Best thing about Al Smith dinner: Cardinal Dolan got the candidates together for a brief prayer before going out on the stage.

No doubt the [presedential] campaigns have reflected some anxiety, anger, and resentment in the nation at large, and we must try to understand these attitudes in the electorate.

I've seen many dig in their heels and becoming disenchanted with the church because of these kinds of denunciations from coreligionists. We have to find a better way to witness to our faith and our convictions.

Best thing about Al Smith dinner: Cardinal Dolan got the candidates together for a brief prayer before going out on the stage.

Pope Francis has taught us by his example how we can witness with our lives and actions to our faith and moral principles, but still engage respectfully with those who disagree. He's urged us to find a "new balance," going beyond the few wedge issues of our politics, so we do not lose the "freshness and fragrance of the Gospel."

As Pope Francis says in Amoris laetitia, pastors must "make room for the consciences of the faithful, who very often respond as best they can to the Gospel amid their limitations, and are capable of carrying out their own discernment in complex situations. We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them" (no. 37). As for the former statement, we should only be afraid if the church is smaller because of our failure to welcome people and preach the Gospel in a way that touches their hearts.

Worst thing about Al Smith dinner : it was another reminder of how far we are from the amity between opposing sides that is needed for effective governance.