• Chiefjustice | Oct 15, 2012, 05:21 PM EDT

  It is insulting...

• dan Breen | Oct 15, 2012, 04:44 PM EDT

  Let Dolan miss a couple of meals , and feed the poor. Christ you know its not easy, there gonna crucify me.( Lennon to Obama)

• Will Hamilton | Oct 15, 2012, 04:41 PM EDT

  Dippy male virgin Dolan should ban everybody who does not follow the Vatican's dictates! Catholics who have suspiciously few children, who support wars, Catholics who abuse children, who cover up child rape, who line their own pockets...but then the place would empty. He'd even have to un-invite himself!

• stanchaz | Oct 15, 2012, 03:20 PM EDT

  The only REAL clash we have here is between Christ's words and the actions of such men as Mr. Dolan, who supports people such as Romney/Ryan. For Romney/Ryan abandon the elderly, the students, the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, and the hopeless  ...and all the biblical “least of these”. Love thy neighbor?  Come on , let’s be honest:  For Romney (and his fat cat supporters) their REAL GOD IS MONEY. Their saints are those who have the most money ..... those who want to BUY this ELECTION - and this COUNTRY                ......and TO HELL with the rest of us. The true "clash", the contradiction, the betrayal ... is WITHIN you Mr. Dolan. Nowhere else. I pray that Christ heals you and makes you whole- and a WORTHY leader of the Christian people.

• britfether | Oct 15, 2012, 03:13 PM EDT

  By any standard, President Obama has done what was necessary to make sure that any Americans will recieve insurance coverage in the future. That IS the Christian thing to do and Christ would have done the same thing and insisted that Christian doctors not overcharge people along with Christian hospitals that charge $75.00 for a band-aid they put on someone. Cardinal Dolan needs to understand that far from all American Catholics agree with the church when it comes to abortion, women's rights and the use of contraceptives. In fact, I challenge the church to prove to me that a majority of Christain women who could give birth, don't use the pill every day. Cardinal Dolan should understand that his being a conservative, does not give him or any others like him in the church, the right to tell other Catholics how to live their private lives. That is between them and Christ alone.

• Reilleyfam | Oct 15, 2012, 02:38 PM EDT

  If you engage in public commerce (ie; hospitals/schools/employment/housing) you cant hide behind religious protections. In private you can but once you engage in the general public you are bound by the secular law.

• BippyBellito | Oct 15, 2012, 02:35 PM EDT

  Obama might as well do a couple of partial birth abortions while he's there. It IS an Insult for him to show his dastardly face. An insult to Real Men; An Insult to our Soldiers; an Insult to all that has historically been American. Obama is a Sham; A NoWhere "Man".

• Nicomax | Oct 15, 2012, 01:24 PM EDT

  Well the committed Catholics in the room that evening can at least say Obama's form of Christianity is a bit more in tune with Catholicism than that odd ball Church of Latter Day Saints which started out believing in multiple wives, and that Jesus once showed up in Missouri.

• jfoynyc | Oct 15, 2012, 01:23 PM EDT

  The prejudice implicit in the article is outdone only by the uncharitable perspective of many of the Commenters. Obamacare takes care of the downtrodden, forlorn, poor and sick that once were the "protectees" of an erstwhile charitable Catholic Church. In Ireland we would term the article "stir the cipin" a mild form of 'rabble rouser' or provoker.

• CelticQueenUSA | Oct 15, 2012, 12:43 PM EDT

  The two never have to acknowledge one another. It is probably a big room. Let Dolan sit one place and the President sit in another place. I do this with my sister-in-law all the time. We never speak to each other and we still have a nice time.

• katiemac | Oct 15, 2012, 12:03 PM EDT

  This is one arena where I have to disagree with my fellow pro-lifers. This is not a pro-life event. This is a political event celebrating the emergence of Catholic politicians in national politics. Since that politician, Al Smith was a Democrat, I think it would be singularly inappropriate to exclude Democrats, even Obama, from the guest list. Don't blame Obama for the weak character of "Catholic" politicians like Biden, Sebellius or Pelosi. Pressure our bishops to publically read them out of the Church with bell, book and candle. Only when they are publically ostracized will mainstream practicing Catholics understand the depth of error being promoted by these heretics.

• McNamara31 | Oct 15, 2012, 11:51 AM EDT

  If the points in this article are true; these people should "get over themselves" and ask themselves where were their voices when we invaded Iraq under the pretense of hidden weapons, when it is documented that the Cheney/Bush neocons had the plan to invade when they entered the White house long before the 911 attacks. Do the "good conservatives" even know how many soldiers and innocent civilian on the ground were killed in the days after the shock and awe campaign? If the cardinal "slams him" as this article predicts, it will be the first time such disrespect and ignorance will have been displayed at a dinner in recognition of a man who could teach the attendees an thing or two about politics and life in general.

