The Al Smith dinner is famously held in October to raise funds for Catholic charities. It’s a Catholic event, named after the first Catholic presidential candidate. Every four years, they invite the presidential candidates to make speeches and the event is extremely politicized, especially as it comes so close to the election. This year, VP Kamala Harris decided to skip. I don’t blame her. Instead of hammering the Church, VP Harris merely begged off because of a “scheduling conflict.” But she sent in a video, featuring Molly Shannon doing her famous Mary Catherine Gallagher character.
I adore Kamala Harris, but I found this a bit cringe. Like, the wrong tone? Maybe the disrespect was the point – she doesn’t take this event seriously, nor should she. Just hours before the Al Smith dinner, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles “agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy.” This was the largest single payout in the years since the Church’s widespread child abuse crime ring was outed. In just the Archdiocese of LA alone, the settlements from lawsuits have crossed the $1.5 billion threshold. Why would a former prosecutor and advocate for women and children cozy up to these people? Why would she toast them?
All of which to say, Donald Trump did go to the event and he cozied up with Cardinal Dolan. Cardinal Dolan blasted VP Harris’s absence from the event, saying: “This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming. It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” It is a campaign stop, be for real.
A photo that should bring shame to @CardinalDolan & the @USCCB. Dolan yucking it up with a man who has terrorized Haitian immigrants, many of them Catholic. And who has lied about so many other things, including hurricane relief. Shame on Timothy Dolan.https://t.co/w5lGQnwBNJ
— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) October 18, 2024
The L.A. Archdiocese paying out nearly a billion (with a b) for sexual abuse on the same day Cardinal Dolan yucks it up sitting next to Trump is really the American Catholic heirarchy in a nutshell these days
— Patrick Dillon (@mpdillon) October 18, 2024
Kamala Harris made the right call by skipping tonight’s annual Al Smith dinner.
You don’t joke around with and normalize a deranged madman who wants to annihilate the Constitution. The DC/NYC elites may not get it, but we do—and we stand with her. pic.twitter.com/hhv5blAxnn
— Shea Jordan Smith (@shea_jordan) October 18, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- 2023 Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton Hotel Featuring: Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 24 Jun 2023 Credit: Julia Nikhinson/CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- Pray Vote Stand Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Featuring: Donald J. Trump Where: Washington, District Of Columbia, United States When: 15 Sep 2023 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- 2024 Phoenix Awards Dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), honors the work done by the two groups to uphold democratic norms and institutions and chart a pathway for progress for Black Americans Featuring: Vice President Kamala Harris Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 14 Sep 2024 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- 2024 Phoenix Awards Dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), honors the work done by the two groups to uphold democratic norms and institutions and chart a pathway for progress for Black Americans Featuring: Vice President Kamala Harris Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 14 Sep 2024 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- 2024 Phoenix Awards Dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), honors the work done by the two groups to uphold democratic norms and institutions and chart a pathway for progress for Black Americans Featuring: Vice President Kamala Harris Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 14 Sep 2024 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
F him and the rest of those enablers. He went around “joking” about trans rights. I don’t blame Kamala for not going and the video for those in the know around that time, found it funny. He was getting mad that people weren’t laughing or clapping. Ugh.
I was disgusted. We need a new democratic Senate majority leader. That’s all I’ll say without disrespecting anyone.
Exactly! I am sick of the “old school Dems” pass the torch and quit playing along with crap like this. Why I got real tired of Krysten Sinema. No, I don’t want you working with people who think I shouldn’t have rights! Come on.
I didn’t find the Kamala/Molly bit anymore cringe than having an accused inserrectionist there and folks treating him like he’s normal. I love that Madam Harris didn’t go to that shit show and stayed on the trail. It shows her commitment to getting out to the voters, and her commitment to protecting us from that traitorous, demented criminal.
VOLUNTEER Y’ALL!
