Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral: On mercy and misery
Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
CEO Salt + Light Catholic Television Network
Consultor, Pontifical Council for Social Communications
While I was never a fan of Senator Ted Kennedy for a variety of reasons, I watched his funeral on television last Saturday. I prayed for the repose of his soul, the forgiveness of his sins, the consolation of a large Kennedy family who allowed the world to share their grief and sorrow once again on the public stage. I know of no family that has allowed the entire world into so many moments of personal grief, tragedy and loss over the years as the Kennedys. Among that great lot are some very good people. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who preceded her brother in death only two weeks before left her mark on the world by her championing the Gospel of Life throughout her own life.
As a Roman Catholic Priest who is pro-life, I was proud of my Church last week, and grateful for the courageous and gracious actions of American Church leaders in Boston and Washington, who opened the doors of their Church to reveal a Gospel of mercy and hospitality, in the midst of sinfulness and ambiguity of public leaders who are in need of conversion, forgiveness and prayers, like the rest of us.
Leading up to the Kennedy funeral last weekend, and in its aftermath, many so-called lovers of life and activists in the pro-life movement, as well as well-known colleagues in Catholic television broadcasting and media in North America, have revealed themselves to be not agents of life, but of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence. Their words and actions vitiate their efforts in favor of life. Their open and public attacks against Cardinal Séan O’Malley, OFM, Cap, Archbishop of Boston; Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C.; the priests involved in the funeral liturgy in Boston’s historic Mission Basilica, (be they Redemptorist, Jesuit or Diocesan) indicate that something is terribly wrong in the pro-life movement. Civility, charity, mercy and politeness seem to have dropped out of the pro-life lexicon.
Through vicious attacks launched on blogs, a new form of self-righteousness, condemnation and gnosticism reveals authors who behave as little children bullying one another around in schoolyards- casting stones, calling names, and wreaking havoc in the Church today! What such people fail to realize is that their messages are ultimately screamed into a vacuum. No one but their own loud crowd is really listening. We will never change laws and bring about conversion of minds and hearts with such behavior. We make the Church and our efforts for life look ridiculous and terribly anti-Christian. Sowing seeds of hatred and division are not the work of those who wish to build a culture of life.
Though we did not even carry the Kennedy Funeral on the Salt + Light Catholic Television Network in Canada, nor did we have any intention to do so, I was shocked at the messages and calls we received over the past few days from those claiming to be “pro-life.” They expressed regret that we did not join in the public condemnation of the Kennedys, the Obamas, the O’Malleys, and the McCarricks of this world. That is not what Salt + Light Catholic Television Network is about. Nor will we ever be about such things. We will not contribute to the misery and division within the world and the Church. We believe in the Gospel of Life and strive to humbly bring the Gospel message to the world. We defend life from the earliest moments to the final moments of natural death. But we refuse to destroy and kill others along the way.
As I reflected on Senator Kennedy’s life over the past few days, and read the reactions and responses to the funeral rites of this public figure last weekend, I could not help but think of John’s Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery [John 8]. There is probably no other event in Jesus’ life that more clearly illustrates the triumph of mercy over justice than this story. We are not to judge others, not because we shouldn’t but because we can’t. It is impossible to know the heart, the motives, the pain, the weaknesses, the struggles, the suffering of another human being, as wrong as they have been with some of their decisions and allegiances in life. To recognize and bring out the sin in others means also recognizing one’s self as a sinner and in need of God’s boundless mercy.
To preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Life without acknowledging the necessity of profound personal conversion and the free gift of God’s mercy is to deny the central Christian message of conversion. Jesus’ stance before this woman remains a permanent call and challenge to his disciples and to the Church throughout the ages.
At the end of that powerful Gospel story, everyone had gone, and Jesus and the woman were left standing alone. It is a magnificent scene, described by St. Augustine with the words: “Relicti sunt duo, misera et misericordia.” “And two were left… one filled with misery, and one filled with mercy.” Which person are we at this moment in our own personal journey? There is lot of misery in our world and in our Church, and both the world and the Church desperately need merciful communities, and merciful, joyful, hopeful people. Let us pray that we will become more and more a people, a church and a community overflowing with mercy. That was the image of the Church revealed last Saturday morning in a Boston Basilica, and last Saturday in the fading light of day at Arlington National Cemetery.
Let us pray for the repose of the soul of Senator Kennedy. Now that he is reunited with his brothers John and Bobby, Rose, the Catholic matriarch of the Kennedy clan and her husband, and other members of the Kennedy family, let us learn from what they tried to do in their lives, albeit imperfectly, and work for the building of a culture of life and hope, justice and peace, with God at the center. Let us also pray that some of the Kennedy children and grandchildren, so visibly present throughout last weekend’s ceremonies, and often identifying themselves as Catholic, learn from the gestures of mercy of their Church, and be more courageous in living and expressing their Catholic faith in a society that longs for the Gospel message and their living witness of that message.
Finally, I invite you to read the powerful and provocative words of Cardinal Séan O’Malley shared on his blog:
Cardinal Séan’s Blog
On Senator Kennedy’s FuneralSaturday was the 39th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, at St. Augustine’s Church in Pittsburgh by Bishop John B. McDowell, who is still going strong today. In the Church’s calendar, the feast day for August 29 is the Beheading of John the Baptist. People usually take note when I tell them that I was professed to religious life on Bastille Day, July 14, and ordained on the feast of the Beheading. Not that I am superstitious.
