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Loading ...Patrick Kennedy clashes with outspoken RI bishop
11.13.2009 8:37am EST
(Providence, RI) Thomas Tobin, the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, has made a career out of putting politicians in his crosshairs, but his latest battle over abortion threatens to spiritually exile Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a son of the nation’s most famous Roman Catholic family.
Their feud over a proposal expanding the nation’s health insurance system has escalated to the point where Tobin has publicly questioned Kennedy’s faith and membership in the church and said he should not receive communion, the central sacrament in Catholic worship.It’s an uncomfortable tangle of faith and politics for a congressman whose uncle John F. Kennedy was elected the first Roman Catholic president in 1960 after declaring to wary Protestants that he did not speak for his church on public matters, and that the church did not speak for him.
“I don’t think there’s any winner here,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a church observer and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “I think this is the kind of thing that would be better discussed between a member of Congress and his bishop behind closed doors.”
Patrick Kennedy is among several Catholic politicians to clash with their bishops over abortion, which the church considers a paramount moral evil not open for negotiation. Fewer than 20 of the roughly 200 bishops overseeing U.S. dioceses have threatened to deny communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion, Reese said.
“I don’t think you’ll find widespread support among Catholics for this,” he said.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., has said that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic Democrat who supports abortion rights, should stop taking communion until she changes her stance.
Former Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis has said he would withhold communion from politicians who support abortion, such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican who also ran afoul of the church because he is divorced.
Kennedy stumbled into the conflict last month when in an interview with CNSNews.com he publicly criticized the nation’s Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose a reform of the health care system – a goal the church supports – unless it included tighter restrictions on publicly financed abortion.
It was a loaded statement by a congressman representing the most heavily Roman Catholic state. And it drew the attention of Tobin, who in his four years in Providence has criticized Gov. Don Carcieri for launching a crackdown on illegal immigrants, bashed the state’s attorney general for supporting gay marriage and excoriated Giuliani over his abortion stance.
An angry Tobin fired back, calling Kennedy ignorant of church policy. He asked for an apology and a meeting.
In a letter, Kennedy agreed to a sitdown and said his Catholic faith is founded on the principles of feeding the hungry, clothing the poor and caring for the less fortunate. Kennedy voted against an amendment tightening abortion restrictions in a Democratic health care plan, but he voted in favor of the overall proposal that included those restrictions.
“While I greatly respect the Catholic Church and its leaders, like many Rhode Islanders, the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy of the church on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic,” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Tobin, agreeing to a meeting Thursday. “I embrace my faith which acknowledges the existence of an imperfect humanity.”
Their planned meeting fell apart Monday. The bishop called it a mutual decision, but Kennedy accused Tobin of reneging on an agreement to stop discussing his faith publicly. Tobin responded to Kennedy’s letter with a scathing criticism.
“Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an ‘imperfect humanity.’ Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church,” Tobin said, who also appealed to the Kennedy family legacy.
“It’s not too late for you to repair your relationship with the Church, redeem your public image, and emerge as an authentic ‘profile in courage,’” Tobin said, referring to the title of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John Kennedy.
Tobin says Kennedy, like other pro-choice politicians, should not receive communion. But he has stopped short of ordering Kennedy not to participate.
The Kennedys have a complicated relationship with the church. President Kennedy was never forced to confront the issues of abortion or gay marriage. He received mild criticism from church leaders for opposing diplomatic ties with the Vatican and public funding for Catholic schools.
Patrick Kennedy’s father, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, supported abortion rights but also championed other causes of the church, including expanding assistance for the poor and advocating for reforming the immigration system.
Suffering from terminal brain cancer, Sen. Kennedy wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI acknowledging he had been “an imperfect human being” but tried to right his path with the help of his faith. A priest attended to Kennedy on his deathbed, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, presided at his funeral Mass.
Rhode Island’s Catholics have mixed feelings about the clash.
Michael Bingham, 61, said Kennedy invited the criticism because he calls himself a Catholic.
“What the bishop is saying is ‘OK, you’re not really a Roman Catholic in good standing because you’re not defending innocent life, which the church teaches us we’re called to do,” Bingham said. “And he’s calling him to the plate on that.”
Ann Doherty, who attended a morning Mass in Providence, said she believed both men were speaking from their hearts. She opposes abortion but is uncomfortable imposing her choices on other people.
“We have a history in the church of people who have spoken out for the things they believed in. And some of them, we’ve made saints out of. And others, we haven’t.”
