Here I'm Not, Lord

By Mary Eberstadt

Today, readers, we interrupt revisiting the Seven Deadly Sins to raise a question of great significance during this eventful week. Why did Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the highest-ranking Catholic eminence in the Washington, D.C. area, attend Wednesday’s ostentatiously diverse, mega-denominational prayer service at the National Cathedral for President Obama?


Granted, the fanfare was impressive – seats for 3,200 distinguished guests, twenty especially prominent religious leaders, heart-rending bursts of song, and a liturgy ranging from the latest rewritings of the Book of Common Prayer to “Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Cherokee sources, among others,” as The Washington Post put it. It’s also true that the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington traditionally leads a prayer at these august proceedings – which may for some observers render his presence there beyond question.

Full story at The Catholic Thing