Two prominent Catholics have now been invited to pray, and speak, at the Republican and Democratic national conventions: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Sister Simone Campbell, S.S.S., director of Network, a Catholic social justice organization. Inviting two such prominent Catholics has riled up those who feel that religion does not belong in politics, much less in a political convention. Tempers have flared, op-eds have been written, teeth have been gnashed.
Party bigwigs face a seemingly intractable problem: You need someone to pray at your convention, and you want to appeal to Catholic voters, but a prominent Catholic will only raise controversy.
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