Originally published at crisis magazine
Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. —St. Thomas More
It is a decidedly Catholic quality to take oneself lightly and bring levity to the heaviest situations. In the heat of American politics, therefore, it is fitting that a Catholic event be the occasion for some lightheartedness. But Catholic animus on the Left is keeping its members from falling from the coconut tree to have a laugh with Catholics.
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, named for the first Catholic to run for president of the United States—he ran in 1928—has raised millions for Catholic charities in the Archdiocese of New York ever since 1946. After presidential rivals John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon attended together in 1960, it became a tradition for presidential nominees to attend this black-tie event and exchange playful barbs. The $5,000-a-plate fundraiser has seen many opponents crack jokes at each other’s expense in a hammy but humanizing evening of humor.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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That tradition was broken in 1984 when Democrat Walter
