Card. Dolan’s closing prayer at the Democrats convention.
With a “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:
Let us Pray.
Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society’s greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.
We beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.
We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom’s defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.
We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.
We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.
And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom’s cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.
And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.
For we are indeed “one nation under God,” and “in God we trust.”
So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen!
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Thanks for the text. I did not hear the whole thing since I was surfing the channels at that point. CNN ran commentary over the prayer and don’t know if they referred to it at all. I saw/heard the last third of the prayer. I thought it was weird that at the RNC he mentioned Ryan and Romney only and not the President or Vice President (as I recall, but there were different versions of that prayer posted) yet at the DNC he mentioned all four of them. It’s that’s true it could be construed as some sort of favoritism.
Setting aside for a moment the question of whether there should be a prayer at either of these functions, I was distracted by the tone of the deliver and thought that he was shouting angrily. [I think very few of the fair-minded will have that impression.]
= if that’s true
= delivery
From the RNC benediction:
“Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us, and on those who would govern us: the president and vice-president, the Congress, the Supreme Court, and on all those who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office, especially Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself.”
I thought it was a great prayer. i saw it on CSpan. I think he touched all the right points and maintained the focus on God.
I thought it was absolutely brillant. Although first and foremost it was a prayer, some of the points made in the prayer were absolutely in your face about the Democrats culture of death.
As disappointed as I am about Cardinal Dolan’s invitation to Obama to be the honored guest at the dinner, my heart went out to Cardinal Dolan as I watched him walk slowly to up to the podium to pray. He appeared to me to feel very isolated and alone, surrounded, in enemy territory.
-As dissapointed as I have been with Cardinal Dolan regarding his decision to honor Obama, truly if I could have done it, I would have taken his hand and walked out on to the stage with him so he wouldn’t have had to go out there alone.
-I have wondered about how the Dem’s three votes to deny God impacted Cardinal Dolan. I think it would have shook him. It certainly did shake me. I think it shook all of us who are Christians.
-I think God is calling ALL of us to repent, and I think we had ALL better do it NOW.
Great prayer and most of the people were silent and respectful. The Holy Spirit works where He Wills
Immediately following the prayer he gave at the RNC , Cardinal Dolan was interviewed by a Catholic blogger (sorry I can’t remember who that was now) who said he liked much of what he heard at the convention and he was looking forward to the same reaction at the DNC. I thought that sounded a little naive when I read it. In fact, by no stretch of the imagination could he have been pleased with the antics at that dreadful event and I think it shows in the great job he did with the prayer.
As for frjim4321 observing that His Eminence was shouting, it wasn’t anger at all. He did the same thing at the RNC because he was trying to gain the attention of the noisy excitement that the delegates were understandably experiencing right after the acceptance speeches. As a matter of fact, at the RNC when he began he seemed a little frustrated with the noise so he raised his voice to signal quiet.
Wonderful that he mentioned Romney and Ryan. Maybe he was tired of hearing them be compared to Hitler. Romney finally had to actually ask handlers to reign in their speakers and nix the Hitler accusations.
By the way, Cardinal Dolan has posted the full text of both of his convention prayers on his blog at http://blog.archny.org/.
@frjim4321 – Did you mean to say that Cardinal Dolan seems to be “shouting angrily” or did I misunderstand your comment?
I guess you’ve never been to a Pentacostal church service. I’ve been to some where they really were shouting angrily during prayer; Card. Dolan’s tone sounds nothing like “shouting angrily.” Yes, his tone is strong and confident – but you have to remember the size of the group who is listening. (Prayers are meant primarily for God and not for humans listening, but I think it’s fairly clear that prayers of this type are also meant to be heard clearly and understood as well.)
Also, the position this man is in is one where confidence will serve him well.
Did anyone notice the woman’s dismissive expression at 3:45 when Cardinal Dolan includes Romney and Ryan in his prayers for guidance?
Very well done!