Kennedy’s statement: “While I greatly respect the Catholic Church and its leaders, like many Rhode Islanders, the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy of the church on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic,” is not accurate. Yes, it does make him less of a Catholic–but not necessarily less of a Christian. His identity as a Christian is based upon the strength of his spiritual beliefs and the actions associated with them. His identity as a Catholic is based upon his association with the societal institution that is the Roman Catholic Church, and his adherence to that institution’s rules and regulations. It’s unfortunate that many Catholics have such a hard time differentiating one from the other–the Catholic Church is not the sole authority on Christianity.
Religions are poison of humanity. It’s ime to leave the religions, especially ones with distorted teachings. Catholic church is controlled by a dictator who makes their own rules. We need to obey Jesus Christ and not to obey the Pope or Bishops, they’re just a bunch of Pharisees who preach one thing but do another. We should ignore the misleading teachings and follow Jesus teachings only. Communion is just a rediculous ritual. God sees your heart not your rituals.
@Jessica K–Dogma! That just rocked!
When JFK was campaigning for President, there was no small effort to present him as a pawn of the Church of Rome. He spoke clearly on that. Under Benedict, the Catholic Church is wading back into its centuries of meddling ways. Maybe Benedict really is so senile that he thinks he can re-establish the Holy Roman Empire.
The Kennedys have always made an effort to separate their personal faith, and its tenets, from their obligations as officeholders. They have a clear understanding that Benedict has ignored: the more that the Church insists of politicians using church doctrine for decision of secular matters, the more that the Church pushes itself to a point of conflict with the US legal system.
Imagine this case in the Supreme Court. Jane Smith is elected to the House. She’s Catholic, pro-choice and votes that way, but she also has seven kids (and is married for 25 years, to the same man). The bishop or archbishop begins a media campaign to intimidate her into changing her stance on abortion; she refuses, and is excommunicated in retaliation. Now, a church can expel people for not following doctrine, but when you do that to a politician, the church is setting up an inevitable conflict. If a member of a religion or a sect is required by their faith to not only hold a position, but also to vote on it (no abstention), then is the church infringing on the representation of those constituents who are not of the same religion? If SCOTUS says the Vatican approach is OK, it essentially blacklists candidates from some backgrounds. If SCOTUS says no church can retaliate in spritual sphere for legislator’s actions in secular sphere, then is the state exercising legitimate interest by denying a religion that power to retaliate? Anybody know of any SCOTUS cases touching on this?
It’s mind-boggling how arrogant the RCC is, safe in the knowledge it’ll never be taxed in this country and it’ll always have devoted contributors who swallow its anti-civic BS.
It and its many, many agencies, however, receive millions of dollars of public money. That can be cut off. There are hundreds of religious and secular agencies eager to replace it in the public arena. And, if it continues its ugly engagement in the political discussion, its funders can lose the tax-wirte-off status of their contributions. They’re contributing to an obviously political entity.
We must all work toward that end.
“It is your KINDNESS which leads us to repentance Oh Lord.” The church is becoming a little bit Nazi in in presentaion of self lately. Once again we need to focus on sexual responsibility rather than mere sexual regulation.Jog in the well lit well trodden path, find about your familiy’s medical history, where neccessary change the diet,wear a condom( i know it is so extreme but yet it it is merciful because it saves lives until folk can operate according to Doctrine ?), go to marriage counseling for at least a year, hmmm how about this WEAr a chastity belt.All of these things just might lower the risk of unhealthy and unneccessary pregnancies. Do you really think separating a person from God by excluding them from The Eucharist(Blessed be He forever) is going to cause a person to better follow the Jesus you represent to the world?
SCREW THE CHURCH! AND SCREW YOU TOBIN, YOU 2-FACED HYPOCRITE! GET OUT OF POLITICS OR PAY TAXES…JUST THAT SIMPLE!
PUBLIC ATTACK AND DISCUSSION OF ANYONE’S FAITH FOR SELF SERVING PURPOSES IS TACKY, CLASSLESS, UNDER-HANDED, DIRTY-POOL.
The sad thing is Kennedy is a member at will…he could just quit, if he was really a strong person.
The Churches involvment in Prop 8 and then again in Maine has cured me of any linering respect or fondness I had from being raised Catholic. Add to that my mother’s guilt about using birth control
after having 3 kids. The Catholic Church is a total Flat Earth Society.
The Church’s stance on birth control alone leads to much suffering in poor countries.
Tom in Long Beach
Denying communion to anyone, be they a politician who has very different points of view than you or even a serial killer in prison on death row if he or she felt the need for it and requested it knowing they may soon die is very antiChristian.