Religious convictions are a poor excuse for criminal negligence

PRINCE WILLIAM Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert did the right thing, of course, when he filed charges against the father who on a hot day accidentally left his daughter to die in the family van.

To bring you up to date, Kevin Kelly of Manassas was put in charge of 12 of his 13 kids early last month while his wife and eldest child were on a trip to Ireland.

After returning from errands one day, everyone piled out of the van and moved on to new things--everyone except 21-month-old Frances, who was left strapped in her safety seat in the closed van.

Seven hours later neighbors noticed the child in the car and brought the situation to the family's attention. Frances was dead.

Twelve people, a dad and 11 kids, some of them teenagers, failed to notice that Frances was not around. Not to play. Not to eat. Not for a diaper change. Not for a nap. Just not around.

The ensuing investigation revealed that Kevin Kelly had lost track of his kids before: Until he was called on the phone, he hadn't realized he left a 4-year-old at a video store. More recently, Frances herself had been found wandering in the middle of the street, unattended.

The Kellys are good Catholics, their supporters say. Maybe. Good parents? I think most people would find that debatable.

Good parents these days don't have 13 kids. Maybe on a 19th-century farm it made sense, where kids could do the work more cheaply than farmhands. But even the most devoutly religious of us ought to understand that in today's world, family does not mean brood. It's not cute, or funny, or right. It's stupid and irresponsible.

Reports indicate that the responsibilities the family's size imposed on its members have been taking a heavy toll on their mental health.

There is a reason that Virginia has rules and sets forth licensing requirements governing the number of children allowed at a family-operated day-care facility, which is what the Kelly home might as well be. That's because there is a limit to the number of children one adult can be reasonably expected to keep track of.

No matter what the rules, though, any parent familiar with child-care settings would never leave a child at a place where one person is watching as many as 12 or 13 kids.

Some of the Kelly children were old enough to be baby sitters themselves, but they didn't miss Frances either, despite their level of maturity. In that light, most of the family members are guilty of gross negligence, including the children's absent mother, Mary, who saw fit to leave her forgetful husband in charge of the mob. Certainly she should be able to visit her ailing father in Ireland, but couldn't she have arranged for a relative, friend, or church member to be on hand?

Such negligence by Kevin Kelly in particular is no different than that of the father who inadvertently leaves a loaded handgun on a nightstand for his child to find and discharge on a sibling or himself.

How about the parents of a child who eventually dies because they failed out of religious conviction or simple neglect to seek obviously needed medical attention?

Such incidents are not only tragic, they are criminal. They merit charges and a jury's deliberations.

After Frances' death, some of the Kellys' fellow church members came to their defense, which I suppose is admirable given that Kevin Kelly's blunder was indefensible by any stretch of moral decency.

But it would seem that these church members view the sanctity of life in two ways: Choosing to terminate a fetus is a grievous sin, but leaving a toddler to die in a closed vehicle is an unfortunate oversight.

One of those co-members at All Saints Catholic Church is Del. Robert G. Marshall, the ardently pro-life Prince William County Republican. He thinks this situation could happen to anyone in a moment of distraction. Seven hours, however, is quite a long moment.

Such a blatant double standard is yet another dilemma facing a church already beset with scandal. Its inability to simply oust priests who sexually abuse children may reflect the desire to forgive, but it not only puts more children at risk, it also puts members to a test of faith that some won't stick around to take.

Without a doubt, religious freedom is one of the primary liberties that makes this nation great. For followers of Catholicism and other religions, the laws of the church can exceed all others.

But there are certain realities that the modern world requires us to acknowledge. One of them is that religious conviction is no defense for criminal negligence. Another is that meting out punishment in one case can help prevent a recurrence.

Is Frances Kelly in a better place? We want to believe she is. But I bet no one wishes more than the Kellys that she was still right here with her family.

This was published a week ago, but I just found it.

Yes, the father was horribly negligent, but the venom directed at the Church is completely uncalled-for. Nobody is defending his neglect.

So allowing the state to decide how many children one can have is going to alleviate this problem how? I do agree it is horrible that this happened. Should the man be criminally charged? Maybe, maybe not. But to insinuate a belief in faith caused this to happen is misguided

So allowing the state to decide how many children one can have is going to alleviate this problem how?

Good point. I grew up with a family that had 11 kids, and nothing like this ever happened. The number of kids isn't the problem here.

>>>>>but the venom directed at the Church is completely uncalled-for. Nobody is defending his neglect.

This is just a political hit piece against the Republican, the dad and family are just canon fodder in the attack ("One of those co-members at All Saints Catholic Church is Del. Robert G. Marshall, the ardently pro-life Prince William County Republican.")

Smearing Catholics is just a convenient extra.

patent

The same paper reported that a 6-year-old boy was drowned last weekend. The parents took him on a (Baptist) church outing, and although they knew he could not swim, allowed him to play on the diving board without a life vest.

In an ironic twist, that family's name was Kelly also. I'll be interested to see if Mr. Amrhine calls for criminal negligence charges for those parents as well.

You should have seen his follow-up column this week: the theme was "Some of my best friends are Catholic." He got letters from as far away as Washington State & New York. The Star printed eight or nine, none in support, which leads me to believe there weren't ANY.

Ack! How does this person survive with all that venom in him?

Why doesn't he get upset about the Genetic Contributor (female) that left her two kids to die in a hot car while she got her hair done?

a.cricket

The writer fails to mention that the Catholic Church routinely grants "dispensations" to use birth control, to parents who are already seriously overburdened with more children than they can properly care for. These parents didn't have to choose between abandoning their faith and limiting their family to a size which they could manage.

The writer fails to mention that the Catholic Church routinely grants "dispensations" to use birth control

Where did you hear that?

The use of artificial contraception for the purpose of preventing more kids (rather than for medical reasons) is objectively sinful. Where did you get the idea that the Church "routinely" grants "dispensations" to commit this sin?

Provide a source, or admit that you're lying.

I've read a couple of accounts of this over the years, as well as heard an account from a Catholic describing the experience of a friend of his. In this country, only a small percentage of Catholics believe and follow the Church's teachings on birth control in the first place, so they wouldn't feel the need to seek a dispensation. However, it is my understanding that when a Catholic does seek a dispensation to use contraceptives, due to having a large family already, combined with financial and/or medical hardship, it is readily available -- though perhaps this varies between geographical subdivisions of the Church.

If the practice wasn't normally prohibited, one would hardly need a dispensation for it. Dispensations are also granted for a Catholic to enter into a valid marriage with a non-Catholic, with the ceremony being performed in the non-Catholic partner's church, and I know that canon law, as of 1983, specifically authorizes such dispensations to be granted by parish priests. I don't know if there is any such explicit authorization re contraception; it may be that such dispensations are being given without the explicit blessing of canon law, but they are being given.

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