On Saturday morning I attended the funeral Mass for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Father Donald Monan, S.J., former president of Boston College, celebrated the Mass and Father Mark Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victories in Centerville, preached the homily.
The music was outstanding with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus enriching the liturgy along with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham who later sang an absolutely striking rendition of Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” Cellist Yo-Yo Ma graced us with his beautiful solo performance of Bach and later joined Placido Domingo, who sang the “Panis Angelicus.” Placido has a superb voice. I told him how much I like the Zarzuela, the Spanish classical musical theater productions. His family had a troupe that presented Zarzuelas in Mexico and he promised to arrange a performance.
The venue for the funeral Mass was Mission Church, the magnificent Redemptorist Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Senator Kennedy prayed often in this church when his daughter, Kara, was stricken with cancer. It is a church where countless faithful have gone to pray and ask for healing, grace and forgiveness.
In light of these themes, I wish to address our Catholic faithful who have voiced both support and disappointment at my having presided at the Senator’s funeral Mass.
Needless to say, the Senator’s wake and Catholic funeral were controversial because of the fact that he did not publically support Catholic teaching and advocacy on behalf of the unborn. Given the profound effect of Catholic social teaching on so many of the programs and policies espoused by Senator Kennedy and the millions who benefitted from them, there is a tragic sense of lost opportunity in his lack of support for the unborn. To me and many Catholics it was a great disappointment because, had he placed the issue of life at the centerpiece of the Social Gospel where it belongs, he could have multiplied the immensely valuable work he accomplished.
The thousands of people who lined the roads as the late Senator’s motorcade travelled from Cape Cod to Boston and the throngs that crowded the Kennedy Library for two days during the lying in repose, I believe, were there to pay tribute to these many accomplishments rather than as an endorsement of the Senator’s voting record on abortion.
The crowds also were there to pay tribute to the Kennedy family as a whole. On the national political landscape, if Barack Obama broke the glass ceiling of the presidency for African Americans, Jack Kennedy broke it for American Catholics.
As a young lad, I saw photographs of both Pope John XXIII and President John Kennedy hanging in the thatched cottages of County Mayo and heard the Gaelic greeting, “God and Mary be with you.” Three of the Kennedy brothers died in service of our country in the prime of life. And Eunice Shriver, who died just a few weeks ago, was an outspoken defender of the unborn and an apostle of the Gospel of Life. She taught us all how to love special children and to make room for everyone at the table of life. In 1992, Eunice petitioned her party’s convention to consider “a new understanding” of the issue, “one that does not pit mother against child,” but instead seeks “policies that responsibly protect and advance the interest of mothers and their children, both before and after birth.”
Much of what is noble in the politics and work of the Kennedys had its origins in the bedrock of the faith of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. As a young woman she had a profound experience of God’s love that transformed her life. She strove to communicate that faith to her large clan. Since the time of her funeral Mass I have kept her memorial prayer card, inscribed with Rose Kennedy’s own words:
“If God were to take away all His blessings, health, physical fitness, wealth, intelligence, and leave me but one gift, I would ask for faith – for with faith in Him and His goodness, mercy, love for me, and belief in everlasting life, I believe I could suffer the loss of my other gifts and still be happy – trustful, leaving all to His inscrutable Providence.”
There are those who objected, in some cases vociferously, to the Church’s providing a Catholic funeral for the Senator. In the strongest terms I disagree with that position. At the Senator’s interment on Saturday evening, with his family’s permission, we learned of details of his recent personal correspondence with Pope Benedict XVI. It was very moving to hear the Senator acknowledging his failing to always be a faithful Catholic, and his request for prayers as he faced the end of his life. The Holy Father’s expression of gratitude for the Senator’s pledge of prayer for the Church, his commendation of the Senator and his family to the intercession of the Blessed Mother, and his imparting the Apostolic Blessing, spoke of His Holiness’ role as the Vicar of Christ, the Good Shepherd who leaves none of the flock behind.
As Archbishop of Boston, I considered it appropriate to represent the Church at this liturgy out of respect for the Senator, his family, those who attended the Mass and all those who were praying for the Senator and his family at this difficult time. We are people of faith and we believe in a loving and forgiving God from whom we seek mercy.
Advocating for the dignity of life is central to my role as a priest and a bishop. One of my greatest satisfactions in my ministry thus far was helping to overturn the abortion laws in Honduras. The person who answered my call for help with that effort was Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who had been a prominent leader in NARAL and the abortion rights movement. His own change of heart led Dr. Nathanson from a practice of providing abortions to becoming one of the most eloquent exponents of the pro-life movement.
Helen Alvaré, who is one of the most outstanding pro-life jurists, a former Director of the Bishops´ Pro-life Office and a long standing consultant to the USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities, has always said that the pro-life movement is best characterized by what it is for, not against. We are for the precious gift of life, and our task is to build a civilization of love. We must show those who do not share our belief about life that we care about them. We will stop the practice of abortion by changing the law, and we will be successful in changing the law if we change people’s hearts. We will not change hearts by turning away from people in their time of need and when they are experiencing grief and loss.
