Posted on 08/27/2009 10:22:18 PM PDT by STARWISE
Saturday's grandiose Catholic funeral for Senator Ted Kennedy has the potential to be a scandal that will make Notre Dame's Obama Day a walk in the park.
With all four living former Presidents in attendance and an address from President Barack Obama, the funeral is set to be a royal crowning, right inside a Catholic Church, of a man who betrayed the most fundamental moral teachings of the faith.
What example will this give to Catholics and the rest of the world looking in? It will surely belie the Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life and sexuality.
"Surely," they will say, "if one of the most vociferous proponents of abortion and homosexuality in politics is so feted in the Church, the Church cannot possibly regard abortion as murder."
Would anyone so honor one who so advocated what the church officially considers an "unspeakable crime"?
The Church in the US has suffered a dangerous precedent with the recent Notre Dame award to President Obama. However, President Obama is not Catholic. Therefore, the impact of the scandal was blunted.
Regarding Senator Kennedy, however, the stakes are much higher in terms of scandal and public relations.
Kennedy, began his life as a Catholic in great ceremony. At age seven, he received his First Communion from Pope Pius XII in the Vatican. He was also pro-life early in his political career.
"Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old," he wrote in 1971.
However, abandoning the practice of faith is regarded as worse than never having known.
The Bible, in the second book of Peter teaches: "For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them." (2 Peter 2:20-21)
Rev. Patrick Tarrant, pastor of the Church where Kennedy is to be buried has informed the media that he was present at Kennedy's death and thus hopefully the senator made a last confession and was reconciled with the Church.
However, only a public repudiation of his militantly anti-life and anti-family actions would serve to lessen the scandal of the upcoming funeral extravaganza.
I don't discount that that might be coming. After all, Kennedy did have President Obama deliver a letter to the Pope when Obama made his visit to the Vatican in July. Although unlikely, given the Senator's recent, intense support for Obama's health care reforms, perhaps there was a public confession in the letter waiting to be released. We can hope and pray.
If we assume a private confession was made there could be a private funeral Mass for the family, without politicians and media. And of course there would still be a secular memorial event, with all the pomp and ceremony for this star of the secular world.
Such a deliberately subdued Catholic liturgical event for the Senator would, at this time, with the announcement of the Catholic funeral already out, come at the cost of enduring the rage of those who have become used to the Church giving in to their demands. However, the eternal benefit would be to send a clear message to Catholic politicians in particular, and to the public in general, that the Church is actually serious about the sanctity of human life.
It could also be an opportunity for Church leaders to repent of having failed to work hard enough to bring wayward Catholic politicians back to faith, or even of having in many cases led them away from the faith, as some clergy are known to have influenced Kennedy.
It would not be the first time the Church has apologized for not living up to it's pro-life convictions. In 2000, when Pope John Paul II was making his much touted "Universal Prayer" of "Confession Of Sins And Asking For Forgiveness" one of the ignored apologies concerned the unborn.
Then-Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân prayed "let us pray for those who are most defenseless, the unborn killed in their mother's womb or even exploited for experimental purposes by those who abuse the promise of biotechnology and distort the aims of science."
The Pope responded in prayer, "God, our Father, you always bear the cry of the poor. How many times have Christians themselves not recognized you in the hungry, the thirsty and the naked, in the persecuted, the imprisoned, and in those incapable of defending themselves, especially in the first stages of life. For all those who have committed acts of injustice by trusting in wealth and power and showing contempt for the "little ones" who are so dear to you, we ask your forgiveness: have mercy on us and accept our repentance. We ask this through Christ our Lord."
Canada suffered a similar scandal in 2000, with the death of former Catholic Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Despite his having legalized abortion, divorce and homosexuality he was given a state funeral in Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica, presided over by the archbishop of Montreal, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte. One of the pallbearers was Cuba's communist president Fidel Castro.
Five months after the funeral Calgary Bishop Fred Henry was asked if he were offended by Trudeau’s funeral. He replied: “Yes, I was.... there were some issues or questions there that might make one kind of pause and consider whether or not this was an appropriate funeral to have or not."
IMHO, Church/synogog leadership was coopted by the left. The people who used seminary to avoid serving in Vietnam are now the senior leadership among Christians and Jews.
The Vatican, I think, can come down only so hard on the US Church or it believes it will lose much of its declining membership. The same is true of all faiths, really.
Indeed. President George W. and Kennedy collaborated on the education bill early in his presidency and actually praised Kennedy. Kennedy then turned on the President for most of the other positions taken in his presidency. Notwithstanding Kennedy’s actions, the Bush’s will join in paying final respects to the man.
