A SINGULAR VOICE OF TRUTH AMONG THE AMERICAN BISHOPS

Finally, an American Cardinal has the courage to speak the truth about the Democratic Party!

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York lamented that the Democratic Party’s shifting principles have effectively shut out and alienated orthodox Catholics.

Cardinal Dolan cited the Democrat’s current opposition to school choice programs and tax credits for education, along with their unwavering support for abortion rights, among the reasons why the party in its current state.

The Cardinal stated that the Democrats of today have abandoned many of the tenets that made the party attractive to Catholics generations ago.

In the past, His Eminence explained, when waves of Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, their respect for the sanctity of life and their concern for the poor led them to embrace the Democrats, who welcomed them to the party. Dolan even recounted his own grandmother warning him that, “We Catholics don’t trust those Republicans.”

“Such is no longer the case,” Cardinal Dolan wrote, which is a “cause of sadness to many Catholics.” 

Cardinal Dolan was particularly critical of a proposed New York law titled the “Reproductive Health Act,” which he says would “morbidly expand” the “most radical abortion license in the country.” The New York State Assembly is overwhelmingly Democrat.

“For instance, under the proposed Reproductive Health Act, doctors would not be required to care for a baby who survives an abortion. The newborn simply would be allowed to die without any legal implications.”

“In recent years, some Democrats in the New York state Assembly repeatedly blocked education tax credit legislation, which would have helped middle-class and low-income families make the choice to select Catholic or other nonpublic schools for their children,” which the Cardinal contends impedes the mission of these schools to serve poor, often immigrant, children.

Dolan admitted that while he has “ had spats and disappointments” with politicians from both major political parties in the United States, he is particularly upset by the Democratic Party’s swing in a direction that excludes people like his grandmother.

“But it saddens me, and weakens the democracy millions of Americans cherish, when the party that once embraced Catholics now slams the door on us.”

Hooray for Cardinal Dolan and his courage in speaking the truth.  Would that other Bishops would join him!