I do hope that the Cardinal had a chance to chat with Caroline Kennedy last night about her views, “As a Catholic woman . . . .”
I really really really wanted him to perform the exorcism prayer over that crowd …
Goodness, I really don’t think he was angry at all…especially compared to the tone of other speakers last night (Granholm, Kerry, Biden and Obama). It was necessary to speak with great force in order to be heard.
I thought that he was very brave.
Excellent prayer and even stronger than the first on the right to life and religious liberty!
@dominicansoul
My thoughts, too.
@Facta Non Verba
The Lord worked few miracles where there was little or no faith.
Caroline Kennedy, she has her reward.
Like Daniel in the lion’s den.
I wonder if Rome was watching?
I’ve been heavily critical of Cardinal Dolan, but he did a very good job considering the atmosphere around him.
Awesome, awesome prayer! Thank you, Cardinal Dolan, for your leadership!
I am glad he reworked the “Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus” from the RNC prayer. It sounded like Jesus was just a man & not also the second person of the Trinity. I thought he looked more disturbed at the RNC but maybe it was because, according to a friend, so many people left the arena before he began praying. You have to admit that BO’s admirers also thrive on a “photo op”-gee those “pious” faces!
At a couple of places– obviously most of all the reference to the unborn– I frankly expected boos from that crowd. If they happened, it wasn’t audible to me.
I thought it was too wordy much like the USCCB Forming Conscience For Faithful Citizenship. Too many petitions. Though many seemed to feel it was a strong prayer because it included the unborn.
I think, given what transpired at that Konvention, he should have shown up in an asbestos suit and said only the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. He would have had a lot of us praying along with him. : )
Good Grief, frjim4321, how can you call that “shouting angrily”?
I heard NO anger, NO shouting, only speaking (praying) in a manner to be heard.
Check out time num. 4:20 on the tape. 3 people turn their backs to him in the middle of the prayer.
Let’s see…
– He prayed for the defense of unborn children
– He prayed (at least by implication) against euthanasia
– In language taken directly from the Founding Document of our nation, he prayed for the defense of Natural Law
All at the convention nominating the First Gay President, who apparently thinks the right of women to have their unborn children murdered is part of “basic health care.” Win. (And also the last time a Catholic bishop will be invited to the DNC.)
I’m just about jumping for joy at Cardinal Dolan’s closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention last night. When he first started, I thought “Oh no. He’s going to go soft on them and talk about caring for the poor. Have mercy on us all, O God.” But by the end, I bet Obama was pale with fury! Cardinal Dolan gets in abortion, euthanasia, religious liberty, and gay marriage, and this at the Democratic Convention! The same convention whose key speakers were Cecile Richards, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, and Sandra Fluke, who is leading the lobbying end of enforcing the HHS mandate. The same convention that put federal-funding of abortion and gay-marriage as part of it’s platform. The same Convention where Obama gave his acceptance speech, who deems that citizens belong to the government, and not the other way around. And Dolan gets up to that vast assembly of evil, and gives this speech that condemns them all; yes, every one of them.
I say, God bless Cardinal Dolan!
Superb.
I did not want him to do it at all because I was afraid he would cave and give some generic, inoffensive prayer. I am happily surprised by his courageous speech.
@frjim4321 I see your “some sort of favoritism” and raise you Sister Simone Campbell.
Setting aside for a moment the question of whether there should be a prayer at either of these functions, I was distracted by the tone of the delivery and thought that he was shouting angrily. [I think very few of the fair-minded will have that impression.]
Okay, here’s exactly what happened. I watched the President’s speech. I happened to be on CNN at the time. I could hear the sound system in the background and before I even put two and two together and realized that it was the prayer, I wondered, “Who that is bellowing at all the people?” then something clicked and I thought, oh yeah, it’s the prayer. So I flipped over to another channel and caught the last 1/3 of the prayer. So I thought whoever it was was bellowing even before I figured out who it was.
