Readers of this blog know that we occasionally like to take a poke at Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, aka His Eminence, His Rotundity, His Gravitas, etc. Credit where credit is due, however, and if we're not mistaken, the Big Guy broke some new ecumenical ground in his benediction upon the Republican National Convention last night. And we use the word broke advisedly.
The prayer began with this invocation of the Deity: "Almighty God, Father of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus..."
We Jews, of course, tend to refer to the Lord (blessed be his name) as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To have our patriarchs mentioned in the same patrilineal package as Jesus is pretty amazing, considering that folks like His Eminence consider Jesus to be the son of God in a pretty unique way.
So unique, we think, that for Nicene Christians Jesus qualifies as God Almighty too--or as the Greeks like to call Him, Pantocrator. Whereas, in +Dolan's mode of address, you'd almost think that Jesus was a separate personage from God Almighty. Which, now that we think of it, is just what a Latter-day Saint like the just-anointed GOP standard-bearer Mitt Romney believes. All we can say is, like, Wow.
Update: Interestingly, in his Democratic Convention benediction, Dolan altered his invocation of the Deity to differentiate Jesus from the three patriarchs; to wit: "Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ..." That's a return to more traditional Christological ground.
stanchaz | Sep 4, 2012 | 10:21pm
Let’s face it: The “big guy” Cardinal Dolan is a Prince of the Church who wants to be King-maker.
But as the good Cardinal parades under the spotlights of the political conventions,
I’d like to humbly remind him that there is room for only ONE real super-star in his religion.
And that is the one who started it.
For as the Cardinal addressed and blessed the Republicans and their billionaire buddies,
as he smiled upon those who would destroy Social Security & voucher Medicare to death,
and as he struted on the stage with those who readily admit they “don’t care about the very poor”
......it would have been good for Cardinal Dolan to stop, to remember, and to take to heart the words of his boss, who once said “Whatsoever you do for the least of these - you do for me”.
Unless perhaps, ...just perhaps, the Cardinal is working for someone else these days? Just asking.
Our Founding Fathers wisely realized that politics, secular power, and religion do not mix.
That they bring out the worst in each other , and that ultimately they would destroy each other, and us.
A pastor should stick to his pulpit, not political conventions. Period.