Creative minorities & presidential politics

Angelo Matera of Godspy: "What the Presidential Election Reveals About America's Soul"

A great example of a creative minority at work was an event last Wednesday at Columbia Law School in New York, organized by Communion & Liberation — known as “CL”—a panel discussion with the provocative title: Forward Together: What the Presidential Campaign Is Revealing about the State of the American Soul.

The discussion, part of CL’s Crossroads Cultural Center, brought together two journalists from opposite sides of the political spectrum—Marvin Olasky, editor of World Magazine, from the right, and Hendrik Hertzberg, executive editor of The New Yorker, from the left.

The moderator was CL’s national director, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, widely considered the most authoritative and provocative Catholic commentator operating within secular media today. (For example, when PBS did a documentary on “Faith and 9/11,” they gave Albacete the closing remarks). Albacete’s unique achievement is that he’s equally respected both inside and outside the Church. He’s managed this by combining a mordant wit with mystical wisdom — and perfect comic timing. When Hertzberg opened his remarks by explaining that while he didn’t believe in God, he believed in Albacete, the monsignor immediately intoned, in his baritone: “Good enough.” It brought the house down.