~~~~
Most of us know that George W. and Laura Bush have a deep core of class, manners and dignity. They will be nothing less than compassionate, kind, honorable and respectful in this circumstance.
I remember also that on 9/11, Laura Bush and Ted Kennedy
were at a meeting about education together .. a special indelible connection between them, I’m sure, on that terrifying day.
~~~~~~~~~
On 9/11, Mrs. Bush was headed to the Capitol for a Senate education hearing when the second plane struck the World Trade Center. Committee chairman Ted Kennedy recalls seeing her looking “so alone” as she walked down the hall toward him.
As she tried to reach her daughters, mother and husband, she was struck by the fact that she was watching, with Senator Kennedy, the worst tragedy since his brother John was assassinated. Together they went to the Caucus Room to calm the press. Kennedy says, “You take the measure of a person at a time like that. She is steady, assured, elegant.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001581,00.html
Could you expand on this? What do you mean by “three legged stool”? Do you mean the Church is unstable?
Much less Thomas Wolsey.
but that the Church is betrayed from within.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So?...what’s the plan for reform? As I see it, Catholic families would need to raise up righteous young men, who would attend corrupt seminaries. If their moral integrity survived the seminary influences, then finally, when they are old, they could enact needed reforms.
This would be a 50 to 80 year project just to **begin** the reform needed. How many souls will be led astray in the mean time?
Is Father Pfleger available?
That was an excellent article you referenced; I’d suggest all read it.
In those first few months after 9/11 the press was not the complete adversary it became in later years least of all against the first lady. And Kennedy himself, in addition to the clip above, commented on her attentiveness in meetings where, in contrast to many self-important political figures, she would come early, listen to all and speak last. So they no doubt remember the respect Kennedy gave Laura even though his relationship with the President became rocky in later years.
Ummm, Ted was Pro-life and anti-sodomy way back in the day. When the tide (Cough, campaign contributions, cough) changed so did Ted. Convictions my a$$, more like follow the money to demagogueville.
Bellflower is right.
It amazes me the capacity Catholics have for justifying the impossibly corrupt.
So he strayed from his mother's intense Catholic viewpoint. What's your point?
Hypocrisy like his should not be rewarded by the heirarchy of Boston. But then, they all believe any Kennedy is a lesser deity, so I suppose it is to be expected. Please do not think I believe he is ENTITLED to such honor. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For the archbishop of Boston to actually participate in such a funeral would be a monstrous mockery, and a black eye for the Church in America. I am ashamed of Boston Catholics who encourage and participate in this.
I strongly agree.
No convictions, duh, just a political/power whore.
True. So great a need for repentance.
the respect Kennedy gave Laura even though his relationship with the President became rocky in later years.
~~~
The sole reason it became rocky was because Teddy’s dirty, lowdown and despicable lies and castigation of anything President Bush did, supported or was promoting, strictly for political haymaking and caving into and feeding his demented fringe base .. until he began to sound a tinge demented himself ... and perhaps even at the expense of his soul.
President Bush couldn’t have been more respectful to him, because of his core decency with everyone.
You just don’t bear that kind of public, vicious false witness .. especially against a such a good person ... and call yourself a Christian .. never mind good Roman Catholic. But then he certainly had ample baggage in the heretical department.
It is what it is.
I'm quite happy, if Cardinal O'Malley doesn't say the Funeral Mass, because that's a real put down in the religious/political realm. Of course the MSM will make it out to be some sort of canonization, but it will be a SECULAR one.
As Salvation said, we have no idea whether or not this man repented of his sins during the course of his illness, so we are in no position to judge the state of his soul. The fact that he's not having a big splashy funeral in the Cathedral with the Cardinal presiding, says a LOT, in my opinion. I believe the Cardinal is trying to avoid the scandal of the big religious hoopla for the man, since he so clearly defied the Church in so many ways in the last 30 years. Having the funeral in a smaller church, without the presence of the Church hierarchy will accomplish that, in my opinion. It will be like the funeral of any other Catholic, except in the eyes of the media. I read, though, that the media presence is going to be kept quite small. I'm not going to watch any of it, so I'll have to find out here on FR what happened.
See Matthew 13:25-30
"This would be a 50 to 80 year project just to **begin** the reform needed."
That said, we do not know Ted's state of soul at death. By the Grace of God he may have confessed and repented. We are all subject to the Mercy of God which is profound and eternal and is available to those who seek It.
Ted had free will to serve God or not with his life. He alone must answer for his advocacy of the death of the innocents. The Church cannot control his or anyone's actions because that denies Free Will. Only Ted could control Ted.
The Church is there for sinners and hypocrites as God desires the salvation of sinners, Satan desires their destruction.
No an annulment does not make the first children bastards. It is not a “legal” annulment but a religious one.
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