At times, even in the Church, zeal can lead people to issue harsh judgments and impute the worst motives to one another. These attitudes and practices do irreparable damage to the communion of the Church. If any cause is motivated by judgment, anger or vindictiveness, it will be doomed to marginalization and failure. Jesus’ words to us were that we must love one another as He loves us. Jesus loves us while we are still in sin. He loves each of us first, and He loves us to the end. Our ability to change people’s hearts and help them to grasp the dignity of each and every life, from the first moment of conception to the last moment of natural death, is directly related to our ability to increase love and unity in the Church, for our proclamation of the Truth is hindered when we are divided and fighting with each other.
President Obama and three former presidents attended Senator Kennedy’s funeral. I had the opportunity to speak briefly with President Obama, to welcome him to the Basilica and to share with him that the bishops of the Catholic Church are anxious to support a plan for universal health care, but we will not support a plan that will include a provision for abortion or could open the way to abortions in the future. The President was gracious in the short time we spoke, he listened intently to what I was saying.
Democrats and Republicans sat side by side in the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, praying for Senator Kennedy and his family. It is my sincere hope that all people who long to promote the cause of life will pray and work together to change hearts, to bring about an increased respect for life, and to change laws so as to make America a safe place for all, including the unborn.
Father Tom
Thanks for more grey and fog. Nice grey, mind you. Charity for all but those you disagree with. I think I’ll stick with EWTN.
Chris
The Commandments are our lifeline, not our noose.
BE VERY CAREFUL TO WHOM you give your allegiance!
We need God’s TRUTH, and should defend it with love and compassion…not Compromise! (Was that not what Bishop Martino tried to do?)
Mercy is always available through our loving God & His Church, but WHAT DOES THAT REQUIRE, lest we forget:
Acknowledgment of the sin by the sinner,
AND repentance, to avoid it in the future.
If Sen. Kennedy was able to do this, he received mercy.
Not acknowledging our sin is an indication of pride (another sin).
IF only the Senator had done so publicly, what “greater good” could have been accomplished by his humility and example. It would have spoken volumes to those who walk in his ideological footsteps.
Only the Holy Spirit can provide COURAGE to recognize/defend Truth – against MORAL RELATIVISM. If any of us expect to be saved, we’d be prudent in praying for it!
Father Tom,
You clearly just don’t get it. That you should feel compelled to express more anger at pro-life Catholics who were sincerely and justifiably offended by the extraordinary honors given Senator Kennedy by Cardinal O’Malley, than you apparently feel toward those, like Kennedy, who publicly and willfully flout the Church’s teachings and directly encourage and enable the continuing slaughter of millions of unborn children, speaks volumes about you and your apparent embrace of the moral relativism which is destroying our culture. Where in Scripture or the Church’s teachings are we enjoined to lovingly enable apostates who undermine the Church and everything she stands for? Our Christian obligation to unconditional love in no way precludes us from defending the Faith, the natural moral law, and truth in general. Show me an example of an apostate, pro-death Catholic being dissuaded from their tragically misguided positions by the Church and faithful Catholics just trying to get along or looking the other way. I won’t be holding my breath waiting for an example.
The only non-civil person in this whole scenario was Ted Kennedy. He never “publicly” Confessed and said he was very sorry and wrong for protecting the abortion law and contributed to that “Bad Law”, Roe v. Wade. This bad law is totally against the Constitution of the United States of America. Life, Liberty and Happiness. Note: Life comes first, without Life you have “No Love”, after all, he could have voted to abstain and say that “it was criminal” to cut-up the innocent unborn, or burn the innocent helpless baby, in the womb of its’ Mother. Ted Kennedy also voted to “retain” the partial-birth abortion. All of the abortions are horrific, however, to protect the partial-birth abortion is “obviously insanity”. Father, should I explain to you the partial-birth procedure? Obviously, you are in total error in trying to protect Ted Kennedy’s political stances. His Legacy is the king of the “Culture of Death”. God gave him a full-year to “Publicly” Confess or state what an abomination his votes were in regards to Life and Love. By the way Father, Life and Love and being “faithful” to God, is all that matters.
Abortion denies a Life and voting against the Protection of Marriage Act was a clear indication that Ted Kennedy was not an “Authentic Catholic”.
Both are a “Direct Grave Offense Against God” The Gift of Life and the Gift of Love. Ted “publicly” demonstrated that he was against Life and Love by his “Votes”, so we know, what was in his mind and heart. If he was really sorry, for these “cowardly votes and acts”, he had the “platform” and every opportunity to rectify “publicly” his obominational votes. He certainly made it a point to “publicly” receive Holy Communion, is that not sacrilegious, time and again and again? Also, he dumped, Joan, his beautiful and talented and mother of his children, to so-call- being married to another woman(highly praised). From what high authority did the annulment come from?, Perhaps, Cardinal Bernard Law??) Joan went to a Catholic school and never remarried. I wonder if she will be recognized and put on the “pedestal” like Ted in Boston?
It is really a sad state of affairs when people condone the most horrific crimes and then want to justify them.
True, none of us can judge where Kennedy’s Soul is, however, we know what Jesus’s Church teaches which is backed up by God Himself. As any “authentic” Roman Catholics knows; He/she must go by and “obey” the Sacred Tradition, Holy Bible, and the Magisterium.
Where was the “Pastoral” help? Or was Ted Kennedy unable to take the scales off, of his eyes, and remained totally blind?
Even in death, Ted had a “photo op” with the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. He was able to arrange the last “scandal” of his life.
Father, a picture is 1000 words, in this case 2 Cardinals, 2000 words.
Father, God Bless.
