Posted on 08/27/2009 10:22:18 PM PDT by STARWISE
Saturday's grandiose Catholic funeral for Senator Ted Kennedy has the potential to be a scandal that will make Notre Dame's Obama Day a walk in the park.
With all four living former Presidents in attendance and an address from President Barack Obama, the funeral is set to be a royal crowning, right inside a Catholic Church, of a man who betrayed the most fundamental moral teachings of the faith.
What example will this give to Catholics and the rest of the world looking in? It will surely belie the Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life and sexuality.
"Surely," they will say, "if one of the most vociferous proponents of abortion and homosexuality in politics is so feted in the Church, the Church cannot possibly regard abortion as murder."
Would anyone so honor one who so advocated what the church officially considers an "unspeakable crime"?
The Church in the US has suffered a dangerous precedent with the recent Notre Dame award to President Obama. However, President Obama is not Catholic. Therefore, the impact of the scandal was blunted.
Regarding Senator Kennedy, however, the stakes are much higher in terms of scandal and public relations.
Kennedy, began his life as a Catholic in great ceremony. At age seven, he received his First Communion from Pope Pius XII in the Vatican. He was also pro-life early in his political career.
"Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old," he wrote in 1971.
However, abandoning the practice of faith is regarded as worse than never having known.
The Bible, in the second book of Peter teaches: "For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them." (2 Peter 2:20-21)
Rev. Patrick Tarrant, pastor of the Church where Kennedy is to be buried has informed the media that he was present at Kennedy's death and thus hopefully the senator made a last confession and was reconciled with the Church.
However, only a public repudiation of his militantly anti-life and anti-family actions would serve to lessen the scandal of the upcoming funeral extravaganza.
I don't discount that that might be coming. After all, Kennedy did have President Obama deliver a letter to the Pope when Obama made his visit to the Vatican in July. Although unlikely, given the Senator's recent, intense support for Obama's health care reforms, perhaps there was a public confession in the letter waiting to be released. We can hope and pray.
If we assume a private confession was made there could be a private funeral Mass for the family, without politicians and media. And of course there would still be a secular memorial event, with all the pomp and ceremony for this star of the secular world.
Such a deliberately subdued Catholic liturgical event for the Senator would, at this time, with the announcement of the Catholic funeral already out, come at the cost of enduring the rage of those who have become used to the Church giving in to their demands. However, the eternal benefit would be to send a clear message to Catholic politicians in particular, and to the public in general, that the Church is actually serious about the sanctity of human life.
It could also be an opportunity for Church leaders to repent of having failed to work hard enough to bring wayward Catholic politicians back to faith, or even of having in many cases led them away from the faith, as some clergy are known to have influenced Kennedy.
It would not be the first time the Church has apologized for not living up to it's pro-life convictions. In 2000, when Pope John Paul II was making his much touted "Universal Prayer" of "Confession Of Sins And Asking For Forgiveness" one of the ignored apologies concerned the unborn.
Then-Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân prayed "let us pray for those who are most defenseless, the unborn killed in their mother's womb or even exploited for experimental purposes by those who abuse the promise of biotechnology and distort the aims of science."
The Pope responded in prayer, "God, our Father, you always bear the cry of the poor. How many times have Christians themselves not recognized you in the hungry, the thirsty and the naked, in the persecuted, the imprisoned, and in those incapable of defending themselves, especially in the first stages of life. For all those who have committed acts of injustice by trusting in wealth and power and showing contempt for the "little ones" who are so dear to you, we ask your forgiveness: have mercy on us and accept our repentance. We ask this through Christ our Lord."
Canada suffered a similar scandal in 2000, with the death of former Catholic Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Despite his having legalized abortion, divorce and homosexuality he was given a state funeral in Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica, presided over by the archbishop of Montreal, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte. One of the pallbearers was Cuba's communist president Fidel Castro.
Five months after the funeral Calgary Bishop Fred Henry was asked if he were offended by Trudeau’s funeral. He replied: “Yes, I was.... there were some issues or questions there that might make one kind of pause and consider whether or not this was an appropriate funeral to have or not."
>Your judgement of hate is not scriptural. What seeker did Jesus call hateful? That seems to be a stock answer of catholic, Oh your just hateful....yuk No love of Jesus in that is there? shame on you for not showing Christs love to others you know nothing about...
Good point. People seem to forget that Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple with a scourge... because he hated what they had done. They also seem to forget “The fear of the Lord is to hate all evil.”
It seems that many people are under the belief that to “love” someone is to never [heatedly] disagree or oppose... their version of “turn the other cheek” is no different from “take it in the ass”. (Sorry, but I don’t believe there is a better or less offensive way to describe that ‘equivalence’; the distortion SHOULD be offensive.)
>>The Kennedy Funeral - A Golden Opportunity or Capitulation for the Catholic Church
>
>Correction: The Kennedy Funeral - A Golden Opportunity or Capitulation for the Archdiocese of Boston
Correction: The Kennedy Funeral - A Golden Opportunity of Capitulation for the Archdiocese of Boston
We do not know his state of soul at death. He was given many chances to confess and repent at the end. Anyone who is not excommunicated may have a Mass of Christian Burial. God is infinitely merciful and always ready to forgive the lost, even Ted. We are may intensely dislike the evil that someone has wrought but we are required to pray for his eternal salvation in Christian charity.
“And you know this how?”
