Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center normally hates it when Catholic religious leaders get involved in politics --when it's not conservative, anyway. For instance, it loves to attack Jesuit priest James Martin for not advancing right-wing Catholic orthodoxy, Heathering him at one point as a "sorta-Catholic."
But if a prominent Catholic praises President Trump, the MRC is all for it. Gabriel Hays gushed in an April 29 post:
New York's Cardinal Dolan seems to think that President Trump is doing a good job at leading the country through the coronavirus crisis, and though we know there are many Catholics who would never do such a thing (the Obama-voting ones, we’re sure) Dolan also praised the pro-life and pro-religious freedom President for his outreach to religious communities during his administration.
The leader of the Archdiocese of New York appeared on Fox News on Monday, April 27, to relay the issues facing the Catholic community, in particular parochial schools. But he also took time to thank President Trump for his leadership.
“I really salute his leadership,” Dolan told the hosts of Fox & Friends. He also thanked New York leaders, Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio but went out of his way to mention that Trump had really been supportive of the religious community during this pandemic.
“Everybody has really come through, but the President has seemed particularly sensitive to the, what shall I say, to the feelings of the religious community,” the cardinal mentioned.
Dolan’s comments come after a conference call between Church leaders including the New York cardinal himself, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley and President Trump. The discussion covered a number of Church and community issues following the outbreak of the pandemic, in particular Catholic education.
Weirdly, Hays didn't embed the video from Dolan's "Fox & Friends" appearance in his post. Is he secretly ashamed of it?
Hays went on to tout the intertwining of Catholic hierarchy with Trump:
President Trump has also made acquiring Catholic voter support a bigger focus for his re-election bid. Earlier this month, the Trump re-election campaign launched the “Catholics forTrump” initiative aimed at courting more catholics with his “religious-freedom record and anti-abortion policies.”
At the end of their conference call, the President referred to Dolan a “great friend of mine,” and the cardinal replied “the feelings are mutual.” And while we can write it all off as political, it is a welcome change from the usual scene of liberal Catholic leaders ignoring Trump’s great pro-life record to hit his attitude on immigration and climate change.
The uber-Catholics at the MRC wouldn't be doing this if Dolan was endorsing a Democratic poiltician.