Frankly, both the RNC and the DNC are strictly civil events and I would be just as happy that neither of them pretended to be God’s favorites and to so pretend to by offering phony prayers that were actually political statements.
Honestly, have we really thought about what prayer is? It seems to be that first it is about listening to God through God’s Word or simply being with God in adoration or atonement. The concept that prayer is made up of flowery concatenated words shouted out by powerful, famous, pretentious individuals casting them upon a deity of their own contrivance (by that I mean a being who would certainly agree with the person offering the prayer) is gravely inadequate.
@frjim4321 I see your “some sort of favoritism” and raise you Sister Simone Campbell
Well, if Paul Ryan can present himself as the posterboy of all thing Catholic, I have no problem whatsoever with Sister Simone taking that same mantle upon herself. Turnabout is fair play. But, as stated above, I would rather both of the parties keep God out of it.
Both of these parties seems to be saying, “How clever of God to agree with us?” I object to this on the part of both parties.
Sister Simone, who along with her fellow nuns on the bus have no problem finding the moral dimensions of budget issues and bloviating promiscuously thereupon, feels that talking about abortion is “above her pay grade.” I think it is exactly the opposite. She has shown herself to be just another partisan hack whose pronouncements carry no more weight than those of the heads of Planned Parenthood and NARAL. A useful idiot in the service of Obama’s political agenda.
FrJim4321 Your party voted three times to deny any association with God and than trotted out their catholics to promote baby killing. Paul Ryan only became a poster boy when some left wing bishop with little knowledge of economics attacked him unfairly. How can a priest continue to support the party of death? A bit more time reviewing the Faithful Catholics Voter Guide and less time channel surfing between CNN and MSNBC would be helpful. I’m sorry to be disrespectful to a priest but your attack on Cardinal Dolan and the mother of the 11 yr. old attacked by pro abortion thugs really teed me off.
Sister Simone, who along with her fellow nuns on the bus have no problem finding the moral dimensions of budget issues and bloviating promiscuously thereupon, feels that talking about abortion is “above her pay grade.” I think it is exactly the opposite. She has shown herself to be just another partisan hack whose pronouncements carry no more weight than those of the heads of Planned Parenthood and NARAL. A useful idiot in the service of Obama’s political agenda.
JimGB, I’m fine with your statement except for the fact that Paul Ryan has presented himself as the Catholic Candidate sine qua non, which is a specious attempt at best. So, Ryan opened the door, and Sister Simone walked right on in. I don’t blame her one bit. I suspect that Sister has done far more to extend the proclamation of the Gospel in her life of service than Paul Ryan has.
Oh, come on Fr. Jim. Paul Ryan is a lay person. Sr. Campbell is not. And democrats like Debbie Wasserman-Schulz consider her and other “nuns” an authority figure whose opinion matters as much as any cardinal or bishop’s (or indeed God’s). So why is it that Cardinal Dolan must avoid even a hint of favoritism whilst Sr. Campbell and her ilk openly campaign for the Dems? Please.
I felt for him out there; his voice sounded firm and sometimes like it was about to shake, surrounded by the lions as he was–I don’t think he was yelling or bellowing any more than some of the speakers at both conventions. Anyway–a public prayer has its own style and rhythm. I was sorry to hear that only Fox (and maybe C-Span?) covered the prayer–even they started out talking over it until they realized he was praying. There was a time in our country when any such prayer would have been treated with respect by news media. I thought the Democratic delegates were respectful in listening.
@ frjim, perhaps you had a volume issue since you are clearly the only one that though the bishop was shouting.
The concept that prayer is made up of flowery concatenated words shouted out by powerful, famous, pretentious individuals casting them upon a deity of their own contrivance (by that I mean a being who would certainly agree with the person offering the prayer) is gravely inadequate.
Are you honestly saying that God wouldn’t agree with Bishop Dolan? Does He agree with a pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage priest?
Checking the text of the speech as posted in the link above, it does appear like Cardinal Dolan did pray for the president and vice-president in his speech to the Democrats….