• fmcevoy | Oct 15, 2012, 11:44 AM EDT

  Well, I can empathize with the Cardinal's dilemma. But no Church prince had issues with Ronald Reagan, the ONLY candidate or president who actually signed into law an abortion bill. Everyone seems to forget that, whited sepulchers all.

• slainte9 | Oct 15, 2012, 11:27 AM EDT

  Mama mia! Doesn't Cillowen know Smith was Italian.

• thomaso | Oct 15, 2012, 11:23 AM EDT

  All of this becomes so tiresome. When the conservatives are in power, its "respect the office..." and civility. When they are out of office, its anything but. Didn't your mother teach you basic manners?

• slainte9 | Oct 15, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT

  What's insulting is that they invite Republicans to the dinner in the first place. If you're a Republican and plan to attend, you should have manners enough to keep your foul mouth shut.

• eiriamach | Oct 15, 2012, 11:06 AM EDT

  What's at stake in Obama attending is not a photo-op. It's the many many millions of dollars that Catholic hospitals, schools and agencies receive from the federal budget. If they do not obey the HHS fairness requirement of full health insurance for their non-Catholic employees, they will be in violation of the law and ineligible for the generous grants the Obama administration has provided for them.

• eiriamach | Oct 15, 2012, 10:57 AM EDT

  In courts all around the USA, judges, both liberal and conservative, are dismissing the petulant lawsuits filed by Card. Dolan, the USCCB and Catholic hospitals and colleges against Obama, Sibelius, and the HHS. Their unholy, unAmerican attempt to rewrite federal law to exclude insurance coverage for women's legitimate health needs was foolish, and it has failed. Constitutional lawyer Obama could teach the cardinal and his bishops the real meaning of religious liberty if any of the USCCB crew were open to learning. Interfaith dialogue is important, but will it happen at the Al Smith dinner, or will Dolan bluster on ignorantly as usual?

• eiriamach | Oct 15, 2012, 10:51 AM EDT

  Come on now folks.... Obama cares more for human welfare then the ryan/romney ticket.....

• cillowen | Oct 15, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT

  that black man with chutzpah honoring a largely German-Irish politician. Who knew?

• TisEyerish | Oct 15, 2012, 10:26 AM EDT

  It seems to me that no matter what President Obama does, he is condemned for it. Had he not accepted the invitation, he would have been criticized for thinking he was too good to attend, or some such nonsense. I get so tired of reading all this negativism that I chose not to read the entire article. Give it a rest, people...life is too short to allow hatred into it.

• weeknocky | Oct 15, 2012, 10:14 AM EDT

  The president became Irish the same as he found that being black would get him votes. Why allow him to speak at an affair when he shows disdain for Catholic teachings? I hope the Cardinal gives him a good going over.

• hermitTalker | Oct 15, 2012, 10:08 AM EDT

  See you on here again Dr McH, Chicago as I recall with your usual illogical anti-Hierarchical rant. opposition to abortion as you may recall was required by the original Hippocratic Oath and that Natural Law has held sway with the major Faith groups worldwide always, regardless of how it has been violated. Murder and thieving and rape and perjury are also well-practiced, but still open to severe civil penalties. Today's abortion chemicals include abortifacients, a piece down the road from Dr Rock's 196os pills. And sterlization for the heck of it is also un-natural. The HHS mandate, contrary to your piece, requires insurers who are morally opposed to certain medical prescriptions are subject to severe penalties, and cover Baptist hospitals and Catholic Universities and Orthodox Jewish business women/men. The so-called " accomodation " was sleight of hand, your insurance company could pay. Duh, who pays that portion of the cost. And of course if said Baptist hospital, and said Catholic University only hired and served their own co-religionists, that covers them. Dug ditto. Your logic, awareness of the Natural Law and suspicion of your Church's hierarchy suggest to me that you need a Year of Faith refresher course. Have you made a Cursillo weekend? PEACE to you and all dissenters on here who pit your mind against that of JESUS Lord of the Natural Law,

• mreinhar2001 | Oct 15, 2012, 10:05 AM EDT

  Those who do not speak with the Cardinals speak for a new faith tradition that is not "Roman Catholic" and so their new tradition needs a new name. That is one like the Polish Catholics and Womenpriests created when they did not agree with ROMAN Catholocism.

• mreinhar2001 | Oct 15, 2012, 10:03 AM EDT

  NYCsheridan: You have it backwards. You speak for a new faith tradition that is not Roman Catholic and so needs a new name such as the Polish Catholics and Womenpriests created.

