Michelle, one of my Catholic chicas told me about the f-bomb party some Democrats threw for Cardinal Dolan on Twitter. This grieves my soul greatly. My first reaction when I saw the news story is not bloggable because Jesus doesn’t like it when I use those words to talk about His children. So I prayerfully and intentionally composed the following Facebook status which I’m sharing on Twitter and on here.
[I] would like to say this to those who tweeted f-bombs to Cardinal Dolan after his benediction:
Cardinal Dolan is deserving of our respect, not only because he is a cardinal nor because he is the head of the USCCB. He deserves our respect because he attended BOTH parties’ conventions, met pastorally with people from both sides, and made an effort to be congenial to President Obama despite the lawsuits going on over the HHS Mandate. He stood his ground in inviting the President to the Al Smith dinner even though he incurred the ire and wrath of a number of conservative Catholics for doing so. While I am not Catholic and I may not agree with every stance he has, I genuinely respect him because he is acting in a completely pastoral fashion in being congenial to those with whom he disagrees. Tweeting him f-bombs is juvenile and shows a complete lack of courtesy. To those who did that: learn some manners and learn from the example the Cardinal has set.
Seriously, I have mad respect for the Cardinal. I may not agree with him on some issues (fewer than some of you would think) but he does deserve the respect given to his office.
The visceral, negative reaction to Cardinal Dolan baffles me. It seems like his mere presence at the DNC was highly offensive to some people, and I’m not sure where the reaction comes from. Too bad. *Sigh* These sorts of things make politics a desert of charity.
You’ve got to hand it to Dolan–that was a gutzy move, going in and praying that particular prayer. Of course it evoked a bad reaction. He confronted & challenged the core of their objection to him.
What incredibly even-handed and level-headed response considering how emotionally charged the situation seems to have been! Bravo!
I did not see Cardinal Dolan’s address, but regardless of what he said, those tweets are just so disrespectful and unnecessary. It is one thing to disagree with him, or think he shouldn’t have been there, or be frustrated with his message, but throwing those f-bombs all around is just wrong. š