At his hugely publicized funeral, Ted Murdering-babies-is-ok Kennedy was acclaimed a moral hero of American society and eulogized by the most pro-abortion president the U.S. has ever had. I sorely do not want to believe that the Cardinals present are unable to see the problem with that. They seem unable to hear anything the faithful are saying. Their every effort is to rationalize their involvement, i.e., to tell rational lies. Their public silence on the topic of baby-murder, at the funeral of the politician who did perhaps more than any other to promote it, is deafening. On what basis do they think we respect them? How can we respect them now?
Don
Fr. Rosica’s article is full of half-truths and errors, which are eloquently exposed in the comments above. This misguided form of Christianity has permeated the ministry of Fr. Rosica and Salt and Light for a long time.
Notice the double standard. The distorted “mercy” and “compassion” advocated by Fr. Rosica only apply to pagans, heretics, apostates and the lukewarm. If you have the misfortune of being a practicing Catholic who’s trying to make the world a better place, you lose those white-glove privileges and Fr. Rosica starts calling you “agents of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence”. We have no “civility, charity, mercy and politeness”. We launch “vicious attacks”. We’re “self-righteous”. We’re full of “condemnation and gnosticism”. We’re like “little children bullying one another around in schoolyards – casting stones, calling names, and wreaking havoc in the Church”. We’re “sowing seeds of hatred and division”.
Have you ever read an article containing so many insults? Me neither. This reveals that Fr. Rosica is not really advocating “mercy” and “compassion”. His angry words betray much darker motives.
Father Thomas Rosica’s social communication skills mask what truly needs to be said. He is right about our society longing for the gospel message and a living out of that message. Our Cardinals, Bishops and Priests should spend their lives standing up for the teachings of The Roman Catholic Church and not those of their self made North American Catholic
Church that is more interested in some attempt at watered down passive
Catholicism. Our Lord did forgive the woman caught in adultery and I’m sure that Our Dear Lord forgave the Lion of the Senate. However, Ted Kennedy’s life in no way reflected or mirrored a culture of life, only a Culture of Death. Father Rosica’s diatribe about civility, charity, mercy, and politeness being removed from the pro-life dictionary should
remember his priestly vows. Our church officials who sit quietly on the sidelines and say absolutely nothing of substance until they are challenged by the faithful are famous for then speaking out against the faithful…not against the abortionist politician, the pedophile priest or the leftwing radicals. The Cardinals, Bishops and Priests that
have been critized do not have the backbone or will to speak out and publicly declare The Church’s Position. When faced with tuff choices that they will not take a public stand on they fall back on a chastisement of the faithful with the same old remarks about our need to be forgiving and tolerant. When these Cardinals, Bishops and Priests meet Our Dear Lord, and they will,they will not have an answer to HIS question…Where was your outcry when my children were being torn apart and ripped from a mother’s womb?????? Being socially and politically correct will not be an acceptable answer when standing befor TRUTH ITSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I guess the bishops who praise this man by justifying such a display of anointing merely joined old Joe’s role in Teddy’s life – more of the same of what got him to the point of his death – covering up his bad and immoral behavior. Such wonderful “fathers”!
When oh when will these same “compassionate and merciful” “Fathers” EVER care for the remnant white martyrs of Christ today? Those who sacrifice and truly suffer for the least – taking on all of the sufferings of Christ Himself in doing so – get nothing but judgement and persecution by these shepherds who continue to spit in their eyes with such open public displays of adulation of the publicly unrepentent and disobedient ones who daily whip Jesus over and over. If a bishop isn’t ready to be martyred for his example of faithfulness to the little ones he should not accept the position. Otherwise he imperils his own soul.
Perhaps a display of a beheaded little child should have been displayed during the “striking rendition” of the Ave Maria alongside a statue of the Sorrowful Mother which probably would have wept tears of blood since now even the rocks will be crying out due to the lack of love and faith of her own “special” sons.
The public festival-funeral for militantly pro-abortion apostate Senator Kennedy was an abomination that will go down in infamy. How dare this priest attack those who are striving to be faithful pro-lifers. It’s not Kennedy who was the problem, no, WE who work and pray for the end to the abortion holocaust are the problem!!! Talk about turning the truth on it’s ear. This is tantamount almost to a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in it’s implications. Priests like Fr. Rosica are part of the problem, not the solution. Said Saint Paul by the Holy Spirit in 1st Corinthians: REMOVE the wicked man from your midst.
Well Father Rosica it`s interesting to see the revival of a toxic clericalism, as certain identifyable big wheels in the Church abandon their calling, in order to hang out with the powers of the “World”, and back each other in this blatant toadying and as part of the act heap pharasaical abuse on the loyal Catholics who respect the Culture of Life. The Pic you selected for the top of your op-piece says it all! Your Scripture selections and interpretations were sadly slanted.
Now that the travesty of a Public spectacular funeral is over, how do you rate Sean Cardinal O`Malley vis-a-vis the heroic Archbishop Martino?
The “world” will will praise one, and condemn the other.
The Prelate of Boston should enjoy his passing presige while you can. That`s what he deliberately chose.The deathbed lament of Thomas Cardinal Wolsey is instructive: “had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king…”
You know well the arguments. The Archdiocese of Boston succumbed to human respect. Please, do your duty and begin now act with decisive courage to stand up for, and defend, our holy Church.Start by decrying the travesty of honouring the complicit Senator Edward Kennedy with the pomp of a PUBLIC Mass! There had been a full year for Cardinal O`Malley to prepare for this situation.
