Cardinal Dolan jokes about what Harris might share in common with last person to blow off the Al Smith dinner

Vice President Kamala Harris has decided to blow off the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner hosted by the Archdiocese of New York. She will be the first Democratic nominee in 40 years not to attend the annual event, which has raised millions of dollars to help the city's most vulnerable women and children — including kids with special needs, foster children, and low-income single mothers.

President Donald Trump indicated he will not similarly leave the archdiocese and related charities in the lurch, noting Harris' decision was "sad, but not surprising."

While some critics have suggested Harris' decision is at the very least a strategic blunder and possibly also further confirmation of her enmity toward Catholics, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the organizer of the dinner, made light of Harris' declination, intimating it may be a matter of history rhyming.

"We're disappointed," Cardinal Dolan said Monday at a press briefing following an event at Elizabeth Seton Children's Center in Yonkers, a medical center for disabled kids the dinner helps fund. "We were looking forward to giving the vice president an enthusiastic welcome."

'I don't know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot.'

"You know, she speaks very much about the high ideals and how it's good to get away from division, and come together in unity, and all. That's what the Al Smith Dinner is all about," continued the cardinal. "We haven't given up yet. We're not used to this. We don't know how to handle it."

The archdiocese's director of communications, Joseph Zwilling, confirmed to Crux that Harris had declined to attend the dinner.

Cardinal Dolan intimated that the election may ultimately prove this decision to be common to losers.

"This hasn't happened in 40 years — since Walter Mondale turned down the invitation. And remember: He lost 49 out of 50 states," said Cardinal Dolan.

Ronald Reagan steamrolled Democratic candidate Walter F. Mondale in the 1984 election. Mondale only managed to secure 13 electoral votes from his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan kept the White House with 525 electoral votes and nearly 17 million more votes.

As members of the press and others stifled laughter, Dolan noted that there is still a chance Harris will change her mind, particularly with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul leaning on her to attend.

Brian Browne, the associate vice president of university communications and public affairs at St. John's University, suggested to Crux that Harris' decision didn't make sense, especially since there would be no unscripted moments, which her campaign is apparently afraid of.

"Given she's the Democratic candidate, she would have access to the best joke writers on the east coast and the west coast who would love the opportunity to write a script. It's a very scripted event," said Browne. "I know she seems to be very dependent on a teleprompter, but it's a teleprompter event. Yes, you might get some groans if your jokes don't land, but you're not going to get booed off the stage or heckled. It's always this kind of coming together type of moment."

Browne added, "It's a missed opportunity to demonstrate a human side and come together for a charitable cause, and you know, if I was advising her, I would tell her to reconsider this."

'Harris's animus toward Catholicism is not limited to inquisition of Catholic nominees for federal courts.'

Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social, "It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night."

Trump added, "It's sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don't know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn't been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined."

This is not the first time Trump has highlighted Harris' ostensible antipathy to Catholics.

Trump told a crowd at the Turning Point Believers' Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, in July that "radical left ideology Kamala supports is really militantly hostile towards Americans of faith" and that Harris personally has an issue with Catholics.

Harris "viciously attacked highly qualified judicial nominees simply because they were members of the Knights of Columbus, suggesting that their Catholic faith disqualified them from serving on the federal bench," said Trump.

Kenneth Craycraft, the James J. Gardner Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary and School of Theology, underscored in First Things that "Harris's animus toward Catholicism is not limited to inquisition of Catholic nominees for federal courts, but also extends to harassment of public organizations whose missions are consistent with Catholic moral theology."

Craycraft noted that Harris introduced legislation aimed at forcing "religious individuals and organizations to engage in activities that directly violate their firmly held religious beliefs" and cosponsored the "Equality Act," which would "force Catholic hospitals, for example, to perform gender transition surgeries, open women's restrooms to men, and force girls and women to compete against boys and men in athletic competitions."

A similar animus has thrived at the Biden-Harris FBI in recent years.

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed late last year that the FBI under the current administration has "abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists."

According to CNN, Harris intends to campaign in an unspecified battleground state on October 17.

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