While the tradition of the Alfred E. Smith dinner to invite the Republican and Democrat nominee to raise money for charity is admirable, it was disturbing to see Timothy Cardinal Dolan laughing and joking with Hillary Clinton less than twenty-four hours after Hillary announced she supports abortion up to the moment of birth.  Worse, when he spoke at the end, he made a vague oblique reference to the life of the unborn when he said some of the money raised would help poor women give birth.

I understand that the dinner is to raise money and everyone tries to be civil, but both Trump and Hillary took shots at each other as if it were a campaign rally.  Certainly, Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of the Diocese of New York, traditionally viewed as the spokesman for the Catholic Church in the United States, could and should have spoken in plain language that it is wrong to kill the unborn.  He should have said killing an unborn child minutes before the child is born is infanticide, immoral, and an intrinsic evil according the Catholic Church.

As a practicing Catholic, having attended Catholic grade and high school, I am offended that Cardinal Dolan put the politics of the dinner ahead of speaking on behalf of the unborn.  This was the time and place to speak for the unborn instead of joking around with Hillary, supporter of late-term abortions.  Without attacking Hillary, he should have said raising money for poor children is obviously worthwhile, but the first order of charity is to allow the child to be born.