First let me say that Confession without doing the Penance (if you are able) is worthless. For publicly supporting the killing of babies in the Senate for forty years, Penance would almost certainly include a public statement.
Now, how do I know about what? That he was on his death bed for the last 6 months?
...for starters, He had the presents of mind to petition the state of MA to change the secession laws, so that when he died a democrat would fill his seat in the Senate.
Or, how do I know it will damage the Church?
Just watch.
If this were to be a low keyed funeral with just the parish priest it would be less damaging, but a “State” funeral attended by Bishops and Cardinals sends the wrong message, a very destructive message, to the faithful.
That is indeed good news, and for those who understand the hierarchy (I’m not as well-versed on it anymore) that is a plus. Perhaps some behind-the-scenes discussion actually took place about the message an extravagant Cathedral event would send.
It is still sad, IMHO, that ‘Catholics’ in government don’t practice their faith in a way that would be very admirable and could make a difference.
I always remember what I was taught in Catholic high school about Bishop Cranmer who, reportedly, as he lay dying said, “Oh, that I had served my God as well as I have served my King”.
And, I have always been impressed with the fact that the name “Cranmer” isn’t remembered or recognized by most people, but the name Sir Thomas Moore is.
Don’t think the Catholic church needs the guidance of this person considering they have done pretty well without it.
Also, no one who might otherwise be tempted to 'water' his grave would disrespect Arlington that way.
Cardinal O'Malley Statement on Passing of Senator Edward M. KennedyBy having the funeral in the Mission Church (which I found out is one and the same as the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica), it would seem the Church, as always, is trying to walk that fine line between adherence to church tenets and concern for the family. However, by their not mentioning, even obliquely, that many Kennedy's positions and actions were at great variance from church teachings they have done a disservice to the faithful who strongly believe and fight for Church principles especially the rights of the unborn. Once again the Church bows to the altar of liberalism, humanism and political correctness and not to the altar of God."Today we mourn the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and we extend our heartfelt prayers and sincere condolences to his wife Victoria and their children, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran and Caroline. Senator Kennedy was blessed with a dedicated and loving family who stood by his side, particularly during the past year as he faced his illness with courage, dignity and strength.
We join with his colleagues in Congress and the people of Massachusetts in reflecting on his life and his commitment to public service. 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 letter was apparently signed by "auto-pen." Several FReepers who have lost relatives to that kind of cancer have voiced doubts that he was coherent at the time of the letter.
BTW, I don't agree with the Catholic Church annulling this marriage just so Kennedy could be wed in the Church again.
God will Judge Kennedy and those who helped lead him on the path to hell...
sw
I guess it’s a good thing I’m a deist.
The Bush family does what is proper.
If he didn’t go, we would be treated to stories about his “guilty conscience” about the war, about how he was afraid to face Obama, about how he was always overwhelmed by Kennedy’s personna, etc. etc.
It’s proper for him to go. He’s not going to be giving the eulogy, just sitting in a pew.
My understanding is the only George W. Bush will attend for the family and not George H.W. Bush.
You say that as if the official name of the church is a secret -- it's not; it's common knowledge.
And the church has always been staffed by the Redemptorists, not diocesan priests. My guess is the Order owns the church, and the Redemptorists in recent years, I hear, are little better than the Jesuits (or at least not as noisy). The Orders don't answer to the bishop.
Um, no. Bells and whistles is the archbishop saying the funeral Mass at the cathedral and that's not happening.
just realists based on the churches history for a couple of decades.
~~~~
And that refers to ?
Pardon me if I jumped to a conclusion
OTHER than the most prominent headlines
for the last decades that involve the
Church, that were also inferred in the
posts about yours.
~~~~
shame on you for not showing Christs love to others you know nothing about...
~~~
False piety. God knows well my heart.
~~~
I have no hate for you .. I don’t know
you. Terrible incorrect assumption there.
Very sorry you had a bad experience and,
as you describe it, felt “forced” to leave
the entire Church.
To be more specific: about the covering-up of religiou symbols by Georgetown during the Obama talk last year? Georgetown is a separately-incorporated entity which severed itself from the formal control of the Church in, IIRC, 1967. A more proper criticism of them would be that they are not Catholic enough.
About the giving of a public, honorific church funeral to a scandalous abortion-supporter like Kennedy? This is in violation of Canon Law: see Canon 1184-3 "Church funerals are to be denied to the following (unless they gave some sign of repentance before their death): manifest sinners to whom a church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful."
Once again, the problem is not that the Archdiocese of Boston is too Catholic, but that it is not Catholic enough. It has cozied up with the Enemy against the Church.
I am as sick at heart over this bullsh!! as you are. Not because the Catholic Church is a scam, but that the Church is betrayed from within.
As has happened hundreds or thousands of times since the beginning. Think of the Twelve Apostles, Jesus' individually-chosen right-hand men: one of them betrayed Him; another denied Him; and most of the rest headed for the tall grass when Jesus was bound and led off to be slain.
The Cross. The Grave. Resurrection. Pentecost.
I am on hold right now!
The funeral is at a Redemptorist mission. How many Redemptorists do you know pay any heed to a bishop? There are some really good Redemptorists out there, but orthodox isn’t part of their motto. For them, this is a pastoral issue. From the way this has all been set up, the Archdiocese of Boston, officially anyway, is not involved.
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