This type of event is antiquated, and filled with a lot of insider baseball for political elites. This isn’t the 90s where the candidates make self-deprecating jokes about themselves, and each other. Trump saw to it that sort of congenial atmosphere end in 2016 with his attacks on Hillary Clinton at this event, so Cardinal Dolan acting like he’s so shocked that someone wouldn’t want to come is silly. Given the issues mentioned regarding the payout that the diocese had to make, also the fact that Trump is an adjudicated rapist anyone not only a prosecutor should have given second thoughts to showing up. In any case I see Chuck Schumer grit his teeth and endured in the name of NY politics so they should be happy.
Apparently, even Tish James was there! Do politicians think the voters will reject them if they reject this bs?
This dinner unfortunately is still a big deal in New York, and as the saying goes all politics is local. So, it doesn’t matter to me but there probably is a large contingent of voters especially Catholic voters who may see something like that as a snub. Especially if Tish James wants to run for governor or Senator at some point. Can’t only rely on New York City votes.
@Dee2 : “This type of event is antiquated…” especially now that we all know there’s no holiness in the Catholic Church. These bishops are only a few of those who have blood on their hands. Between opposing abortion, and abusing people, and the victims who may have ended their lives because of their mental anguish, they have NO right to influence politics.
OMG! Catholic Charities do good work but talk about tone deaf. Just a light hearted roast featuring an actual Nazi. I could have lived without the Mary Catherine skit but Kamala also praised the work of Catholic Charities which should be the center of the conversation. The Al Smith Dinner has gone on long past it’s sell by date and Cardinal Dolan is a right wing tool. If presidential candidates and other political figures start refusing to participate maybe we can get rid of this dinosaur. Kamala was trying to avoid normalizing her fascist opponent. Good call. She has much more important things to do, like save us from the Nazis Dolan wants her to dine and socialize with.
👍👍 yes to all of the above
The Catholic clergy are a disgrace to Catholicism. I was brought up Catholic. My mother had to convert to marry my dad. 6 of the 7 of us children do not attend church or believe in god. My mother gave up church after the Pennsylvania Clergy report that showed widespread sexual abuse of children and massive cover ups. The Catholic Church is a disgrace to Jesus and what he represented.
Dolan and his pedo squad can just f**k off with his bring people together nonsense.
This. A million times this.
The Catholic Church chose to file bankruptcies and close much needed parishes, citing lack of income due to payouts to victims of sexual abuse, when in reality, the Church could have auctioned off one, just one piece or artifact from the Vatican Museums or libraries and kept those inner city churches open.
Dolan el al are well versed in managing money—never touch the principal (in this case, the art and loot.)
It’s not just the bankruptcies, it’s a couple of things. Low congregation attendance is one. But the big one that is fixable if only the Catholic Church would drag its feet into the 21st century is the lack of priests. Can’t keep churches open if there aren’t enough priests to go around. They keep lamenting there aren’t enough priests but the prospect of a solitary celibate life does not appeal to most men. And if they allowed priests to get married at least and get rid of the celibacy nonsense, there would be an increase of candidates. And if they allowed women to be priests, there would be even more.
So they can solve that issue easily. Most Christian religions allow female ministers/priests.
@VilleRose – Yes, the celibacy thing IS nonsense. Catholic priests WERE allowed to marry until the church decided they wanted the estates of those men when they died rather than it pass to their wives and children. It was all about greed and had nothing to do with Christ at all. Now look where they are.
P.S. – Jesus was likely married to Mary Magdelene *drops mic*
The archdiocese of new york website has a “Contact” link through which people can leave messages for Cardinal Dolan. This morning, I used that link to send a message that, while I fully support Catholic Charities (seriously, they are often first on the ground before other rescue groups – and have done incredible work in Haiti, where they lost several workers to the earthquake and more of their funds go to relief work instead of overhead), I am appalled at the images of Cardinal Dolan enjoying the filth from serial rapist, adulterer, mass murderer, anti-immigrant Trump. I do encourage others to do the same.
You just know that Dolan is voting for Trump.
I left a message as well. Dolan is a nasty piece of work and needs to be reminded that he is NOT, as PC said below, the Pope of America.
