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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Cardinal Timothy Dolan to offer closing prayer at GOP convention in Florida -- Taking sides so openly in presidential election is not a very smart idea

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Cardinal Timothy Dolan to offer closing prayer at GOP convention in Florida -- Taking sides so openly in presidential election is not a very smart idea

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 08:06 AM

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Cardinal Dolan

So Cardinal Timothy Dolan is to give the closing prayer at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

And the Catholic Church is not taking sides in this presidential election.

Here’s the comment by the church’s spokesman Joseph Zwilling who stated that Dolan had accepted the invitation “within the last two weeks,” and that the move should not be seen as partisan.

“Cardinal Dolan is going to pray, not to engage in partisan politics,” Mr. Zwilling said. “He made it clear when he accepted the invitation that he would also accept an invitation from the Democratic National Committee to offer a prayer at their convention, should they ask.

“He is going simply to pray, which is part of what a priest should do.”

Of course, the fact that he is praying from the stage of the Republican National Convention at the express invite of candidate Mitt Romney is just a coincidence.

Being the smart politician that he is, Mitt blurted it out at the first opportunity yesterday. Asked a question about religious freedom, he stated.

“Well, first of all, I’ll continue to meet with Cardinal Dolan, who, by the way, is going to offer the benediction on the last evening of the Republican Convention after my acceptance speech. So I am making it very clear that the interest of religious freedom is something I support wholeheartedly.”

So If you believe Zwilling there is no difference in Dolan doing this at say a gathering of Walmart employees and at the RNC. I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Which no one believes for a second, anyway.

Zwilling said that GOP leaders said “they said we would really like you to do it,” when the Cardinal asked. I’ll bet they did.

It has become obvious for some time that Cardinal Dolan loves his media image and pumps it up at every opportunity.

He positively preens in the spotlight which is harmless enough, but putting the Catholic Church squarely on the side of the Republicans is a major mistake.

This is a deeply divided society right now, even at the level of the US Bishops where some have criticized VP candidate Paul Ryan for targeting his budget cuts at the poor.

Dolan has also displayed his bromance with VP candidate Paul Ryan. Speaking on Sirius radio he stated; “I came to know and admire him immensely ,” he said, “And I would consider him a friend. He and his wife Janna and their three kids have been guests in my house; I’ve been a guest at their house. They’re remarkably upright, refreshing people. And he’s a great public servant.”

Dolan claimed he was “speaking personally and not from a partisan point of view” and “not trying to be an apologist” for Ryan.

He even praised Ryan’s “call for financial accountability and restraint and a balanced budget,” as well as his “obvious solicitude for the poor.”

Dolan said, “I admire him. He’s honest. He’s refreshing. Do I agree with everything? No, but...I’m anxious to see him in action.”

Dolan is the undisputed leader of the Catholic Church in America and this move puts that church squarely in the Romney camp in this election-- which is where they have no business belonging.

This is a dog whistle to all Catholics out there to support the GOP candidates, Paul Ryan proposed budget cuts to the poor notwithstanding, which had been criticized by other bishops.

Cardinal Dolan should really know better.

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132 comments

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Peggy P | Aug 26, 2012, 02:55 PM EDT

Oh My, what was the GOP thinking when they invited Cardinal Dolan to give closing prayer at Convention? Was the Good Reverand Wright not available to GOD DAMN AMERICA instead? Am sure Mr. "unbiased" O'Dowd you would consider that to be a much more appropriate closing.

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seanomelb | Aug 26, 2012, 12:18 AM EDT

paddyranger so you are a Catholic whoopee doo-you're still a teabagging moron

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McNamara31 | Aug 25, 2012, 08:11 PM EDT

slainte9 I Totally agree that the Republicans inherited Nativist tendencies. The sad reality in America is most Americans of Irish ancestry don't know a thing about the Nativist and their bigoted past towards us.

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slainte9 | Aug 25, 2012, 02:38 PM EDT

Tom Mo. Ignorance is the handmaiden of bigotry. When many, but not all, Irish became affiliated with the Democrats, there was no Republican party. It's predecessors, Federalists and Whigs, had Nativist tendencies which the Republicans inherited. Moreover, what historians describe as Nativism was really Sassenach anti-Catholic and anti-Irish prejudice. Niall claims that's dead and gone, but you, Tom Mo, are living proof that it isn't.

