That’s good. It would have been just another demoralizing concession, supposing the invitation had been given and accepted, to see a Catholic prelate invoking anything short of a prayer for the conversion of this president and his administration. That’s probably why no invitation was sent to Archbishop Chaput to give an invocation last year at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He might have embarrassed the lot of them. Nine ministers, all Protestant, will provide the formal religious protocol at the various ceremonies and banquets. To me this snub of Catholic clergy at least demonstrates that the Church is still taken very seriously when a number of her bishops speak with authority on the moral culpability of voting for pro-abortion candidates. “And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake” (Luke 21:17). This prophecy of the Son of God is recorded in all four Gospels.
Catholic Culture reports: President-elect Obama has asked 9 ministers to lead prayers at different events during his inaugural celebration; all of them are Protestant. Steven Waldman of Beliefnet notes that in the past, “Presidents typically made a point of including a Catholic and, often, a Jew.” The National Catholic Register wonders whether the failure to include a Catholic is coincidental, noting that– in another break from recent practice– the Archbishop of Denver was not asked to deliver an invocation at this year’s Democratic national convention.
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