Catholic Prelate Prays, Heads Explode
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York gave the benediction at last night’s Democratic National Convention. Via Fr. Michael Duffy, here’s the full text:
With a “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:
Let us Pray.
Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society’s greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.
We beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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.
We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.
We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.
And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom’s cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.
And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.
For we are indeed “one nation under God,” and “in God we trust.”
So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen!
The mere appearance of Cardinal Dolan inspired a torrent of abuse on Twitter, a sample of which you can see at Twitchy (WARNING: extreme profanity), which also notes that virtually none of the networks bothered to carry his prayer. Yahoo News, whose political news director was fired last week for saying that Mitt Romney was “happy to have a party while black people drowned,” claimed that Cardinal Dolan had “inserted” an “anti-abortion remark” into the prayer. If there are other reactions, I’ll bring them to you in an update.
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31 comments
What a wonderful prayer. Was the Prez still there to hear it?
[1] Posted by Undergroundpewster on 9-7-2012 at 09:47 AM · [top]
A fine benediction. The unhinged, foul-mouthed response is about what one would expect from a party that worships death, decline and an amoral lust for power.
[2] Posted by Jeffersonian on 9-7-2012 at 10:03 AM · [top]
Absolutely masterful! I can see why it got the anti-theists all het up.
[3] Posted by AnglicanXn on 9-7-2012 at 10:24 AM · [top]
They don’t have a very broad vocabulary, do they.
[4] Posted by Words Matter on 9-7-2012 at 10:31 AM · [top]
If you look at the “Daily Show” video two posts down, you’ll see that the Archbishop would be among those not welcome, tolerated or included in the Democratic Party. Surprised he got in the door.
[5] Posted by Timothy Fountain on 9-7-2012 at 10:34 AM · [top]
The Dems put God back into the platform AFTER they had completely removed Him - and they didn’t even really have enough votes to do it - forced the issue because it gave the Reps too much “fodder” and they knew it.
I’ll bet this wonderful priest isn’t invited back next election, and that references to “The Almighty” are completely missing next platform.
Totally sad, how far our country has fallen. The Dems showing their true liberal colors.
[6] Posted by B. Hunter on 9-7-2012 at 10:55 AM · [top]
Fr. Tim, Archbishop Dolan wasn’t originally welcome at the DNC until he was invited to the RNC and made himself available - via open letter - to the Democrats. Despite the rank-and-file Dem’s rabid hostility to Christianity, the grandees of the party realize a rejection of the top RCC cleric’s offer would look bad, hence the grudging invitation. I would imagine the pashas also had some of their more, shall we say, enthusiastic atheist/abortion-loving contingent tied up securely in a utility room for the benediction.
[7] Posted by Jeffersonian on 9-7-2012 at 10:57 AM · [top]
Well, the prayer was to GOD, not the people! I pray that God heard and will answer THAT PRAYER for our country!
[8] Posted by Goughdonna on 9-7-2012 at 12:17 PM · [top]
The Catholic blogs have been hot with debate on whether the cardinal should have been on the political platforms. For my money, he should have been leading protests outside, but he sure seems to have made the right people mad.
[9] Posted by Words Matter on 9-7-2012 at 01:33 PM · [top]
I attended both the Republican and Democratic conventions in person for work. The Cardinal’s benediction was essentially identical in Tampa and Charlotte.
[10] Posted by Pigeon on 9-7-2012 at 02:17 PM · [top]
Thanks, #10. It was only controversial in Charlotte, where its sentiments were unwelcome.
[11] Posted by Katherine on 9-7-2012 at 03:28 PM · [top]
Sad so many hate God - because that’s really what this is all about.
Jesus - we ask hearts and minds be opened to You love and Holy Word. Help those deceived to see Your truth. We know you love all Your children - each one of us - and we pray for their eternal souls. Amen.
[12] Posted by B. Hunter on 9-7-2012 at 03:55 PM · [top]
Golly, David Fischler,
The last two lines of your headline had my expectations raised to an unrealistic level. My fault, failure to recognize a hyperbolic expression for being just that.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
[13] Posted by Martial Artist on 9-7-2012 at 04:09 PM · [top]
I did not realize that so many liberals were afflicted with Tourette Syndrome.
[14] Posted by The Little Myrmidon on 9-7-2012 at 04:39 PM · [top]
#14, soon to become the new Victims’ Class.
Sad that prayer for the most vulnerable unleashes such hatred. Proof to me again that the pro abortion crowd is fueled by forces which are not human.
[15] Posted by Paula Loughlin on 9-7-2012 at 08:01 PM · [top]
Awwwww…
Bless their hearts.
[16] Posted by J Eppinga on 9-7-2012 at 09:43 PM · [top]
—Barack Hussein Obama, National Prayer Breakfast, 5 Feb. 2009
http://www.wnd.com/2009/02/88107/
Does that make him an atheist?
