If true, this is one of the possible fallouts and scandals the Archdiocese of Boston (Cardinal O’Malley) encouraged when allowing Ted Kennedy to get a full and public Catholic funeral.
I hold no brief for O'Malley (principally, but not entirely, because of his [expletive deleted] response to Summorum Pontificum, but as late as Friday, according to the radio citing the Chancery as the source, O'Malley planned to be in Denver Saturday. And all week on the local news, there was never a mention of who would celebrate the funeral Mass.
The Mass was said at Mission Church, AFAIK under the control of the Redemptorists, who don't really answer to the Archdiocese the way diocesan priests do, and the Redemptorists are not noted for their orthodoxy. I heard that the Kennedys wanted the Cathedral and were refused.
Cdl. O'Malley looked very unhappy about being there and he took no real part in the proceedings. Blackmail is such an ugly word, but there are a lot of ways the local pols could hurt the Archdiocese. (They're doing it anyway.)
Bill Donohue on Laura Ingram this a.m. said he'd never seen a funeral Mass for someone of TKs stature with so few priests. And, personally, I suspect that TK may have been buried at Arlington because O'Malley refused him burial in a Catholic cemetery.
I too wish O'Malley had come out with a blistering statement. OTOH, I'm not the one who would have had to make the statement and I'm not the one who would be responsible for repercussions that would fall on the Archdiocese.