:::appear that:::: I meant to say.
Bishop Morlino, when asked by Raymond Arroyo about Ryan and Sr Simone , gave a superb distinction between the vocation of the Catholic layman and the proper calling of religious.
Bottom line : Ryan is an exemplary Catholic layman in his political arena in accordance with the role of the laity. The proper vocation of a religious is to give witness to the holiness of the Church. It was not her place to give a speech at the DNC. I guess that conflicts with the comments by frjim4321.
http://www.ewtn.com/tv/live/worldover.asp World Over 2012-09-06 Democratic Convention
The last interview on the show is with the Bishop.
Oh, come on Fr. Jim. Paul Ryan is a lay person. Sr. Campbell is not. – mamajen
could be a double post due to computer problems but +morlino on Ray’s fake news show bent over backwards to emphasize that women religious are in his opinion “lay.”
Are you honestly saying that God wouldn’t agree with Bishop Dolan? Does He agree with a pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage priest? – SoCath
Beats me, I’m not presuming so.
I’m not going to stand up in front of a couple dozen million people and pretend that God likes what I like.
Bishop Morlino, when asked by Raymond Arroyo about Ryan and Sr Simone , gave a superb distinction between the vocation of the Catholic layman and the proper calling of religious.
Bottom line : Ryan is an exemplary Catholic layman in his political arena in accordance with the role of the laity. The proper vocation of a religious is to give witness to the holiness of the Church. It was not her place to give a speech at the DNC. I guess that conflicts with the comments by frjim4321.
Yeha, I was surfing around and I saw that and immediately thanked God that I am not incardinated in Madison. What Wondrous Love!
That any hierarch would suck up to the synchopant Arroyo is pitiable at best.
[You might try breathing slowly, in and out, in and out, perhaps into a paper bag.]
= synchophant
Excellent comments by frjim4321! You might enjoy reading Thomas Fleming’s post entitled “God and the Democrats” over at the website of Chronicles magazine. The third paragraph reads:
The first sentence of the block quote should begin, “Some Democrats apparently do not yet understand …
frjim4321:
No-o-ooo… if you’re going to insult Arroyo, get it right.
=SYCOPHANT
=you still misspelled it. Classic.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion of Arroyo. I am likewise entitled to my opinion of the sycophancy of media-hungry apostate nuns and priests who routinely undermine the integrity of the Catholic Faith while whoring themselves out at the slightest opportunity to touch the hem of President BO’s garment and bask in his glory. Not too mention the overwhelmingly sycophantic behavior of “journalists” (and glib comedians posing as journalists) from most of the media outlets in the U.S., which appear to have been converted themselves into the Democratic Party’s unofficial Department for Agitation and Propaganda.
from Urban Dictionary syncophant
“A misspelling of the word “sycophant” used by ignorant ghetto people and neocon morons.” But frjim4321, you do not fit into those two categories.
As an aside, where the heck does all this bashing of neocons come from? Politically, it’s a perfectly fine term and perfectly fine set of positions.
As for frjim’s remarks, I hope hope he doesn’t move still further to the left. If he’d do so, he’d fall of his chair.
Well, Phil, if you want to empty the Middle East of all Christians, put the Muslim Brotherhood in charge of the place, and kill thousands of American troops in the process, then yes, neocon is a perfectly fine position to take.
@David Collins
So you preferred Saddam, who used chemical weapons against his own population and massacred everyone who he was displeased with? Not to mention the outstanding bill of the continous violations of the terms of the previous war (after he invaded Kuwait) and the attempt on the life of a former US president?
What has become of Iraq is hardly pretty, but it is an improvement both for the country itself and the world. And if you want a decent Middle East where Christians can worship in peace, the only solution is to empty the region of muslims…
Wonderful. We’re bashing people’s spelling now.
There are other words for Raymond that are very easy to spell.