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allentown | Aug 25, 2012, 02:24 PM EDT

Eiriamach, did you write Tim Burton's response about his ad that portrayed Mitt Romney being responsible for a woman dying of cancer? Burton really reached for an explanation of his ad on CNN, as you are reaching for an explanation of : "He'll put you all back in chains" to a predominately black American audience.

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paddyRanger | Aug 25, 2012, 01:34 PM EDT

Oh and another thing, why would I go back to an Orange Lodge, I am Catholic...what a typical stupid comment, you must be going for a record .....

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paddyRanger | Aug 25, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

haha seanomelb......."served your country" yeah right...good at lying like your moron friends on alphabet soup left media...

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eiriamach | Aug 25, 2012, 10:15 AM EDT

allentown, harliemt's comment was no ad hominem but an accurate interpretation of your previous comment, and you've done it again by misrepresenting Joe Biden's words about chains as racist. On Tom Deignan's blog "The Problem with American Racism," adrienrain quoted the Battlefield Band's "When the poor hunt the poor/ Over mountain and moor/ The rich man can keep them in chains" (Aug 04 2:09 PM). It's unfortunate that Biden did not use adrienrain's quote instead of the words that brought mistaken criticism of racism on him. Biden's remark about "chains" used the same images the GOP uses to talk about unchaining the finance industry, in one word, "deregulation." He first quoted Paul Ryan on letting capitalists "write their own rules," "unchain Wall St," "unshackle the economy." That, not race slavery, was the context of his remark that GOP politics will "put y'all back in chains." We've seen deregulation enchain the middle-class with bailout costs of high-risk, greed-driven investments. We watched our own pensions, retirement savings, small businesses and mortgages disappear while CEO's reaped eight-digit bonuses for getting govt to bail out their corporations. Anyone like Dolan, who does not understand poverty as "chains," has never run a bank account to $1.50 before payday just to pay the bills and keep a roof overhead.

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seanomelb | Aug 24, 2012, 11:53 PM EDT

Hey!! ding dong Paddy Ranger I have served my country. What was your contribution? the boy scouts. You like your moron friends on Fox left most of Wrights speech on the cutting room floor to deliberately misrepresent what he said. Hoping it would kill Obamas chances in 2008. Go back to your orange lodge and play your Lambegh drum

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bbreathnach | Aug 24, 2012, 08:47 PM EDT

Well no surprise the Catholic Clergy want to jump into bed with the Republicans: one racially abused our Irish ancestors, the other sexually abuse our children. Not such strange bedfellows, at all.

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allentown | Aug 24, 2012, 08:25 PM EDT

Harliemt, a typical Democrat ad Hominem response for the masses. Another response is: " Keep you-all in chains". However, I did enjoy you getting your comment over in one line.

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McNamara31 | Aug 24, 2012, 06:00 PM EDT

maggiepoo Before you go calling people Demon-crat, lets remember... abortion was made law by the Supreme Court (of mainly GOP appointed judges) during the GOP Nixon administration. Since then Reagan,Bush 1 and Bush 2, have all had their opportunities in the area of abortion. Ask yourself, why does this become a major issue each campaign season for the GOP, and nothing changes when they are in control. Abortions occur worldwide; over 200,00 a year occurring in the home country of the Vatican, Italy . All of us are morally accountable for our actions, both good and bad. The last thing we need is a party who will block healthcare for the sick, cut aid to children, involve us in wars under false pretense (Iraq), financially bankrupt the middle class, destroy the environment with deregulation which favors the worst polluters,... then hypocritically hide behind the anthem of pro life only to pander to votes.T

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jerrydonovan | Aug 24, 2012, 10:55 AM EDT

Now that Ryan has bought into Romney's position that it's O.K.to have an abortion if the child was conceived as a result of rape or incest,how can he or anyone claim that he is pro-life? When anyone is willing to compromise their principals especially on an issue as important as this for political purposes leaves me with no option other than to call him a HYPOCRITE1

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hollabackgurl | Aug 24, 2012, 09:25 AM EDT

Buffoon is spelled b-u-f-f-o-o-n, Tom Mo. Since you have just admitted you're not Irish, may I nominate you a semi-literate troll? You certainly express yourself like one.

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kerry214 | Aug 24, 2012, 02:38 AM EDT

With any luck Sister Simone Campbell and her "Nuns on a Bus" will run over the old boy. Dolan's a disgrace, but then again he has a long history of this behavior. Go hang with Mitt the Twit, go hang with Freddie Munster Ryan, and watch him in his weasel words sell the middle class down the river. And the Church wonders why it's losing members day by day. Examine your conscience Dolan!!!

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