• PhlutiePhan | Oct 15, 2012, 10:02 AM EDT

  Dolan should have invited neither. He is right. It is all about the photo op. Obama is a Marxist and Romney is a capitalist. Actually, the Church is against both ideologies. There is need for a third party.

• mreinhar2001 | Oct 15, 2012, 10:01 AM EDT

  DrMcHugh: If we take abortion and contraception at all out of the mix, how is "there a war on women?" I do not understand the point outside of abortion and contraception and am curious to know what else there is that you see as happening. Thank you!

• mreinhar2001 | Oct 15, 2012, 09:58 AM EDT

  It is insulting and I am sure Obama just wants the photo to use in his ads, but I believe that Bill Donohue is correct when he says: “If Catholics want to change the culture, they need to engage it.”

• RichardP | Oct 15, 2012, 09:51 AM EDT

  @NYCSheridan - unfortunately they do speak for American Catholics. The Cardinals?Ayatollahs/Imams/ParishPriests all speak for their faithful followers and it will take the intervention of powerful leaders with real courage to change that. Marty Golden is making an idiot of himself but he has plenty of nodding heads around him I have no doubt. Once again the separation between Church and State becomes the issue. I hope to God the State wins.

• Prevailer | Oct 15, 2012, 09:41 AM EDT

  Another Rooster decision about their Hens' health decisions?

• hermitTalker | Oct 15, 2012, 09:41 AM EDT

  Where do you get this "malarkey" to quote the VP? This is a tradition to raise money for charity, held every four years. IF Cdl Dolan had not invited Mr Obama he would fall into the same hole his predecessor dug and got egg on his face when he dug out of it. Bad mistake. They do not give speeches, the POTUS and opponent jibe at each other. Photo op is not the point. Cdl. Dolan shows class and political Irish savvy. VP Biden could have taken that lesson before acting the drunk Leprechaun to Mr Paul Ryan's well-researched, very polite and respectful debate. Mr Biden interrupted 92 times, was stopped by Moderator 32. So much for all those years in the US Senate and as VP. Even POTUS joked about him at the Press Club roast last year about his overusing the teleprompter when Joe should use it more! CATHOLICS are neither "conservative" nor "liberal" as such, the either follow the Gospel of Life which is the entire Natural Law, which is built into our core being. Any deviation from it is Evil, very evil for abortion and rape and lesser but still evil for stealing a few units of currency to buy a meal.

• TheOldPerfessor | Oct 15, 2012, 09:40 AM EDT

  America's Taliban is at it again with their message of hate.

• DrMcHugh | Oct 15, 2012, 09:38 AM EDT

  As a Catholic physician, I am grateful that President Obama has the health of women as his priority. In the past, I believe politicians have been intimidated by the power of the Catholic Church. President Obama shows his respect for the Church by freeing it from paying for the reproductive needs of women. Health insurance companies will pay and women will have their needs met. Sadly, there is a WAR ON WOMEN, especially by the leaders of the Catholic Church. To me, it is an outrage that these celibate men are still denying women their reproductive needs, when these men have no clue and are not speaking for Jesus.

• miltonedunn | Oct 15, 2012, 09:37 AM EDT

  A crime to use Al. Smiths name along with this band of people who have the country in the state it is in

• navilenn65 | Oct 15, 2012, 09:30 AM EDT

  AMEN These are the same gombeen men who attacked the Liberator and then supported Franco, Joe McCarthy, Joe Kennedy and Fr Coughlin. Being Oirish -American aint being Irish

• Murph46 | Oct 15, 2012, 09:25 AM EDT

  Let his lying VP show up!

• FMKEANE | Oct 15, 2012, 09:06 AM EDT

  In two articles on the lead page, one mentions Barack Obama, the next one mentions President Michael Higgins. Is there a reason for leaving the Presdent of the Us title off the headline, but including it for the President of Ireland? Al Smith was a Democrat who is being honored. Why are we worried about Conservative Republican? Let them have a George Bush Dinner where they can feel more comfortable.

• kubs | Oct 15, 2012, 09:04 AM EDT

  Good for Dolan. "Open for discussion" is not the usual Vatican mantra. Good to see one bishop who would rather interact than condemn. Always believing that one has God in one's pocket smacks so much of arrogance & really begins to wear on faith in the leadership.

• PattyMM | Oct 15, 2012, 08:57 AM EDT

  What is insulting to me is the total disrespect that so many give our president.

• NYCsheridan | Oct 15, 2012, 08:38 AM EDT

  Tell these so-called "Conservative Catholics" to stay home and pray the rosary. The rest of us will welcome our President with open arms. These people do NOT speak for American Catholics!