What Would Jesus
Do?
By Judie Brown
While it is
true that Jesus dined with sinners, it was for the purpose of converting their
hearts, of teaching them His laws, and of inspiring them to change sinful
behaviors. President Obama has been invited to dine with Cardinal Dolan and
others, but the goals of this dinner are not the same goals Jesus held. Today's
commentary addresses this and explains why we are beseeching the cardinal to
have his own change of heart. Read on for Judie Brown's insights.
Immediately after we
launched the No Dinner for Obama campaign, a concerned Catholic wrote to us and
said:
Did not
Jesus Himself dine with, seek the company of, and take audience with sinners,
tax collectors, rabbis, and Pharisees who all believed and preached falsities?
Who are we to stray from His example? Who are we to discriminate against a
leader of many instead of dining with him, and trying to convince him of the
true word of Jesus
Christ?
My initial reaction was to
feel sorrow for this fellow because he was sincerely trying to excuse the public
embrace by members of the hierarchy of a man who has done nothing to advance any
precept of the natural law. Obama is not confused about what he is doing to the
Church. His actions are, and have been, intentional.
Furthermore, as author and
columnist Phil Lawler wrote recently,
When
Jesus sat with tax collectors, the dinners were private. They were not "photo
ops" for political candidates. The Lord could speak directly to the hearts of
his dining companions, and convert them. Remember, St. Matthew left the
tax-collecting business to follow Christ. Does anyone believe that after the Al
Smith Dinner, Obama will decide to rescind the contraceptive mandate?
Following the dinner,
America will see front-page photos and stories that feature Cardinal Dolan
sitting with Obama, laughing and having a great time. Such images send a message
to America that all is well between the leader of the United States of America
and the leader of the American Catholic Church.
I am not sure who will be
the most gravely scandalized by the photo op, but the point is that Obama is a
danger to freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and all that we hold dear
as Christians in America. Our campaign is not a campaign of discrimination or
negativity, it is an effort to follow Christ's admonition to his disciples (Luke
17: 1-2): "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that
person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the
sea with a millstone around his neck than for him to cause one of these little
ones to sin."
We are all called to be
faithful, and sometimes that means making difficult decisions or taking
unpopular actions in order to defend Christ and His Church. This is not a time
for squeamishness or half-hearted attempts to uphold a tradition which, in the
case of the Al Smith Dinner, needs to be broken.
Jeffrey Mirus wrote about
this very thing, saying, "The Church does
not strive for political power. But she does strive for moral power. And her
moral authority translates into moral power only when her bishops attend
zealously to their primary tasks."
Further, while Archbishop
Lori has said that the invitation extended by Cardinal Dolan to President Obama
should not be viewed as an endorsement of Obama's actions, he also opined,
The
question to ask is this: Are any of the candidates of either party, or
independents, standing for something that is intrinsically evil, evil no matter
what the circumstances? If that's the case, a Catholic, regardless of his party
affiliation, shouldn't be voting for such a person. . . .
Others
have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere
freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of
conscience.
Amen, Archbishop Lori. The
Al Smith Dinner is merely a social function, but the idea that will be
transmitted through the images of that dinner will be, dare I say, that a vote
for either candidate is okay with the hierarchy.
This is precisely why
American Life League launched the No Dinner for Obama campaign. We
don't want Catholics to be confused about the most pro-abortion president in
American history. Our duty is to be faithful, defend moral principles, and beg
our hierarchy to do the same.
We pray for Cardinal Dolan
and all members of the hierarchy, "Lead us out of temptation and toward truth,
particularly today when so much is at stake."
Again, we repeat, No
Dinner for Obama.
Judie Brown is president and
cofounder of American Life League and a three-time appointee to the Pontifical
Academy for Life.
>>>On balance I believe this to be a well written argument for those who adhere strictly to the no Obama for dinner crowd. Let me also say that on balance I support the overall pro-life efforts of American Life League. Let me also say, in a spirit of Christian charity and to echo the actual words of St. Paul and St. Peter in Holy Scripture, I am disappointed that their commentaries, written by Judie Brown, screech too much. Again, I am thankful for ALL and Judie's pro-life work; but sometimes we defeat our intended purpose with invective and vitriol. While the above piece is one of the better I've seen in concerning Obama coming to dinner, it's still Cardinal Dolan's call. Let's offer more than prayers for Cardinal Dolan, let's offer our support, whether we agree or not.
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