If you believe someone’s trampling on your religious freedom — and breaking what you thought was essentially a promise not to — there’s only one thing to do: Invite that person to dinner.
That, anyway, is what Timothy Cardinal Dolan did when he asked President Obama to attend the annual Al Smith Foundation gala this fall, despite their spat over ObamaCare’s contraceptive mandate.
GOP hopeful Mitt Romney also got an invite, and this week the archdiocese confirmed that both men will attend.
Having the two parties’ presidential nominees at the dinner — a major fund-raiser for Catholic charities — is a quadrennial tradition; exceptions are rare. (In 2004, ex-Gov. Hugh Carey and ex-President George H.W. Bush subbed for nominees John Kerry and George W. Bush.)
So it would have been hard for Dolan to snub the president and not invite him, despite their differences. Then again, those differences aren’t easy to gloss over.
As head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Dolan became one of the strongest and most eloquent critics of ObamaCare’s contraception-coverage mandate.
He believes forcing religious institutions — Catholic schools, hospitals, social-service charities — to offer workers free birth-control services, or face fines, encroaches on religious freedom.
And after talking to the president privately, he thought Obama would respect his position in revising the contraceptive rule.
Silly him. Instead, the Department of Health and Human Services went ahead and certified the mandate anyway.
Dolan, understandably, wasn’t happy.
The government, he said, was trying to force the church to do something “unconscionable.” The mandate was “an unwarranted, unprecedented, radical intrusion’’ into the church’s mission.
He urged greater political activism by Catholics: “It is a freedom-of-religion battle,’’ he said. “It is not about contraception.’’
Since then, more than 40 dioceses, hospitals, schools and church agencies have signed on to lawsuits against HHS, arguing that the mandate is unconstitutional.
Which is why it’s no surprise that some Catholics criticized Dolan for inviting Obama to the dinner.
But for Dolan, no doubt, such a snub would have been unthinkable — even if tradition had allowed it.
The cardinal, after all, is above such pettiness. An affable, good-natured and honorable leader, he’s not inclined to snubs and ill manners. (And the church’s charitable work — made possible in part by funds from the dinner — would take precedent, in any event.)
Good for Dolan for doing the right thing.
Which may be more than can be said for the president.