I'd not be too sad were the dinner to be discontinued.  I say that for two reasons.  To begin, it may well be time to recognize that the political culture has changed in this country.  While it's easy for partisans in this cycle to point to the "other guy," the truth is that this culture has been on a downward spiral now for a while, as the campaigns get ever less civil.   For their part, the media not just soaks all that up and reports it as "news," the media in some cases actually tries to add fuel to that fire, all in the name of ratings.  And this leads to my second reason.

There was certainly NO shortage of audio and video clips from the year's event.  But in only a FEW of those clips was the purpose of the dinner even mentioned in passing, and I can't remember ANY that linked the event as being a Catholic charitable event.  I would think that one goal of the event would be to bring a spotlight to charitable work.   So maybe it's time to move on, and find a better way?