I too am offended by the Kennedy celebration at the Mission Church.
Love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, blah blah blah.
Let me ask you, If Senator Kennedy had publicly supported the murder of Six Million Jews, do you think he would have received this public celebration? Of course not. If Kennedy had advocated racial segregation, would he have been given this funeral celebration? Of course not. After all, one MUST be politically correct. But spend nearly his entire career helping to enable the murder of 50 million unborn babies? No problem, apparently. Hence, the celebration.
Unmerciful rhetoric about mercy, harsh rhetoric about harshness, hmmm…
“You blind guides, straining out gnats and swallowing camels.”
Why don’t Fr. Tom and those who agree with him come right out in the open and condemn Jesus while they’re at it? What a way for him to have spoken to the Ted Kennedy’s of his time! (St. Paul is totally guilty of this harshness too – shame on him!)
@Alain Blaise
Misguided Compassion
Watch out your coming off as judgemental,as we know,that’s the only REAL sin ,,,NOT
Misguided Compassion . there is such a thing as anger without sin.Funny the Ted Kennedy’s get no Fraternal Correction ,Only The Pro-Catholic’s,Truly Pro-Catholic’s.
When a priest speaks and causes such a reaction as these comments above, one has to wonder what has he really said. What we need in the Church today is holy priests, who can speak with authority. I do not sense authority in Father Rosica’s words. What I do sense is anger and a showing of his hand that the clergy should have the last word in these matters. We need some St. John Vianneys in the church today.
Dear Father,
Your criticism of Pro-lifers is shocking. but I guess I understand since
we have been shocked at a priests and bishops for weak compromise with sin for decades. Yes Jesus loves us sinners, but he requires something from us for eternal life. No, not devout parents or family members, as maybe Kennedy had. We must come before him on our own merit. which is only our sinfullness. Good works do not erase them –only the blood of Jesus, otherwise why did He have to die. Yes the pharisees brought the women caught in adultry to see how Jesus would treat her. He did not condemn her but said go and sin no more. Our shock in the kennedy funeral et al is that like the ‘bad thief’ kennedy continued to condemn the church teaching til his death as far as we know. Do you know any different? Please share with us. Jesus said if your brother sins go to him, if he does not repent take others and try to convince him. If he still does not turn—Have nothing to do with him. St. Paul said the same thing over and over about heretical brethern. The scandal for the pro-life movement is the bishops and priest lack of courage to resist the high profile and average pro-abortion catholics who support like-minded politians year after year, and vote them into to office for decades.
Massechutes being the one of the most egrigous, with kennedy, Frank and all the sex abuse scandal. The Boston archdiocese needs to clean up it own act in most peoples opinion. Remeber the words of Cardinal Wosley, ‘if I had server My lord half as much as I served my King…..
Kennedy’s letter to the Pope sounded like someone trying to argue there case before a judge that they were good enough for heaven, when no one is. It’s not judgemental or lack of charity to say a person was of ill-repuite based on their actions for decades, its commone sense. Case in point a prominent leader of gay marriage movement said with Kennedy’s passing “we lost our best aly.” I sure NARAL is saying the same. Is that who you would want in your corner on the judgement day?
Pope Benedict stayed in control when Nancy Pelosi visited the Vatican. He received her but wouldn’t allow pictures. She was not going to use him to manipulate the American people.
Cardinal O’Malley noted in his statement that he took the time at the funeral to talk to President Obama re. abortion. Does he really believe he was able to move him off his abortion policy? Sorry, but the Church has had years to do something about its favorite Catholic son, Edward Kennedy, without any success. The Church should have taken the Pope’s lead. It had a year to inform the Senator that without rejecting his pro-choice policies, it could not offer him absolution. And without full absolution, the funeral would have to be untelevised and private. His choice. The Church has scandalized itself.
I suggest it redeem itself but publicaly stating that no pro-abortion politician can receive Communion and must remain in the pew.
As a child growing up in Western Canada, I was in awe of the Kennedy family. I remember how upset I was, at age 9, when Robert Kennedy was shot and killed. My father had a picture of the “Brothers United” in our recroom.
As an adult, I was frustrated (and sometimes disgusted) with Ted Kennedy’s politics. In the same way that our Canadian Liberal party ceased to be a party that represented Catholics, the American Democrats ceased to represent Catholic beliefs. Still, I prayed for Teddy when I heard he had died. As I read articles about him after his death, I realized that, in many ways, he did many good things along with the reprehensible support for abortion. We don’t know the state of his soul at the time of his death, but we do know that he prayed in Church daily for his daughter’s health when she was suffering, that he made personal calls to his constituents who were directly affected by 911, that he asked the Pope for prayers, that he sought an annulment from his first marriage stating his OWN failings as a husband. He was no saint, but he had a right to a Catholic funeral.
I remember, every time I pray the “Lord’s Prayer” at Mass that we say “forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those…” I look back at my life, and at periods that definitely need a lot of forgiveness, and know I have to forgive.
Ted Kennedy now knows how wrong it was to support making it easier to murder of tens of millions of babies. He is at his time of accounting with God, a time when one cannot smooth things over with charm or words. He has eternity to right those wrongs. To deny him the right of a Catholic funeral, as if we are in the position to judge that, would be morally wrong. We weren’t party to his last confession, nor to the worries on his soul. We are “party” to a Father Who loves us all beyond all belief. We are bound by a Spirit that gives us knowledge and courage and love. We are brothers and sisters to a Son Who talks about the prodigal son and Who tells us “you who are without sin, cast the first stone”.