[17] Posted by Rich Gabrielson on 9-7-2012 at 09:48 PM · [top]
I suppose it is difficult for me to be objective as I favor conservative positions in general and the GOP in particular - but why are liberals so unhinged? From my persective they absolutely rage at those who don’t share their point of view. Are conservative as crazed towards liberals? I’d really like to know.
[18] Posted by Nikolaus on 9-7-2012 at 09:48 PM · [top]
Sensitive little flowers aren’t they? Anything that challenges their worldview must be driven away as far as possible.
It’s the entire groupthink mentality of the Dems that really scares me. I am far more frightened of them because they aren’t afraid to use they institutional levers of power to stifle and kill free speech. How many conservative groups have demanded speech codes at colleges? I’d wager not many. Even one would be too many. It’s usually the GLBTQXYZ crowd and the Muslims who lead that charge so they can’t be challenged.
The days of “I don’t agree with what they say, but I’ll forever defend their right to say it” from the Dems is OVER. The irony is TRUE liberalism and liberty is far more likely to be from the right than the left now.
[19] Posted by Bill2 on 9-8-2012 at 04:23 AM · [top]
It doesn’t matter what advocacy group it originates from, such an impoverished vocabulary (as displayed on Twitchy) indicates an impoverished mind.
[20] Posted by Jill Woodliff on 9-8-2012 at 05:29 AM · [top]
As William F. Buckley once opined: Liberals talk about wanting to hear other viewpoints, but are then shocked and outraged when they find out there actually are viewpoints other than theirs.
[21] Posted by Capt. Father Warren on 9-8-2012 at 07:46 AM · [top]
Wow, how true!
[22] Posted by Nikolaus on 9-8-2012 at 12:21 PM · [top]
#20 - Jill, it always amuses me when people say “Pardon my French,” when the word that’s coming up is Anglo-Saxon, aka Old English (or Old German, depending on which side of the Eng Channel or Atlantic. A German/Swiss friend insists it’s Old German, and I consistently correct him. ;=) )
[23] Posted by maineiac on 9-8-2012 at 01:14 PM · [top]
And yes, it is a marvelous prayer. Truly sad that the networks didn’t run it audibly and totally. Thank you, Fox, for independence.
Where _was_ Obama at that point?
[24] Posted by maineiac on 9-8-2012 at 01:17 PM · [top]
Nikolaus,
Some conservatives do rage against liberals, and some liberals manage to disagree with conservatives without despising us. Vitriol is nothing new to American politics, but our duty as Christians calls us to a different approach. There are matters about which we can disagree, always having the humility to remember that we might be wrong. There are matters of principle about which we should hold form, but “firm” need not mean “obnoxious”, no more than it necessarily means “nice”.
It does seem to me that the issues at hand - abortion and same-sex marriage - involve heresy from the Christian understanding of our humanity. It’s worth remembering that heresy is never benign; it’s a cancer that kills the heretic and sucks all joy, happiness, and joy out of life. As goodness drains away, rage is the natural human response.
[25] Posted by Words Matter on 9-8-2012 at 01:48 PM · [top]
I checked the NYT to see what they’d said, if anything, about ++Dolan’s benediction. This was the mentioning piece:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/eastwood-says-he-balked-at-sharing-speech-with-romney-campaign/
maybe tomorrow?
[26] Posted by maineiac on 9-8-2012 at 02:38 PM · [top]
#26, what I’d like to know is how ++Dolan’s benediction was received in the arena at the time. We see what the “liberals” say in private, but were they able to restrain their animalistic rage for a few moments while ++Dolan spoke?
[27] Posted by Jeffersonian on 9-8-2012 at 03:34 PM · [top]
Washington Post? Nada.
USA Today? Nyet.
LATimes? Bravo!
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cardinal-timothy-dolan-rnc-dnc-20120907,0,7241131.story
[28] Posted by maineiac on 9-8-2012 at 03:56 PM · [top]
Great prayer! He covered a lot of territory. Of ocurse the liberals are mad - in the colloquial as well as literal meaning of the word. But what did they expect when they invited him to pray? Cardinal Dolan is smart, tough, and faithful.
[29] Posted by Nellie on 9-11-2012 at 07:08 AM · [top]
Wow - real classy and persuasive comments on Twitter. Never saw the f-word used so many times in one discussion.
[30] Posted by Nellie on 9-11-2012 at 07:22 AM · [top]
Ah yes. And as Father John Zuhlsdork has been known to reply to people who are outraged at the idea of his saying parts of the Eucharistic Prayer inaudibly, “I’m really not talking to you.”
[31] Posted by Ed the Roman on 9-17-2012 at 10:01 PM · [top]
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