Thank you for the suggestion. Will do.
Struggling Catholic here.. Cardinal Dolan is a major traditionalist, the Opus Dei people love him and I’m sure Vance idolizes him. Cardinal Dolan has said that was in admiration of Trump’s leadership. Oh and Cardinal Dolan is a sophisticated critic of Pope Francis, for the pope’s supposed liberalism. https://kb719.medium.com/cardinal-dolan-and-the-soap-opera-of-american-catholicism-d8bd446e9b44
I don’t like that Kamala Harris included Molly Shannon – it’s bizarre and insulting to regular ole’ Catholics- but that event would have been walking into an old boys’ club viper nest. If she wanted a special guest, I wish she had included some Catholic sisters who have devoted their lives to good works. There are many.
Recovering Catholic here. There are so many Catholic clergy and lay people doing the actual work of the Gospel. Why does it seem like the whole Church is comprised of bigots and wing nuts?
“ Candidates have traditionally given humorous speeches[13] poking fun at themselves and their opponents, making the event similar to a roast.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Smith_Memorial_Foundation_Dinner
Kamala can’t afford to alienate any potential voters. Like it or not there are a lot of Catholics and if you insult their church you insult them. The Molly Shannon bit was in poor taste. There are plenty of Irish descendants and latin American voters in this country and they are mostly catholic.
Dolan must think he’s the Pope of America. He wanted Kamala Harris to come kiss his ring but she bowed out. Good for her. They’re lucky she sent that video.
More than 50 Catholic parishes just closed here in Buffalo. The diocese declared bankruptcy because they might need to pay out literal billions too to the victims of the perpetuated and covered up child abuse by priests. There was a credibly accused one in the parish I grew up in (this was in the 1990s). Families wanted him gone, the pastor at the time wanted him gone and nothing was done – that pastor and my own family left the parish in disgust. Eventually, the new pastor finally had a small win in that the bad priest wasn’t allowed to go onto the parish’s school grounds when the kids were there. He finally got moved out of the parish, but I just found out a few years ago that he was transferred to another local parish where he was the CUB SCOUT LEADER. Yeah.
So, seeing an institution that didn’t care that little children were being abused in that way paling around with an adjudicated rapist who bragged about assaulting women isn’t that far gone. F both these guys. Good for Kamala for staying away.
Buffalo Catholic here too ( culturally catholic at this point). Our Parish is quite progressive, holds LGBTQ socials, and does great community work. I still struggle to send my check because I know what the larger Church leadership is involved in. I make sure to include a note saying the money is intended for this parish only, I refuse to give to any diocesan fundraisers.
@aang – I think I know which church you are talking about, and I very much admire that parish and its views. I looked into joining but it’s just too far away of a drive for me to attend anything there. My sister-in-law is a parishioner there. I still get automated phone messages from the pastor lol.
So glad that Kamala did not attend. As a Catholic and a New Yorker, I’m appalled, but not surprised, that Cardinal Dolan saw fit to yuk it up with the likes of Trump, who represents the polar opposite of everything Jesus stood for. And it was beyond disrespectful to publicly chide Kamala for her absence.
Also a little history lesson: Al Smith would never have put up with Trump. As a good LES boy, he would’ve popped him in the mouth as soon as he started whining and talking bullshit.Think of Al Smith as a sort of a proto-Biden in personality. Big supporter of civil rights. During his time as mayor of NYC, he appointed many Black people to important positions, and his closest aide was a Jewish woman. He’d never have let Trump’s racism and misogyny go unchecked.
Last night I went to visit my friend and neighbor’s elderly mother in the hospital. While in the 6th floor lobby of what is actually a Catholic hospital named after a saint, someone before me had set the tv channel to Fox News. I couldn’t stomach it. No remote around so I got up to change the channel. (I was the only person in the lobby.) Before I did, the talking head mentioned this dinner and how “President Trump” attended but “Kamala was nowhere to be found.” I switched it over to CNN where Harris was literally delivering a live campaign speech in Green Bay. I laughed to myself because of course she’s not going to waste her time at a fckin religious dinner, she’s going to reach out to as many diverse constituents as possible in a major battleground state.
