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."
Not true. Annullments (sp) no longer, if they ever did, make the children bastards.
One of my problems with anullments is the fact it voids the first marriage, as if it never existed when it did exist. And some can get annullments more easily than others. And does anyone really believe that God forgets about that first marriage?
I know people who waited years to get an anullment (sp) and people who got one just because they knew somebody. That one Kennedy, the one who slept with the teen babysitter, got an annullment pretty quickly. I recall some of the brouhaha about that. I also know people who waited years to get married because their partner had a tough time getting an annullment.
Yeah right, lmao.
Thank you for saying it so much better than I could and providing the link.
That’s hatefully unfair, and you know it.
The Catholic Church doesn’t cause or condone
pedophilia.
They’ve admitted and paid dearly for their
misjudgments .. rightfully and other times
just to quell the stormfires from the well
orchestrated PR and legal campaigns, which
use every media vehicle to blast them non-stop
for to poison any future jury pool and for the
extraction of the highest monetary awards.
And they’ve almost microscopically altered the
screening methods at the seminary level.
I condemn anyone, including priests, who would
dare abuse or take advantage of an innocent
child or anyone in sphere, as does the Church.
When my son was a child, he was cared for at the
home of a women whose husband we later learned was
accused of child molestation. He was a cop. Should
I have trashed all cops as child molesters ?
Good try.
Well then it’s a good thing you aren’t Catholic now isn’t it?
You people kill me but also amuse me so there is a bright spot.
Wow. You made the point clearly.
Unfortunately, some will continue to refuse to see that point.
The only forgiveness you or any of us can receive from The LORD is not by asking The LORD to look at the faith of others but by having sincere faith ourselves in The LORD Jesus Christ and his sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross. He hung and died in our place taking all of our sins and the punishment we deserve because of them upon Himself. By His death we die to sin. By His resurrection we live to righteousness. It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, not in anything nor anyone else. Our Church, Church affiliation, nor affiliation with others who we think are holy have absolutely no bearing whatsoever upon our salvation.
To be saved we must come to The LORD on an individual basis and simply and personally receive what only He can give.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Unless there is some catholic defination of bastard other than the dictionary......
I already know the definition and also know the history of the Catholic Church. Maybe you should read up more on them? You’re the one that appears to be confused with the “bastards” thing.
It went back to the 60-70's when U of D a catholic university fired a prof. for his outspoken anti-abortion stand. And he was NOT catholic. They said it was too controversial and it was in the Detroit News at the time...The hypocrisy about the BC pill, the lies I found out about what was going on was not scriptural...Had to have a civil face off with a sweet young nun, using scripture to debate her and she shut up.... Don't be so quick to use the word Hate like the left....I have no hate for the catholic church, just don't believe hook line and sinker everything a priest says..I politely questions some and got an unsatisfactory answer..Others were excellent. Co-redemptrist Mary) was the last thing I talked to a priest about and left that bible study because of his answer.
Your judgement of hate is not scriptural. What seeker did Jesus call hateful? That seems to be a stock answer of catholic, Oh your just hateful....yuk No love of Jesus in that is there? shame on you for not showing Christs love to others you know nothing about...
Here’s my proposal...Let’s all of us church-going Catholics who have been scandalized by the Catholic Church in Boston allowing the fiercely pro=abortion Kennedy to have a funeral Mass show our protest.
Let’s get the word out around the country that ereryone who is outraged, not put one red cent into the basket at Church for the next month and instead send the money to Right to Life. This will telegraph our disenchantment with the Boston Church’s decision and send a clear signal to all bishops to begin to take a stand on these traitorous politicians.
Send this out to every Catholic you know, on Facebook, on Twitter, you name it. It’s the only way we have to communicate that this stuff has got to stop.
Kennedy would be considered a ‘lost sheep’, and as he probably had confession before his death and expressed remorse for his sins, he’ll get a lost sheep’s welcome home. Unfortunately, his public stance/behavior on abortion in particular will remain as it was. Hypocritical. But Kennedy was a hypocrite of the first water.
Capitulation ,, they’ve been capitulating to him for 40 years..nothings changed.
Wacky Sam’s comment wasn’t about the truth or proportionality or anything of the kind.
Since when is a Mass necessarily an “honor”?
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