And I for one must put down the stone, for I am not sinless, and must take the log out of my own eye.
“For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”
There’s been a lot of talk about how angry the right wing has become in this country. For some reason, it’s just unseemly and uncharitable for us to be angry about things like abortion and gay marriage. If we would just be nice and settle down and just get along, everything would be “O.K.” I would agree that there are both constructive and counterproductive ways to show anger. But why is not “O.K.” for Catholics merely to sound off and say that a public figure who supported abortion and gay marriage (and through legislation, promoted these things) should not be publicly honored? This view is backed up by Canon Law. It doesn’t mean that we hate Kennedy, or wish his family ill. It simply means that as Catholics, we can’t be swayed by public opinion or fleeting emotions–in the end, we have to stand with what our Church teaches.
Black is black and white is white. None of it is grey-unless you mix them together. Then, you get SOUP- wishy, washy soup! Our Precious Lord God wasn’t any of that, now was He? The Catholic Church, which He gave to us, is TRUTH!! Onward to Glory!
So let me get this straight. I can spend my whole life living like an apostate — i.e. supporting abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem-cell research etc — and at the end, I’ll get a hero’s funeral? Awesome! Let me start my debauchery right away by ceasing my tithing, staring with any donations to Salt and Light.
Oh, wait… I’m not a politician so I don’t get such special treatment…
I am saddened by this rift however, we better be careful who presides at certain funerals. A lot of mob bosses are catholics and agree with the ‘fundamentals of the church’ but differ on other issues. I hope that the church is not hypocritical by not even giving a mass to some and offering an elaborate service for other sinners.
Perhaps the most reasonable perspective from which to discern the decision of the American archbishop might be according to the teaching in the parable of the prodigal son. In the end, is the Senator any more guilty of sin than those who are actively participating in the sacramental life of the Church while contracepting, etc- are we applying the same rubric to the women in our lives- our mothers, sisters, best friends, the professionals who treat us?
There is no evidence at all that Fr. Rosica or the American clergy condone the anti-life political position of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. However, their choice in acknowledging the human struggle in the midst of culture which consistently denies the fundamental dignity of all human life permitted many lapsed Catholics as well as the general public to encounter Christ as they watched the Liturgy- so many Bostonians were reminded in a very tangible way of their true identity in Christ. The proposal of Christ was very visibly presented to them.
Our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II- like Christ- always taught that imitation of Christ requires that we reject the sin while loving the sinner.
Fr. Rosica is among those who understand that the true path to Truth is very often in an encounter with someone through whom they recognize the Lord and especially His Peace. In mediating the possibility of an encounter with Truth, the Church’s invitation placed an indelible mark on the consciences of the world.
God bless Fr. Rosica and all those willing to be instruments of hope in this very cynical world.
benedicta
I think most pro-life Catholics just want our priests and bishops to stop playing politics and start helping people who go astray get back on track. I started to write Senator Kennedy and beg him to repent and apologize for supporting the murder of the “holy innocents”. I just can’t believe they let him go to his death without trying to get him to make a public apology. And just look at the younger people in his family who share his views and will be responsible for many more “holy innocents” being put to death. May God have mercy on Senator Kennedy’s soul!
I believe Cardinal O’Malley missed a wonderful teaching moment for believers and non believers alike. Think of the impact and the message about our Catholic Faith and Church if Cardinal O’Malley, when asked to attend Edward Kennedy’s funeral, responded that he would be praying for Divine Mercy for Kennedy’s soul in a special Memorial Mass, which he would be giving on the same day as the funeral mass – outside of a Planned Parenthood Abortuary.
Thank you, Cardinal Sean for your elegant words. Yes, it is true, it is not our role to cast judgment. We have no idea the disposition of Ted Kennedy’s sole in his last days. And, through the fervent prayers of his faithful mother and other faithful members of his family, may he rest in the bosom and House of the Lord.
Are you then, Fr. Rosica, condemning the Catholic Church for in the past denying public funerals to public sinners?
Why should the case of Ted Kennedy have been any different? If life begins at conception (which it does), you could not possibly be worse than he.
This funeral was the travesty of travesties; perhaps even the abomination of desolation.
“John Henry Newman cautiously refers to “the endemic perennial fidget which possesses us about giving scandal; facts are omitted in great histories, or glosses are put upon memorable acts, because they are thought not edifying, whereas of all scandals such omissions, such glosses, are the greatest.”
Fr George Rutler explains the dismay felt by the eulogies much much better than I ever could. Maybe Fr Tom won’t object if its put this elegantly?
When will push ever come to shove on this issue. I beleived the Cardinal was one of the strong shepherds in these tragic times … until now.
Many of the goood have become complacent , sheep are straying
liberalizing the masses shall you please man and reject your GOD?
Ah, the whitewash of Senator Kennedy’s deeds continues unabated by a compliant Catholic Church, preferring the adulation of people rather than the commitment to Her faith. Are you trying to say it’s loving not to call wrong what is wrong, namely, Kennedy’s scandal in advocating abortion as a Catholic? And the Church’s further scandal to honor him in such a way that glosses over his scandal? Why, then, should not the Church have praised him for advocating the killing of the unborn?
