Over the weekend Patrick Kennedy, a Congressman from Rhode Island and son of Ted Kennedy, made public that he had been requested by his Bishop, Thomas Tobin, to refrain from receiving Holy Communion, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, due to his stance on abortion which is directly opposed to the teaching of the Catholic Church. The recent public feud has been in the news for a few weeks now after Kennedy attacked the church for the Bishop’s view of the House Healthcare bill but the issues of receiving communion had not been brought up until now. While the Bishops support healthcare reform and have for some time they could not support the bill as it was originally written due to its funding of abortion with taxpayer dollars. Bishop Tobin publically rebuked Congressman Kennedy for his comments, but stopped short of mentioning his prior request of Kennedy back in 2007 to refrain from receiving communion. It was just a week ago that Kennedy had mentioned he would no longer discuss his faith publically and yet he brought this fact out to the press over the weekend. Just think if such a rebuke had happened with his father Ted Kennedy back in the 70s. How many abortions could have been avoided had clear and firm Catholic teaching been made public back when Patrick’s farther started going down this same path. Personally I think it would have stopped people like Nancy Pelosi from even being in office.
It is good that Kennedy had been instructed not to receive the communion for his own soul and I think it’s even better that this information is now public. The Catholic Church will continue to have the issue of Catholic politicians supporting abortion while claiming they are Catholic as long as there are no public repercussions. It is absolute scandal for abortion supporting Catholics to appear to the public as though they are Catholic’s in good standing even with their pro-abortion voting record. They consistently claim they are personally opposed to abortion but need to represent the views of their constituents. As long as this dance with the devil is allowed to happen publically pro-abortion Catholic politicians will exist in Congress. It’s time for Catholic Bishops to stand up and do their jobs, and to do them publically, when it comes to rebuking pro-abortion Catholic politicians. The faithful need to know pro-abortion Catholics are not Catholics in good standing, and that his viewpoint risks one’s salvation.
Recent Comments