Posted on 08/28/2009 4:41:59 PM PDT by franky8
We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event. There was very little about Ted Kennedy's life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today.
Obviously we don't know the state of Senator Edward Kennedy's soul upon death. We don't pretend to. We are told by the family that he had the opportunity to confess his sins before a priest, and his priest has said publicly he was "at peace" when he died. For that we are grateful. But it is one thing to confess one's sins and for these matters to be kept, rightfully, private. It is another thing entirely for one who so consistently and publicly advocated for the destruction of unborn human beings to depart the stage without a public repudiation of these views, a public confession, as it were.
It is up to God to judge Senator Kennedy's soul. We, as rational persons, must judge his actions, and his actions were not at all in line with one who values and carefully applies Church teaching on weighty matters. Ted Kennedy's positions on a variety of issues have been a grave scandal for decades, and to honor this "catholic" champion of the culture of death with a Catholic funeral is unjust to those who have actually paid the price of fidelity. We now find out that President Obama will eulogize the Senator at his funeral, an indignity which, following on the heels of the Notre Dame fiasco, leaves faithful Catholics feeling sullied, desecrated and dehumanized by men who seem to look for opportunities to slap the Church in the face and do so with impunity simply because they have positions of power.
It is not enough for Kennedy to have been a "great guy behind the scenes" as we have seen him referred to even by his political opponents. It is also not praiseworthy to put a Catholic rhetorical veneer on his leftist politics that did nothing to advance true justice as the Church sees it or to advance the peace of Christ in this world. Every indication of Senator Kennedy's career, every public appearance, every sound bite showed an acerbic, divisive and partisan political hack for whom party politics were much more infallible than Church doctrines. Whatever one's political affiliation, if one is only "Catholic" to the extent that his faith rhymes with his party line, then his Catholicism is a fraud.
As the Scriptures remind us, there is a time for everything under the sun. This, now, is the time for honesty about our Faith and about those who are called to express it in the public forum. If we do not remind ourselves of the necessity of public confession for public sins such as Senator Kennedy was guilty of, then we are negligent in our embrace of the Faith and we are part of the problem. As Pope Benedict has reminded us recently, charity without truth can easily become mere sentimentality, and we must not fall into that error. A Catholic show of charity for the family must not eclipse the truth that is required of all with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Senator Kennedy needs to be sent to the afterlife with a private, family-only funeral and the prayers of the Church for the salvation of his immortal soul. He will not be missed by the unborn who he betrayed time and time again, nor by the rest of us who are laboring to undo the scandalous example of Catholicism that he gave to three generations of Americans.
Sincerely,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International
How refreshing that someone showed some guts in writing this. Didn’t Ted Kennedy say at Robert’s funeral something to the effect of not making more of him in death than he was in life? Is someone going to say that tomorrow at his service? Guess not - obuma is speaking and he can’t speak the truth!
But let us not forget what the truth is and keep fighting for it......
Get this skillful parsing. Of course he had "the opportunity to confess his sins"--like we all do--but did he?
Only God knows for sure.
The presiding over the funeral mass tomorrow by Cardinal O’Malley will set back the pro-life movement and the Catholic Church in the U.S. many years.The first thing my wife and I did when we heard of the Senator’s death was to say a prayer for him.But tomorrow’s ‘showcase’mass will serve only to justify the millions of anti-life Catholics.
ardara:
Actually, Cardinal O’Malley will not preside over the funeral Mass tommorrow. According to Raymond Arroyo on EWTN the World Over, The Kennedy Family asked to have a Public Funeral Mass at the Cathedral in Boston and asked the Cardinal to preside but they were refused. The Cardinal will be at the Mass but “will not preside over the Liturgy”.
He should have told them "he can go to hell"
Maybe even he is starting to fear God, or the wrath of Benedict. Either way, it's to the good. He's probably at a loss for words anyway.
Go to spiritdaily.com
Raymond Arroyo from EWTN’s The Word Over claims the family requested the mass be in the cathedral. The family’s request was refused.
ROCKLOBSTER:
Well I would think that would have been very uncharitable in the Fullness of the Christian Sense for the Cardinal to do so. In the end, I think a few things are in play here: 1) The fact that Sen. Kennedy was such a staunch advocate for abortion rights amounts to him being a “public sinner” that gives scandal for the faith, and thus he is not entitled to a “public Funeral Liturgy” at the Archdiocese of Boston Cathedral. 2) Sen. Kennedy did from all accounts did write a 10 page letter to the Pope, which we will never know the details, but I find it hard to believe that a 10 page letter was just politeness and is more likely to express a private sort of confession for his many transgressions and a request from the Senator that Pope Benedict pray for the repose of his soul, 3) Sen. Kennedy did ask for a Priest and all indications are that he made a sacramental Confession before his death and if he indeed showed contrition, then God’s Grace is more powerful than his sins, and thus we should all pray for his soul.
So in closing, there is no public Funeral Mass given his stance on Abortion still, given his confession before death, he is still entitled to a “private” Catholic funeral mass and in the end it is all in God’s hands and all we can do as pray for his soul, as tough as that may be for some of us more orthodox Catholics to do, but if we are orthodox Catholics, are faith requires as much.
pax et bonum
Wonder what that was all about?
ardara:
I read the article and the writer obviously does not know Catholic Liturgical Principles at all. The celebrant of the Liturgy is to be done by a Jesuit Priest named Fr. Monan and the Homily is to be given by a Diocesen priest. The Cardinal thus is not the celebrant as that is the Priest consecrating the bread and wine into the Holy Eucharist and he is not the Homilist. Thus, the Bishop is there only in his capacity as the Archbishop of Boston and will not have any role in the celebration of the Liturgy.
In addition, if Raymond Arroyo’s sources are correct, and his usually are, then Cardinal O’Malley rejecting the Kennedy families request for a Public Liturgy at the Cathedral speaks volumes, in my opinion.
Regards
I have prayed for his soul for years, as well as for other pro-abortion politicians to repent and convert. Praying my Rosary these days feels more and more like struggling against a tide of evil, but I won’t give up until those I pray for are either converted or dead.
Maybe he wanted the Pope himself to hear his Confession?
It sure does. Ted Kennedy continually slapped Jesus in the face with his sinful lifestyle and politics, and expected the Church to wink and nod and tolerate him nonetheless. My guess is their true feelings about him are coming out. The Cardinal is not for sale.
pray4liberty:
God bless you and good for you, your example should be followed by all of us, and that includes me. I do remember when Senator Kennedy got Cancer that I did pray that maybe he would use this as a time to make amends and penance for his actions. Perhaps this cancer was God using something painful, i.e cancer, to bring about his conversion.
We have no idea if Senator Kennedy had a deathbed re-conversion. We cannot judge.
Beginning Catholic: The Anointing of the Sick: Comfort and Healing [Ecumenical]
Catholics don’t do that. The Lord always waits, and we wait, for sinners to come back to the Church.
There wasn't a one of the Ten Commandments that Kennedy didn't perpetually break, plus the Golden Rule.
I challenge you to find any genuine redeeming characteristics of this misogynistic, traitorous, murdering, self-indulgent, drunken, reckless, baby-killing, bullying narcissist.
You're probably right, the Cardinal isn't authorized send him to Hell, but he certainly can exercise his First Amendment rights...I'll bet God would forgive him.
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