Without prejudice to the Cardinal's assumed good intentions, if he feels he has to appear neutral about abortion, then there is something very wrong with the situation in which he's put himself. A Bishop is to teach, exhort, and preach the Word "in season and out of season," not look blank because appearing Catholic would be tacky.
Oh, I agree. It was painful to watch him sitting there expressionlessly, while McCain cracked one zinger after another.
I knew Cardinal Reagan a little when we lived in Connecticut and he was bishop of Bridgeport. He was very impressive in person. He wrote weekly theological pieces for the diocesan paper, which were entirely orthodox. But he also managed to get on with the politicians in Connecticut, who were turning very liberal and pro-abort.
He joined the March for Life in Washington and gave a talk in the Cathedral to participants there. Yet he reminds me in a way of Cardinal Law, whom I also knew even better back when I was living in Massachusetts. He was a good friend of my Aunt’s. Law was also solid, impressive, orthodox. Yet both these men seem to be unwilling to confront evil when it is powerful and influential. They sit back and let it work, rather than make waves.
Neither of these Cardinals was like Rembert Weakland, deliberately dissident, deliberately making trouble for the Church. Yet they refrained from speaking out when bad things happened. We saw what that led to in the case of Cardinal Law.
I guess even McCain was too polite to point out at the dinner that Obama never saw a baby he didn’t want to kill. That would have wrecked people’s enjoyment of their meal.