Rhode Island Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin’s urging of Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D ‘- R.I., to stop receiving communion over Kennedy’s pro-choice stance represents a fundamental fault of the Church’s involvement in politics: it makes it impossible for religious politicians to please both Catholics and a nondenominational constituency.
In a Sunday Providence Journal story, two years of back-and-forth contention between Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Church came to a head when Kennedy said he received a letter from Thompson in 2007 that asked him to stop taking part in the sacrament of Eucharist. This, after the church lambasted Kennedy for criticizing its stance on a health care overhaul plan that included what Catholics deemed too loose a restriction on abortion.
Tobin reacted to the story in a subsequent Associated Press interview, noting the Church was praying for Kennedy and his ‘erratic’ behavior in an effort to shame the representative.
Kennedy maintains that his views do not make him any less of a Catholic, and in a world in which the Church has not solidly denounced capital punishment, it seems accountability is more important to the Catholic faith’s figureheads than the preservation of life. Plenty of Catholics quietly support abortive rights, and publicly admitting this ‘- especially in the give-and-take atmosphere of American politics ‘- should not change the way they are treated, and should not resultantly warrant personal condemnation through the press, which is, for lack of better words, extravagantly pious. Kennedy went public, too ‘- and first, even ‘- but his words were strictly political.
If the Catholic Church wants its views represented in this country, it should use its power to picket or protest as American citizens rather than make personal attacks to get its points across. The choice to use guilt as a method with which to slight Kennedy through revocation of communion is childish and counterproductive. If the Church is really concerned with abortion reformation it should play the game of politics rather than stoop to publicly humiliate politicians and try to pass it off as such.
As it stood when the letter to Kennedy was opened and read, the abortion clause that sparked the debate was unchanged, and so was the statement to Kennedy that he was no longer welcome in the Church. Nothing was solved, but Tobin’s statement that a man who works to grant health care coverage to the uninsured is unworthy of salvation lasted.
If the Catholic Church criticizes politics in Rhode Island or beyond ‘- no matter the movement or proposition ‘- that does not make it the moral authority on the subject. Yes, the Church is entitled to take a universal pro-life stance, but ostracizing Kennedy, who is working to insure the uninsured, does nothing more than project its image as stubborn and self-righteous.’ ‘ ‘
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The last line in this nonsensical (and quite obviously anti-Catholic) column sums it up. Yes, the Church is entitled to take a universal pro-life stance, but being principled about it is — get this — stubborn! (LOL) and, quite frankly, not tolerated by the writer. Yes, the Church is unabashedly pro-life. You got a problem with that? And Kennedy is CINO (Catholic In Name Only), so he can be pro-abortion and the Church can justly urge him to refrain from partaking in the sacrament which is the source, center and summit of the Catholic faith.