Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on 24 September that Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to skip the Al Smith dinner, a prominent Catholic charity event in New York, wasn’t a wise political move.
While Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Harris’ decision to skip the dinner reveals her “anti-Catholic” sentiments, Dolan, who leads the Archdiocese of New York, blamed bad advice.
“Different people are reading motives into it; I don’t know the motives,” he said, speaking on his podcast. “She simply said she’s got to use it for campaigning. This isn’t a campaign event, but it certainly is good visibility, you know, I mean it’s a national audience and everybody covers it; now the news is that she’s not there. So, I don’t know who’s advising her but she’s not getting good advice.”
The $5,000-a-plate charity event taking place on Oct. 17 is hosted by the Archdiocese of New York; the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner has been attended by nearly every major presidential candidate since 1960.
According to Dolan, President Joe Biden had committed to attending the dinner earlier this year before dropping out of the race. Harris’ campaign team, however, reportedly notified the archdiocese on Saturday that she would not be attending the event.
Instead of attending the event, Harris’ team has said she will use the time to campaign in critical swing states, according to the New York Post.