David is right: there is a crisis of Catholic identity. And this doesn’t help matters any.
And by the way: “Loving” does not equal “permissive.”
I’m sorry, Fr. Thomas. I truly mean it, but you are mistaken. Judgments of ACTIONS vs. Judgments of souls are two DIFFERENT things. Fr. John A. Hardon taught that we MUST just actions or how would we make many moral decisions in our lives? who to trust? who to follow? who would lead us to sin….etc…..This judgment thing thrown at us from all liberal sides need not be used by you TOO to silence people that love the Church, LOVE its teachings and are simply the practicing Catholics that back YOU up with their masses, prayers, works, joys and sufferings. Senator Kennedy was the hero of dissident Catholics who believe that you may keep the True Faith OUT of the public square….Father, if you keep the faith under a bushel-basket…its beautiful light never goes out to the world.
Sometimes pictures speak louder than words – LifeSiteNews recently published a cartoon about the Kennedy funeral: a cardinal leading the procession followed by a coffin held by six pallbearers, treading over body parts of countless babies.
There’s nothing politically correct about abortion. If our own shepherds don’t denounce this atrocity, they are failing their flocks.
Bravo to Fr. Rosica for telling the truth and saying what needed to be said about the vitriol, self-righteousness–and, yes, hatred–levelled by many in the pro-life movement at clergy and others involved in the preparation and ceremonial of Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral.
Predictably, Father’s blog entry above has been castigated in the exact vitriolic manner he mentions therein by many of the posters above, and notably, by the editor-in-chief of Canada’s leading online pro-life news source. The editorial’s underlying negativity is broadened to include innuendo, hyperbole and half-truth.
See: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09090402.html.
God bless Father Rosica for his testimony to Catholic decency.
Mike Harrison
Toronto Canada
Before the election two thirds of the Roman Catholic clergy refused to speak publicly against obama and abortion – Ted Kennedy’d funeral was an ideal oppurunity missed to state publicly the Church’s stand on Life – It was Missed by choice – Obama has consistently lied about health and abortion his own officals have been caught lying on live TV about the Health Agenda – The Funneral of Ted Kennedy was allowed to be hijacked by the Political cronies because The Cardinal was weak – How many innocents died i the name of prochoice during the funeral and NO ONE RAISED A WIMPER SHAME ON YOU
Hi Father
I’m sorry but I do not agree with your viewpoint. I think the public spectacle of a funeral attended by high ranking church officials including bishops sends the message to Catholics that it is okay to dissent until your dying breath from the teachings of the Catholic church in the areas of sexual morality and that you will receive a holy send off from the church.
And to Alain, the fact is that the medium is the message. Seeing Kennedy getting the type of funeral he did, sends a message that cannot be ignored.
In Kennedy’s letter to the pope, absolutely NO WHERE does he state a regret for voting in support of abortion, gay marriage or embryonic stem cell research. He was a politician who held a 100% favourable rating from NARAL in the US. My understanding is that he also voted not once but TWICE against the laws that would have banned Partial birth abortion – as you know Fr. Rosica, this means a doctor delivering a baby breech up to the head and then using a sharp instrument to stab the baby at the base of the skull, suction it’s brains out while alive and crush the skull. Ted Kennedy voted against preventing this kind of abortion.
Those of us critical of the US Catholic church’s treatment of Kennedy’s death are not “unconsciously prideful”. We are judging the ACTS of a man who professed to being a devout Catholic but did not act like one, either in public or in his private life.
A private funeral in a small church is all that Kennedy should have gotten.
Blogging while upset often results in harsh words, words that express the hurt. I think this is what has happened here: Fr. Rosica was upset at the words of some pro-life bloggers, and in the heat of emotion, called them “agents of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence”. These are harsh words indeed. I think they show the degree to which Fr. Rosica was upset. Unfortunately, words such as this do not merely express hurt, they cause hurt, and as such, they serve to escalate and perpetuate disputes and divisions, not heal them. Perhaps if Fr. Rosica had not blogged in the heat of feeling, but allowed himself time to calm down, he might have expressed himself in a different way. Perhaps he would have corrected the bloggers more gently, calmly pointing out, for example, that a Bishop’s duty as Bishop concerns the pastoral care of souls. Perhaps he would have said that a Catholic funeral is not solely for the soul of the departed, but is also for those who are left behind. Perhaps he would have mentioned that Senator Kennedy and his family were greatly loved by many Catholics, and that it was not at all unreasonable for Senator Kennedy’s bishop to decide, despite Senator Kennedy’s faults during his life, that it would be pastorally harmful to deny Senator Kennedy’s well-wishers a suitable Catholic funeral to pay their respects.
I don’t think it was necessary for Fr. Rosica to denigrate pro-lifers to get his point across. We are disturbed by the apparent downfall of the church since VII. I am old enough to remember when devotion to God, Blessed Mother Mary and the saints was an accepted part of our faith. No longer. Now it is everyone for themselves, the rest be damned!! With all due respect, many of the clergy are directly responsible for this and we know it. Yes, the Kennedys are accepted as Catholics in spite of the lukewarnmness of some of them, but should they be examples for those struggling with the secularism of the so called christian world?
