Empire State Building as a Lightning Rod for Controversy The upper floors of the Empire State Building were awash Monday night in lights of blue and green. It seems those were colors associated with International Corporate Philanthropy Day, observed on Monday. Tuesday night, too, the top of the Empire State is scheduled to be colored blue and green. What's being recognized this time is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Again, who knew? An enduring guessing game in New York is divining the significance of the after-dark colors at the city's most famous building. Sometimes, it's easy. All blue three weeks ago was plainly a nod to the New York Giants, Super Bowl winners. But when the lights are blue once more next Monday, who but a small circle of people will understand that the Hearst Corporation is being honored on its 125th anniversary? Shouldn't the color for Hearst be yellow, in honor of the great yellow journalist himself, William Randolph Hearst? Now and then, the lighting scheme, or the absence of one, produces not bewilderment but, rather, controversy. We've just had another one of those moments. At its center are people who consider themselves the voices for a wide swath of New York's Roman Catholic population. You may recall the kerfuffle in 2010 after the Empire State Building turned down a request from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to switch on blue and white lights for the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth. In short order, William A. Donohue, the league's president and a serial umbrage taker, accused the building and one of its owners, Anthony E. Malkin, of having insulted Catholics in general. Mr. Donohue then did something Mother Teresa would never have done: He organized a protest rally outside the Empire State, with speeches by politicians and celebrities like the eminent theologian Jackie Mason. This time, the anger is over the building's refusal to bathe itself in red to honor Cardinal Timothy Dolan's elevation to the princedom of the church. That request came from Representative Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island, who has run into a rough patch of late, what with serious questions raised about his business dealings. After the Empire State said no, Mr. Grimm turned to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It agreed to have the aborning 1 World Trade Center glow red at night this week. Mr. Donohue took offense on behalf of others once again, telling The Daily News that the Empire State's decision was "an insult to Catholics and to the vast majority of New Yorkers who love Cardinal Dolan." The News amplified the outrage, screaming "Evil Empire" on Saturday's front page in type practically worthy of World War III. There was no protest demonstration this time, though (and no Jackie Mason). The notion of the Empire State as a bastion of anti-Catholicism seems a reach. It may be anti-Donohue, but that's a separate matter. More on point, it has chosen to steer clear of religion entirely except for a few established holidays like Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah and Id al-Fitr. On its Web site, it sets forth guidelines for choosing "a lighting partner," including "a specific policy against lighting for religious figures, religious organizations and additional religious holidays." In the past, the Empire State did honor figures like Pope John Paul II and Cardinal John O'Connor - and it still goes green for St. Patrick's Day - but that was before the building's management changed a few years ago, and later the rules as well. That said, the Empire State invites critics to think the worst of it with the wall of opacity that it erects. There was an example of that on Monday. Attempts to explore the lighting policy more deeply were unavailing because the building's designated spokesman, the Edelman public relations agency, ignored half a dozen e-mails and phone messages. And many would say the Empire State continues to deserve a black eye for having honored the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2009 - which is to say the 60th anniversary of repressive, often-murderous, Communist rule. One person who chose not to get involved in this dispute was Cardinal Dolan. He had loftier musings. Two days ago, at his first Sunday Mass since his elevation, he revealed his aspirations to worshipers at St. Patrick's Cathedral. "I want to be a saint," he said. But the cardinal wasn't getting ahead of himself. "I've got a long way to go, all right," he said.