In Boston, the center of Kennedy power and myth for decades, locals and politicians also reacted to word that the commonwealth's senior senator, who served the state for 46 years, had passed away.Posted on 08/26/2009 9:26:20 AM PDT by NYer
BOSTON -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died in peace with his whole family praying around him, the clan's priest said Wednesday morning as the world mourned Massachusetts' senior senator, who died from brain cancer at the age of 77.
"It was a total surprise to me to see another world he was involved in -- the spiritual world," said Rev. Patrick Tarrant of Our Lady of Victory Church.
Tarrant, who was called to Kennedy's bedside late Tuesday as the senator was dying, said it was clear that Kennedy was ready for the journey that awaited him. He described the senator as "a man of quiet prayer" in his last hours.
"The truth is, he had expressed to is family that he did want to go. He did want to go to heaven. He did want to die and he did want to go. He was ready to go. There was a certain amount peace -- a lot of peace, actually -- in the family get-together last night. I couldn't help but think that the world doesn't know that part of the senator at all," Tarrant said in a lilting Irish brogue.
As is part of the family tradition, Kennedy was surrounded by loved ones, including his wife, Vicki, his children and other relatives, the priest said.
"I was there last night when he died and the whole family were praying. They'd been praying all day, and it was a wonderful experience for me. I don't see it that often," Tarrant said. "It's commendable."
The Roman Catholic priest was called to Kennedy's bedside when Kennedy took a "serious turn for the worse" between 9 and 10 p.m.Tuesday, Tarrant said.
Kennedy died about 11:30 p.m., he said.
Tarrant said the public generally knows about Kennedy the politician, but in death, he said, he saw a more personal side that was deeply devout.
"I think the whole world knows certain parts very well, but I think there's another part of his life that very few people know, and that's his deep faith. His very deep faith in God and his love for his family," Tarrant said.
The priest recalled how Kennedy led the prayers following Kennedy's sister Eunice's death Aug. 11, even though he was debilitated by his brain cancer. He said it was clear it was Kennedy's faith that gave him strength.
"He was there and very reverent. I wish the world had known that part of him, but that was his secret. It was like it was the secret of his power, to be involved in doing good for others and it was what, I believe, drove him," Tarrant said.
He said priests pray for the faithful to go in peace and Kennedy did, comforted and consoled by his family.
"They were there and they were very prayerful and reverent and of course, crying," he said. "Of course they were aware that the very sick, the sense of hearing is the last thing to go. So, whatever is said around the sick bed is always heard by the patient ... and they were very well aware of it. They let him know how much he was loved and cared for and missed ... it was quite an experience, for me," he said.
National and State Reaction
Long before dawn, residents, press and Kennedy aides began gathering outside Kennedy's Hyannis Port compound, brought there by the news that Kennedy had lost his year-long battle with brain cancer.
In Boston, the center of Kennedy power and myth for decades, locals and politicians also reacted to word that the commonwealth's senior senator, who served the state for 46 years, had passed away.
"Sen. Kennedy was the real deal -- an authentic, principled and giving public servant who pushed us to work for things yet to be. His work eased our concerns, lifted us with opportunity and filled us with pride," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said.
"Boston has never had a greater champion. Massachusetts has never known a more relentless fighter for economic and social justice. America has never witnessed a more influential and productive legislator," Menino said.
"He was always the first one to call if you needed encouragement," U.S. Rep. John Tierney said.
“Never afraid to sail against the wind in the name of justice, equality and opportunity, Senator Kennedy was a treasured friend and a legislator without peer. Throughout his distinguished career, he helped bring health care to millions of children, enabled many young people to afford a college education and ensured that so many could realize the American dream," U.S. Rep. Ed Markey said in a statement.
President Barack Obama, vacationing nearby on Martha's Vineyard, offered his condolences to the Kennedy family, calling Ted Kennedy a "colleague, counselor and friend."
Obama said although everyone "knew this day was coming," it was anticipated "with no small amount of dread." Still, he said, the senator's battle with brain cancer allowed him the "blessing of time" for loved ones and public to "say thank you and goodbye" that wasn't given to Kennedy's brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated in the prime of their lives.
"His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and affect millions of lives," Obama said, adding that Kennedy was a "defender of a dream" for many Americans.
"He lived an extraordinary life and the good that he did lives on," Obama said.
Vice President Joe Biden wept as he talked about the passing of his longtime friend and senate colleague.
He said he served with Kennedy since Biden was elected at the age of 29 and Kennedy was 30. He said he was profoundly affected by Kennedy's infectious optimism.
"He was never defeatist. He never was petty ... He was never small," Biden said. "And in the process of his doing, he made everyone he worked with bigger. Both his adversaries and his allies."
Biden said Kennedy altered lives and helped change the way Americans saw themselves and saw each other.
"Every important event in my life ... every single one, he was there. He was there to encourage, to counsel, to be empathetic, to lift up," Biden said.
"I, literally, would not be standing here if it were not for Teddy Kennedy," he said. "He was there, he stood with me, when my wife and daughter were killed in an accident. He was on the phone with me, literally, every day, in the hospital."
Biden said Kennedy affected hundreds of people the same way.
"He's left a great void in our public life and a hole in the hearts of millions of Americans," Biden said.
the best friend the North Vietnamese , the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Rouge ever had .....rest in perdition
Here’s to Teddy! I apologize if my irreverence offends but this song by Kevin Fowler is just too appropriate. I will rejoice if Teddy’s faith is real but I am sad that he didn’t live it out better on earth.
