No doubt this alienated a number of folks in the audience at Holy Name. Every protest alienates someone on the scene .. like it or not. Shoppers on Michigan Ave. Passerbys in Federal Plaza. Drivers who are re-reouted because of permitted parade routes. Shoppers who are perturbed by having to cross strikers union picketlines at the supermarket. And decades ago, white working class diners sitting at a lunch counter in Mississippi.

Like it or not, Easter mass at Holy Name has been a public spectacle - with television cameras on the scene - for literally decades in this town. ( so is Easter Mass in Vatican City, in case you've missed it ) And George, like it or not - is a public figure who has taken a conciliatory approach toward George Bush. Would that other religious folks muster the courage to speak up from the audience at their churches, synagogues and mosques against the incredible death and destruction unfolding in Iraq and help shatter the complancy they may find there.

Andrea,

So you endorse scaring the living shit out of children only because Cardinal George met up with Bush? According to your logic, we should insult and pester every person that doesn't give Dubya the finger?

Atheist - do you actually believe everything you read in the Trib? The same folks who predicted the discovery of WMDs and a swift victory in Iraq? For the same 75 cents you can get a whole roll of toliet paper that hasn't been used yet.

I doubt that any kid present was 'terrified' by the protest. However, perusing the internet for photos of Abu Ghraib might just do the trick .. or an unsupervised counseling session with with one of the esteemed clergy the Chicago Archdiocese has spent millions trying to defend. Whaddya think?

BTW, US deaths in Iraq surged over 4000 only hours after the mass at Holy Name.

Happy Easter.