The New York chapter of The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, an elite Irish fraternal organization, is holding its annual fundraising dinner on St. Patrick’s Day Eve. The event brings together all the male Catholic bigshots in New York, including, of course, the cardinal. This year, the organization, which is not affiliated with the Archdiocese, is honoring Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic NY state attorney general. This is causing a groundswell of opposition from rank-and-file Catholics. Some of them object to his past refusal to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade (which excludes gay and lesbian Irish organizations, hence his disinterest), and his caginess as to whether or not he’ll march this year. Others are angry at Spitzer, a big Planned Parenthood supporter, for his investigation of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, which I wrote about here. It is assumed that Cardinal Egan will, as is the longstanding custom, share the dais with the honoree, who, aside from Gov. Pataki, is the most powerful and important pro-abortion politician in the state.