Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
Posted on 08/26/2009 1:07:04 PM PDT by NYer
.- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) passed away last night at the age of 77 after a battle with brain cancer. Kennedy, a Catholic, will be remembered for his service to the poor, and dedication to education but also his opposition to pro-life issues.
After a long struggle with brain cancer, last night Sen. Kennedy took a turn for the worse while at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Surrounded by his family members and a priest, Fr. Patrick Tarrant, he passed away around 11:30 p.m.
Fr. Tarrant told BostonChannel.com that Kennedy died while his family prayed. “They'd been praying all day, and it was a wonderful experience for me. I don't see it that often," Tarrant said.
Kennedy, known as “Ted” was the younger brother of both U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Sen. (D-NY) Robert Kennedy who were both assassinated in the 1960s. Their sister, Eunice Kennedy Schriver, who was lauded by the pro-life community died exactly two weeks ago at the age of 88.
The family released a statement following his death saying, “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.”
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston also emphasized Kennedy’s devotion to social work as well as his loving family who “stood by his side” as he “faced his illness with courage, dignity and strength.”
“For nearly half a century, Senator Kennedy was often a champion for the poor, the less fortunate and those seeking a better life. Across Massachusetts and the nation, his legacy will be carried on through the lives of those he served,” the cardinal said in a statement.
Archbishop Daniel Wurel of Washington, D.C. also offered his condolences to Kennedy’s family and emphasized the senator’s commitments to “alleviating poverty” as well as his strong support of the area’s Catholic schools.
Wurel recalled that for five years, the senator and Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) organized a dinner to benefit the schools. “As a result, thousands of disadvantaged children in the District of Columbia have had their lives transformed through a quality Catholic education."
Both Wurel and O’Malley offered to pray for the repose of Kennedy’s soul and that his family may find strength in Christ.
Kennedy's political aspirations were curtailed by an incident in 1969, when he accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick island in Massachusetts. While Kennedy was able to escape from the car, his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne could not free herself and drowned.
Kennedy did not report the accident until nearly nine hours later.
With so many questions as to why he waited to contact the police as well as with his fragmented account of the incident, his aspirations for the U.S. presidency remained unfulfilled.
Kennedy was involved in other controversies. As a Catholic, though he worked hard for the poor, he was criticized by bishops and pro-life leaders for supporting Roe v. Wade, the use of fetal tissue in experiments and for voting against a ban on partial-birth abortion.
Although he did not support legalized abortion early in his political career, he later earned a 100% NARAL Pro-Choice America rating. In contrast, Kennedy was rated as voting 0% of the time on pro-life issues.
Sen. Ted Kennedy will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his brothers John and Robert.
I thought the Vatican had repudiated that period in the Chruches History. I may be wrong.
It would be stupid for the Church to try to avoid that history.
I’ll agree with the “mixed” characterization of the Catholic life, Kennedy was ALLOWED to lead:
1) Bad.
2) Horrendous.
3) Damnable.
Socialism does not serve the poor, it serves to impoverish the middle class, and mire the poor in dependency.
It would be a sort of simony with somebody else’s money.
Kennedy’s rating from Lucifer: 100%!
How is cooking up ways to use other people’s money to give people deemed in need by government-paid bureaucrats moral and righteous?
And along comes the requisite mythology about his “legacy.” This guy was the worst of the worst ever to call himself “senator.” Truly a bad, bad man.
Not wealth, income. The Kennedy's have enormous wealth and that has not and will not be confiscated. It is income that is confiscated, not wealth.
Careful where you point those fingers, FRiend. Protestant churches were and are at least as "integrated with the state" as the Catholic Church ever was.
Wasn’t he and Kerry excommunicated a couple of years back by the Pope or some Cardinal or somebody for his stance on murdering babies? I thought I read of that here. Probably not, with all the Kennedy money.
He was also a strong advocate for homosexuality and homosexual rights.
I guess his first 20 year marriage was “annulled”, huh? I love the Catholic hierarchy hypocracy.
Not sure if he was ever formally booted, but Fat Drunk Ted voluntarily refrained from presenting himself for Holy Communion ... in that respect, he was more intellectually honest than Nancy Pelousy (for example).
Maybe he was scared of lightning.
That legacy is a mixture of Catholicism and satanism.
Sigh. Oh my. These Catholic elites are so "politically correct"™ that it makes me sick sometimes.
Bishop, did you ever think for one second what the policies he supported did to keep the poor in poverty? His support of abortion? What did that do for Catholic schools? He was NOT a Catholic, Bishop. NOT! Pray for his soul and be done with it. Don't eulogize this secular politician.
Protestants have had their hand in statism too, but less tenaciously than the RCC before them. (England’s Anglicans and Scotland’s Presbyterians are today only ceremonial heads with no legal power over affairs of state.) Evangelicals (e.g. Baptists and Amish) that are not considered part of any Protestant mainline have typically been averse to statism from the start.
2) Abortion advocate
I thought it was annulled even after three children.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
Feeling A Little Sympathy For Joan Teddy divorced his wife Joan in 1981, had the marriage annulled [The Catholic Church relegates the marriage as never occurring] in 1983, so that he could remarry as a Catholic in 1992. The second marriage was even "blessed" by the Catholic Church in 1995. "A Catholic annulment, or a declaration of nullity or invalidity, is a statement of fact, by the Catholic Church, that a valid marriage (as defined by the Catholic Church) never existed." Too bad for the children Patrick, Edward, and Kara -their parents were never married according to RC. Legally, no? Spiritually, no? I may have to google "bastard."
from Ted Kennedy's Bad Habit Of Leaving People. . . For Dead
Redistributing others’ wealth in the name of charity is not compassionate or necessarily Christian — taking the hard moral stance for Life and Faith despite the “conentional wisdom” is.
That said, may God’s Mercy be upon his soul...
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