The Al Smith dinner, held earlier this month, is not only a fund raiser for New York Catholic charities but an occasion for leading politicians to show off their good humor. But at this year’s gathering Donald Trump was so cutting he was booed, and Hillary Clinton’s presence has been protested because she supports the right to abortion, which Catholic teaching opposes. Indeed, some voices have called for an end to all future Al Smith dinners. But New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan insisted the event was “America and the church at their best.” Al Smith was governor of New York in the 1920s. He was known as “the happy warrior.”