Cardinal Timothy Dolan praying at each of the conventions was something I had no problem with in contrast to what I saw as problems with the Al Smith Dinner invite. Much is being made at what he said in his prayer with this being the relevant sections. The closing prayers is something not covered by the networks and usually something that gets no coverage other than those who look for it.
Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.
We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom’s defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.
I really like the turn of phase “those waiting to be born” as evoking something much more than the term the “unborn.” Classing as “unborn” is accurate, but it has a divide too much like the term “undead.” The Cardinals phrase illustrated to me my slight uneasiness with the word “unborn” and focuses more showing a person awaiting an event other than an event making the person.
Now you can always find a fringe in any political party and often it shows a feeling that is only displayed by the fringe. So the vileness of a Twitter stream relating to what the Cardinal said could be just the temper tantrum of the fringe – but boy are some Democrats reactions to a rather mild prayer vile and so full of f-bombs that they could populate every weapons warehouse in the world. I happen to think that this reaction is not just indicative of the fringe and expresses the very anti-Catholic animosity of many Democrats.
It was inaccurate when it was reported that Democrats booed God. The booing was a response to the fact that the vote taken on the amendment to add the mention of God and the Jerusalem being the capitol of Israel back to the party’s platform. This fraud on the ironically named Democrats in this instance deserved more than just booing. You can’t break down exactly the majority “no” votes as to whether the objection was to God, Jerusalem, or both – but certainly there was a majority objection and the whole event was scripted and the convention attendees forgot to follow the script. Are the majority of Democrats really against God particularly? Probably not, but there is certainly an atheist contingent of the party that is represented all out of proportion to the general public. A general idea of God can get by them, just not a personal God that actually means “Thou shalt not kill” and includes those waiting to be born. The anti-Catholicism of the party is mostly because of the particularity of God and the fact that the Church teaches those particular details that can be inconvenient. The pelvic-central nature of the convention is in opposition as the Church sees the whole person in the image of God. If the gates of hell prevailed and the Church just became the theological flavor of the month, the Democrats anti-Catholicism would disappear. But it is everything else that will disappear, before the Church stops teaching the truth.
