No doubt Cardinal Dolan’s presence to give the Benediction at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions is history in the making. A cardinal from a prominent US See and president of the USCCB is in front of world politics. Does he know what he’s doing? Certainly, he’s following the method of Pope Benedict –and John Paul II before him– engaging in the conversation. Presence vs. absence is seen as a key value. AND it is. BUT…….
I don’t quote the NCR at all in these pages. I don’t like their politic, nor do I like their way of being Catholic. But this editorial is worth reading and breaking down. There are several points I disagree with, but I think the writers are correct in trying to address the implications of the Cardinal’s presence on the dais and how well we know our own teaching, witness to it. Catholic Social Doctrine is not all that known even in sophisticated Catholic circles.