With respect F. Roscia, Senator Kennedy deserved a Catholic funeral depsite his complete disrespect for life. What he did not deserve was the spectacle that was broadcast on the airwaves. President Obama should not have been allowed to speak at the funeral. The funeral should have been private. He was a mere human and a sinner like us all, not a saint. It saddens me that you critize us for not being kind, when you turn around and critize us for telling the truth. We the lay must challenge when we see the wrong being done. I do pray for all souls, including Senator Kennedy.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (II, II, q. 33, a. 4):
“When the faith is in imminent peril, prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public.”
Jesus Christ: “My Father’s house is a house of prayer; you have made it a den of thieves.”
Fr. Rosica,
I was distressed by the Kennedy funeral. However, I was more distressed by your attitude towards Catholic pro-lifers who cause “division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence.” The ad hominem attack is unwarranted, and unChristian. It is ironic that you accuse pro-lifers of “violence”. I wonder how the millions of unborn children would feel about that?
Father,
Most certainly as a baptized Catholic, Senator Kennedy was entitled to a funeral mass. We should pray for his soul. What most faithful Catholics object to is the fact that he was treated as a great, devout Catholic who was a credit to his faith. The plain truth is, he was not! All of his charitible works added together do not equal the life of one human being. He was a coward who did not have the courage of his convictions. I am so tired of people who do not follow the Church’s teachngs in season and out of season being held up as paragons of virute. They’re not!! We will never convince Catholics who claim to be “pro-choice that they are in error if we keep paying homage to them. That is what the Church in Boston did for Senator Kennedy. I, for one, am insulted. The shepherds of the Church are charged by Christ himself to protect the flock. In this case, they have failed miserably.
Charity without truth is a problem – it degrades to human sentimentality, which can justify anything. There was an encyclical on that recently. Hold a private Mass and pray for Kennedy’s soul, but don’t lionize a grave public sinner who refused to repent of said grave sins publicly. Denying the truth about support of murderous abortion is hardly charity.
I find it highly hypocritical that anyone of us believes that we can cast stones against another brother/sister without looking deep within our souls and asking God for forgiveness because of our own shortcomings. When we speak against abortion, we must speak against the death penalty, when we speak against prejudice, we must support the immigrant, when we speak against injustice, we must support our brothers of the muslim, hindu and buddhist faiths, when we speak against hate, we must support our gay brothers and sisters. God made us ALL in his image. Who among us can say I am better than he. God loves me more. The profound realization is that God loves us ALL. When we speak, we must speak out of Love. I find it an abomination against God when we judge others to be less than God intends. Only God can judge Edward Kennedy. Only God can judge us. No one can ever take my devout and hopefilled faith in my awesome God. God is pure love and understanding. Go with God, senator ed kennedy. Jesus said that he did not want sacrifice. He wanted mercy. God sacrificed his own son for our salvation. The really profound thing about this is that God forgave those who killed his son. The profound mystery is not in Christ’s death, but in the forgiveness that followed. that is RESURRECTION. Forgiveness is RESURRECTION.
I would like to add to my previous comments a question. When did it become the norm in the Catholic Church to give eulogies at funerals? I thought the place for such speeches to take place at a wake or at the burial service. And then to allow a non-Catholic, anti-life person such as Obama speak in a Catholic Church is inexcusable. Again, an insult to faithful Catholics. What a disappointment to witness such a display and for what??
Thank you Father Tom for your great article and so down to earth. Who are we to pass judgement on Teddy. His stance on abortion was wrong, no question about it. And Teddy had many faults as do a lot of us. But who knows what his Celebration of the Sacrament of Penance included. It was between his confessor and him. Only God is the judge and each of us will know when our time comes.
Your Salt and Light Network is wonderful. I look forward to the day I can tune into it here in the states.
God bless you in your ministry.
Tim
The Kennedy Family deserve our prayers and respect. But Jesus died for each and everyone of us with the same amount of love for all of us. It is the amount of love we each give back to God that makes the difference. Didn’t God ask, if you love me keep my commandments? You can not expect that a Catholic who didn’t vote for a pro abortion candidate because the Bishops said it was wrong, or a student at Notre Dame who did not attend their graduation because another Bishop said it was wrong for a pro abortion elected official to be honored at their University, to watch the speakers at the Kennedy Funeral practially canonize a man who never once said he was wrong about his stand on abortion rights or gay rights unions, not to feel confused if not betrayed or ashamed of its leaders. Sorry, but the leaders of our Catholic Church have a lot to answer for because they have failed to teach the faith, failed to renew in each generation a love and respect for our sacraments and sacraments. Everyone deserves mercy and every good living Catholic knows the simplest Mass is as effective as the elaborate Mass given to Sen. Kennedy. Shame on you for accusing the good people of the Catholic Church who struggle to obey the laws of the Catholic Church for seeing the hypocrisy of its leaders who allowed the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be blemished.
Many conscientious Catholics feel maligned by Father Rosica’s dismissive and high-handed comments. I intend to cancel my subscription to Salt+Light and intend to encourage others to do so.
“(S)omething is terribly wrong in the pro-life movement. Civility, charity, mercy and politeness seem to have dropped out of the pro-life lexicon.”
Since 1973 thre’s been nothing but civility, charity, mercy, and politeness from the prolife movement. In the meantime, 45 million have been slaughtered while priests and bishops failed with their cowardice to proclaim the endangering of proabortion Catholics of their souls if they didn’t stop facilitating this crime. This has led to many Catholics being led falsely to think it’s okay to support abortion — even radically so as did Ted Kennedy — and expect everything would be aokay in the afterlife.