Not to wander too far into this minefield, I mean discussion, by frjim4321 wrote:
“The concept that prayer is made up of flowery concatenated words shouted out by powerful, famous, pretentious individuals casting them upon a deity of their own contrivance (by that I mean a being who would certainly agree with the person offering the prayer) is gravely inadequate. ”
The novelist Annie Dillard, in her book, Holy the Firm, wrote that liturgical prayers are those words that we’ve learned we can address to God without getting killed.
With regards to invoking the Almighty, in Teaching a Stone to Talk, she wrote:
I dn’t know it it’s appropriate, but the image of Cardinal Dolan wearing a crash helmet while giving the closing prayers at both conventions would have spoken volumes.
The Chicken
Should read:
I don’t know if it’s appropriate, but the image of Cardinal Dolan wearing a crash helmet while giving the closing prayers at both conventions would have spoken volumes.
frjim4321 says:
could be a double post due to computer problems but +morlino on Ray’s fake news show bent over backwards to emphasize that women religious are in his opinion “lay.”
In so far as a sister is not a cleric, she is a lay woman. On the other hand, often “lay” is predicated of those who are neither clerics nor in religious institutes.
A problem occurs because Tertiaries (lay members of Third Orders) are now called “lay”, e.g., Lay Dominicans. And so a diocesan priest who is also a member of a Franciscan (or Dominican) Third Order is “lay”.
frjim4321 says:
Wonderful. We’re bashing people’s spelling now.
In so far as there is a spell check on this blog that alerts the writer to misspelling, I would say it’s bashing someone’s sloppiness.
There are other words for Raymond that are very easy to spell.
Do you know him? If not, why refer to him by his first name?
There is a spell check on this blog? If so, how does one invoke it?
With my contacts late at night and the BlackBerry I often can’t see what I’m typing, so many typos from the BlackBerry. With the glasses, quite a bit better.
re: Raymond . . . yes I know him but in a limited sense . . .
re: sloppiness . . . it’s a blog, not a dissertation . . .
Chicken: I like the Dillard quotes. Think that’s close to what I was getting at.
frjim4321 says:
There is a spell check on this blog? If so, how does one invoke it?
When a word is misspelled, a red squiggly line appears under it.
re: sloppiness . . . it’s a blog, not a dissertation . . .
It’s communication, and, as I said, there’s a spell check to help out.
re: Raymond . . . yes I know him but in a limited sense . . .
I’m not any big fan of EWTN, so I’m not trying to defend him. I found it strange, however, that you used his first-name, then roasted him. That notwithstanding, I realize that first naming someone ASAP is part of your pastoral schtick, but it’s not always appropriate. Sometimes it seems phony and manipulative.
Oh I think the red line provided by some browsers.
Re Raymond, his name is his name and he has certainly done nothing to earn respect from me. If he was on fire I would probably help put out the flames, that’s about it.
@robtbrown and Fr. Z: No squiggly red lines under misspelled words here! Also some one on here (who doesn’t have a link to an own blog) earlier said, one could wiew his/her contact information by clicking on his/her name. Didn’t work for me.
In the contact information form we fill in when we register, we write some words about selves and in the line beneath, it says that this could be shown publicly. Can other people view this or not? How do these things work?
I get the “squiggly red underline” on my misspelled words on both Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.
In my several years of being such a great fan of Fr Z’s blog, I don’t think I have ever read such an odd assortment of comments, regarding a particular subject
From Australia, I was absolutley ecstatic over Cardinal Dolan’s prayer to end the Democratic Convention. Thank God, that the United States has such God fearing shepherds, who are prepared to prcolaim the truth in the public square, and I would include in this list, Bishop Morlino of Madison.
And here we read how Cardinal Dolan shouted. And it would be better if there weren’t any prayers in the first place.
Why was it necessary then for the Democrats to post all thse f-bombs to Cardinal Dolan? Is it perhaps because His Eminence is standing up to the “culture of death’, Pope John Paul II warned us about?