I was raised Catholic; my mom (who attended Catholic schools her whole childhood but was raised Presbyterian) converted for my father, who wasn’t really that into it himself. I have found that especially in the past decade, converts tend to bring a different, more fundamentalist energy to the sect. And from what I’ve seen, it’s usually men converting and then convincing their partners to convert. I find it all tasteless and tacky. It feels like they’re trying to make it the new Quiverfull. While I am not and have not been religious in about 10 years, and have no illusions of how fcked up Catholicism is, there is definitely a shift in recent years in American Catholicism that I do not like.
We’ve been hearing about Trump not wanting a second debate with Kamala Harris, him bowing out of 60 Minutes and other interviews, TFG avoiding anything remotely close to fact checking, him only showing up where the crowd is favorably inclined towards him (like the Republican women on Fox),…
So Kamala Harris gracing these people with her time and a video is more than enough. If Trump shows up to anything, you know that his team has already vetted the place for the way he’ll be covered and this dinner did it’s best to normalize him. Good call Kamala. She showed up for the hard interviews and is trying to arrange something with Rogan. She doesn’t need to waste her time with this.
Just came from the Meidastouch Network. Ben Meiselas cannot hide his utter disgust and loathing for what went down at this dinner. But he had to play the clips for the rest of us. I must say, it’s not the light hearted event it used to be. It’s not even G-rated anymore. Meiselas calls it “despicable”. He’s not wrong. Schumer should have walked out. That would have been real leadership. Trump has dragged everything down to his level.
I don’t understand why this is even a thing, and having the 2 POTUS candidates there right before every election, it TOTALLY is a campaign stop.
I love Molly Shannon and thought the bit was cute, and don’t blame Kamala for skipping the event.
If ,la hadn’t gone into a prayer she should have signed off as Mary Catherine Gallagher suggested
Superstar! ⭐️
Besides the whole fact the church is a pedophile ring – don’t forget who they supported and marched with in WWII.
Melania made an appearance. Is she Catholic?
Eww to NYT writing “1353 people who SAY they were sexually abused.” No, they were abused and that’s why the Church is paying. I’m sure that’s some legal necessity since this was a civil case, but it pisses me off in its casual undermining of the victims.
Dolan unabashedly criticizing Harris for not attending: you can always count on the celibate(?), unmarried men to believe that they know what’s best for women.
And it’s pretty rich for him to say, “The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor.” Donald Trump embodies the opposite of all those things.
There was no civility, patriotism, or humor in any of it. Any decent people there must have needed good, long showers once they got home.
I am going to come right out and say it. The leadership of the American Catholic Church is just another extension of the He Man Woman Hater’s Club. They would like to think they are being kind to women but it’s clear to me that they are only trying to maintain the status quo. The one that died many years ago as women gained true freedom in this country. Women have never been allowed leadership roles in the church but they certainly have been the backbone of it. I remember women were the get it done crew in my church – organizing all the events that held the parish together (dances, bake sales, fairs, religious education, etc.). That started to lessen as more women got divorced and others joined the workforce. I look at my current church and there’s very little going on. You better believe the leadership is well aware of this and would love nothing better than to have women returning to that role. And I guess they believe the can have that by forcing women to give birth and forcing women to stay in abusive marriages. We have also heard the conservative talking heads supporting removing women’s right to vote. Anything they can do to get things back to where white men are in power. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it but that’s the end game here.
🎯
I wonder if all those flowers in front of Cheetolini neutralized his “odor”.
Fair enough point about the tone but let’s give Kam some love for the supper zinger to hecklers at her rally. “I think you’re at the wrong rally…. I think you wanted to go to the smaller one down the street”. Burn.
I was quite shocked to see that Melania bothered to come out (or send out a clone, who knows), but then I remember that she has a book to sell.
Her check must have cleared