{"id":771,"date":"2012-08-10T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/obama-presence-at-fundraiser-is-not-an-endorsement-archbishop-lori-says\/"},"modified":"2012-08-10T08:15:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T08:15:00","slug":"obama-presence-at-fundraiser-not-an-endorsement-archbishop-lori-says-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/08\/obama-presence-at-fundraiser-not-an-endorsement-archbishop-lori-says-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama presence at fundraiser not an endorsement, Archbishop Lori says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

New York City, N.Y., Aug 10, 2012 \/ 02:15 am (CNA<\/a>).- Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori says an invitation to President Obama, to speak at a New York fundraiser alongside Mitt Romney, should not be misunderstood as a show of support for the president.<\/p>\n

\tObama's expected presence and remarks at the upcoming Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner \u201cdo not constitute an endorsement,\u201d the U.S. bishops' religious liberty chairman and Baltimore archbishop told Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online in an interview published Aug. 9.<\/p>\n

\tCardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the U.S. bishops' conference president, has been criticized by some pro-life groups for continuing an election-year custom of inviting both the Democratic and Republican candidates to the comedy-oriented fundraiser for Catholic charitable causes in New York.<\/p>\n

\tWhile Obama appeared in 2008 alongside Senator John McCain, the 2012 invitation has disturbed some observers, who cited the president's recent efforts to force Catholic institutions to offer contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs through their health insurance plans.<\/p>\n

\tIn his remarks to Lopez during the Knights of Columbus' Aug. 7\u20139 Supreme Convention in California, Archbishop Lori said he believed there was no \u201cclearer voice in the United States about the sanctity of life and religious liberty than Cardinal Dolan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBaltimore's archbishop urged Catholics and other observers not to \u201cget distracted\u201d by the New York cardinal's gesture of courtesy toward President Obama, which did not detract from his standing as a \u201cclarion voice\u201d for the Church's non-negotiable principles.<\/p>\n

\tCardinal Dolan has frequently gone on record against the contraception mandate in recent months, most notably through the U.S. bishops' June 21\u2013 July 4 \u201cFortnight for Freedom\u201d event.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough it is customary for the Al Smith foundation fundraiser to host both presidential hopefuls during an election year, Archbishop Dolan's predecessors made exceptions in 1996 and 2004, declining to invite either of the candidates.<\/p>\n

\tFather Frank Pavone of Priests for Life and Judie Brown of American Life League are among calling on Cardinal Dolan to take the same step this year. Meanwhile,\u00a0Father Shenan Boquet of Human Life International issued a statement questioning the invitation and\u00a0saying that the Church \"cannot pretend for one moment that such an honor at any function promoting the work of the Church doesn\u2019t give legitimacy to their position while harming the Catholic Church\u2019s image \u2026 .\"<\/p>\n

\tBut Edward Mechmann, who does public policy work for the New York archdiocese's Respect Life office, said in an Aug. 7 blog entry that he did not see the invitation as undermining or contradicting the Church's witness in public life.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThere is no question that the President\u2019s political agenda and policy record are deplorable from a Catholic perspective,\u201d Mechmann wrote Aug. 7 in his \u201cStepping Out of the Boat\u201d blog on the Archdiocese of New York website.<\/p>\n

\tBut \u201cgiven the consistency and strength with which our bishops \u2013 particularly Cardinal Dolan \u2013 have been proclaiming the Catholic view of public policy,\u201d he does not think the event is likely to \u201clead anyone to believe that the Church is softening her defense of life, the family, and religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhen everyone wakes up the morning after, the struggle will resume,\u201d wrote Mechmann.<\/p>\n

\tBut the invitation to the president, he said, also sends a message \u201cthat is important in this time of pathologically toxic politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt says to us that we can vehemently disagree with a public official\u2019s positions, but we can still show respect for his office, and for him as a person, and treat him with civility,\u201d Mechmann reflected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt gives us an opportunity to act as Christians, and show some love to our adversaries, and even those whose policies we consider to be immoral and oppressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUpdated on August 10, 2012 at 12:46 MST. Corrects assertion that HLI called on Cardinal Dolan to cancel the invitation to President Obama.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City, N.Y., Aug 10, 2012 \/ 02:15 am (CNA).- Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori says an invitation to President Obama, to speak at a New York fundraiser alongside Mitt Romney, should not be misunderstood as a show of support for the president…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nObama presence at fundraiser not an endorsement, Archbishop Lori says<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New York City, N.Y., Aug 10, 2012 \/ 02:15 am (CNA).- Baltimore Archbishop William E. 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