Chorus)
The Lord loves the drinkin’ manSends honkey tonk angels to the promise land
I hear that he can turn water to wineAny man that can do that is a good friend of mineI’ve been baptized in beer, I’m here to testifyI was speaking in tongues when I came home last nightSome folks say I’m livin’ in sin, but I know
(chorus)
The Lord loves the drinkin’ man
The Preacher man he told me boy you ain’t no good
The devils gonna getcha, better start actin’ like you
should
All the cold beers and bright lights, stayin’ out all
nightThe good book it tells me boy your soul’s gonna burn
My mamma said son you’re headin’ down the wrong roadThey don’t let honkey tonkers up in heaven I’ve been
told Don’t you worry mamma I’ll see you up in heaven
I’ve been thinking ‘bout it and I’ve come to this
conclusion now,
(chorus)
My daddy says son you’re living your life all wrong
Lighting’s gonna strike you down before too long
That man upstairs he don’t like what you do
When you reach those pearly gates you ain’t getting
throughWell I’ve been thinkin’, I’ve got a brand new plan
I’m gonna start a little church down at the Stumble
Inn
Yea that’s right I’m gonna start my own religion
We’ll be drinkin’ and dancin’ at the church of Hank
Williams yea,
(repeat chorus)
Oh, yea I know
The Lord loves, I hope he does, the Lord loves the
drinkin’ man
At least now he will face a judge he can’t buy off and one whom he can’t send thugs to intimidate.
He will finally face pure judgement and justice.
Of course you’re correct, but if I were a betting man...
Whatever.
Well, I won’t judge the man’s salvation, but, in life, he was a skunk of the lowest order.
I could care less what he did with his final breath
I know damn well what he did with his entire life
The day he found out, he knew there wasn't enough time for all the repenting and penance he had to do. He should have started years ago.
As a Catholic, I’ll pray for the repose of his soul.
I think a lot of people are going to meet Mr Teddy Kennedy in their dreams, just like my father met Frank Sinatra in his dream. During Armed Forces Radio days in early 40’s, my Dad controlled the electronics and Frank kept missing his cue. My Dad just turned on the sound, it was Frank who kept messing up, but Frank got madder and madder at my Dad. Frank finally got so angry that he threw his cigarette lighter at my Dad (he missed). Then Frank got his cues right. Well, my Dad forgot all about it, because my Dad just isn’t one to hold a grudge against ANYone (sometimes even when I think he should). A few years ago, Dad had a dream and told me the story I just told you about Frank Sinatra and that Frank had appeared in a dream (a very vivid dream) and had apologized to my Dad for the incident. My Dad said that Frank’s apology was the first time he’d thought of the occasion since it’d happened. I told my Dad: You don’t necessarily believe in a place of Purging, but I do and old Frank will not be able to enter Heaven until he’s purged himself of all the unChrist-like actions during his life.
Now, some will play God and damn both Frank and Teddy to Hell. We can’t make that call. And I think it is a presumptuous sin for anyone to try to assign someone other than Satan and his fallen angels to the place God created solely for Satan and his angelic host.
New American Standard Bible (©1995) For my Catholic family
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
King James Bible for my Protestant family members
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123086375678148323.html
Jan 2, 2009 WSJ article entitled How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma
PS that was Psalm 19:13 I quoted above.
I believe Mr. Kennedy suffered from tepidity; that is, and by all appearances, he procrastinated loving God and living a faithful life until the very end. It was easier for him to develop a hardness of heart toward God for many years rather than to serve Him well.
Having said that, I will not pass judgment on him. If there is one guarantee in this life, it is that all of us will see the Face of God. More than any other single factor, God requires repentance to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Whether he achieved this is unknown, but we should all hope for Mercy, even for Ted Kennedy.
All the barf-inducing praise doesn’t convince me at all.
The last words I heard my mother speak were, "I want to go." I knew then she'd seen something irresistable.
Our Lady of Victory, pray for the Kennedy's, living and deceased.
Nor should it. Anyway, it's out everybody's hands now.
Teddy took a serious turn for the worse in 1969.
“Well, I’m not Catholic, so I can get away with passing judgment on that fat creep.” Don’t be so sure of that. If you truly believe the words in the Bible, which applies to all Christians, then you would not be passing judgements on anyone. Judgement is best left to God. I do not approve of Kennedy’s many transgressions but feel sorrow for the family’s loss of two members of the family in 2 weeks. And I feel empathy for anyone who suffers from such deadly illnesses,
Tarrant, who was called to Kennedy's bedside late Tuesday as the senator was dying, said it was clear that Kennedy was ready for the journey that awaited him. He described the senator as "a man of quiet prayer" in his last hours.
"The truth is, he had expressed to is family that he did want to go. He did want to go to heaven. He did want to die and he did want to go. He was ready to go. There was a certain amount peace -- a lot of peace, actually -- in the family get-together last night. I couldn't help but think that the world doesn't know that part of the senator at all," Tarrant said in a lilting Irish brogue.
And what about his pro-abortion views and activism? Any regret for that?
I think I’ll vomit. Fat Teddy may have had a deathbed conversion, but I doubt it. This “priest” needs to go out and discover what his own religion is. Hint: It’s not the Democratic Party.
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