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 must have been sleeping the day Ted gave away most of his wealth to the poor.
It sounds like he was ready for the priesthood, though I have not heard of any young boys being involved.
The Catholic hierarchy does not give a damn about someones continuous moral failures, beliefs, and actions, as long as they are rich and powerful. Ted Kennedy did nothing for the poor, black, or disenfranchised other than keep himself in power and they in their poverty and position.
He is nothing more than a liar, cheat, reprobate, traitor, etc. Yes! We should name the health care bill after him; it's as dead as he is.
Teddy defined CINO...that’s a legacy...
My father's brother sounds like the same as your Dad. He deeply wounded his kids when he left home with a younger woman and ended up leaving everything to the child he had with his second wife. He died of alcohol-related causes.
My own father insisted to his nieces and nephews that his brother was a "good man at heart." Told my Dad to cease and desist but he didn't get the deep pain he was causing.
Obviously true. I don't see anything "mixed" about it.
I hear you. however the Church always falls back on the everyone is redeemable tenents of the Church. I have NEVER heard anything about TED’s contributions to charitable causes. It would be interesting to see just EXACTLY what Charities he gave to. He lived his entire life getting a paycheck from the taxpayers. I heard, I believe in the 90’s that the family fortune which was tied to ole Joe’s whiskey distribution rights and property was in serious trouble.
There was even talk of selling the Merchandise Mart in chicago which they owned. I never kept up with that side of the Kennedy saga.
But I remember thinking the Patriarch couldn’t even manage the family fortune.
Yet the msm is slobbering over his abilities to tell the American People how they should allow him and his co-horts to spend our money.
The simple fact that public officials who claim to be Catholic, yet advocate killing infants, have not been disciplined indicts Catholicism’s authority.
As a Catholic, though he worked hard for the poor>>>
how much of his “own” money did he donate, was it more than Biden’s $300 per year?
Did he ever teach CCD, become a lector, work at a parish function?
“mixed Catholic legacy”
Mixed? Terrible and horrible?
Uhhh you forgot Mary Jo
Cardinal O’Malley and Archbishop Wurel continue the long, well-established, treasured tradition of the American Catholic ecclesiastical hierarchy in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, etc. of bowing to and honoring the extremely wealthy and politically-powerful like the Kennedy family. They don’t sell indulgences any more, they simply indicate that adherence to Catholic teaching on the sacraments and abortion is a ‘pocket-book’ issue. This is fully justifiable as doing otherwise would threaten diocesan budgets.
It’s the same in New Hampshire.
2) Abortion advocate
3) Sodomony advocate
Speaking well of the dead probably has its place -— but I don’t know where. Someone was either a good person or they weren’t I shared some wonderful stories about my dad but the other stuff was always there because it is part of who he was.
Matthew 22:21 - "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
As the Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us: What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
http://sonsoftherepublic.blogspot.com/2005/08/kennedy-dodd-waitress-sandwich.html
"Dodd and Kennedy were also reported to have made a 'human sandwich' with a waitress at La Brasserie, another Capitol Hill restaurant. The report had it that Kennedy threw the woman on Dodd, who was slumped in a chair, and then jumped on top of her. She was said to have run screaming from the room."
"When she put in an appearance in their private retreat - 'The Teddy Kennedy Fun Room' - the Massachusetts senator picked her up and heaved her onto a table. The crystal candlesticks and champagne glasses shattered as he grabbed her again and flung her on top of Dodd.
"Then Kennedy threw himself on top of the woman. The waitress implored Mr. Kennedy to 'Get off me!'
"Another waitress entered to find 'things all tipped over and Kennedy was on top, [the waitress] was in the middle and Dodd was on the bottom.' At that point the sandwich was disassembled."
La Brasserie, a French restaurant on Capitol Hill, closed last month, after a 27-year history of catering to political bigwigs and Hollywood A-listers.
"It was quite a Hill institution," said Lynne Breaux, executive director of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, who has eaten there several times. "It was a lovely restaurant."
La Brasserie was located in a town house on Massachusetts Avenue Northeast. It served such politicos as the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan, New York Democrat, former Vice President Al Gore and the late Rep. Sonny Bono, California Republican, as well as actors like Jimmy Stewart, Paul Newman and Jane Fonda, [and who could forget Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd making unique contributions to our sandwich menu] said Lynne Campet, a former co-owner of the restaurant.
"A lot of important people dined there," she said.
Mrs. Campet and her husband, Raymond, bought the restaurant in 1978 with Gaby and Marie Aubouin. At the time, it was a Greek-owned restaurant called Maxim's and previously a cafe called La Ruche.
Mr. Campet and Mr. Aubouin, who worked at the French Embassy together, built the restaurant into a neighborhood favorite. The outdoor patio was "very special," Mrs. Campet said, adding that diners sought the tables under the property's big tree.
The 2003 Zagat Survey, which rates restaurants in different markets, said La Brasserie's terrace "transports one to Paris."
The French-inspired menu included such items as the cold three pepper soup, crabmeat and mozzarella lasagna, homemade tarts and creme brulee.
In 1992, the restaurant was sold to sisters Audrey and Karinne Dequeker, who could not be reached for comment yesterday.
I wouldn't know. As for hypocrisy, what is your understanding of a Catholic annulment.
Hideous and Putrid?
Outrageous and Reprehensible?
From the outside looking in, it is easy to judge and cast aspirations towards others. Perhaps your uncle was a "good man at heart" but God will be the judge of that, not you.
"Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Matthew 7:1-2
First, let me say that I take pleasure in no man’s death and I send condolences to the survivors.
However, referring to Senator Kennedy as a Catholic is ridiculous to say the least. He did not live as a Catholic should, and his voting record flew in the face of non-negotiable teachings of the Church.
He may have darkened the doorstep of a church from time to time, but that signifies nothing. You can put a cat in the oven but that don’t make it a biscuit.
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