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	Arlene Violet - Kennedy Family in Church's Crosshairs The Valley Breeze November 22, 2009 http://www.valleybreeze.com/Freecol/Observer-North-Providence-Pawtucket-EDIT-arlene-violet-for-11-19 Recent ecclesiastical developments involving the Kennedy family have brought to light a long-simmering debate among Catholic prelates. The central issue revolves around the prohibition of abortion as the touchstone dogma separating real Catholics from pretenders vs. those in the church hierarchy who take a more holistic view of faith and who view its practice as an amalgam of moral practices, not just one issue. The public fissure of the respective schools of thought broke out when Cardinal Sean O'Malley presided over the recent funeral of U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy's father, Sen. Ted Kennedy. Archbishop Raymond Burke of Rome, a former head of the St. Louis archdiocese in America, castigated O'Malley as someone under the influence of Satan. The Cardinal ignored a lobby effort by conservative Catholic think tanks who wanted no church funeral for the senator because of his pro-choice position and other checkered chapters in his life. O'Malley's rejoinder to the Burke attack was to issue a statement where he strongly disagreed with the archbishop and argued that the church cannot change hearts by turning people away in their time of need. He argued that issuing harsh judgments and imputing the worst motives to one another will only cause irreparable harm to the church. Enter the Diocese of Providence's Bishop Thomas Tobin into the fray. He repudiated the notion that Patrick Kennedy could be a good Catholic while supporting access to federal funds for abortion in the recent health care legislation (which ultimately blocked funds for use for abortions.) The men canceled a meeting together when Kennedy acknowledged that the bishop would not agree to a rule that would keep private the exchange between them at such a sit-down. So for the record, the bishop stands behind his Nov. 12 column in the diocesan newspaper, The Rhode Island Catholic, where he wrote that Kennedy's position was "unacceptable to the church, scandalous to its members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the church." Score one for the Archbishop Raymond Burke side. You may recall that the archbishop also stated publicly that he would deny Holy Communion, a sacrament of the church, to Sen. John Kerry during his failed presidential bid. How this latest saga will play out remains to be seen. For sure, groups like pro-life Faith and Reason, no doubt, will urge Bishop Tobin to excommunicate Patrick Kennedy. Later this month the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will hold its general meeting, which is a harbinger of a bitter debate over the abortion vs. the holistic evaluation of just who is Catholic. While Bishop Tobin has the absolute right as well as the duty as he sees it to chastise Patrick Kennedy, he must evaluate where his steps will inevitably take him if he sanctions Kennedy. Won't Sen. Jack Reed, who has a similar position of the representative, also have to be excommunicated if the hammer falls on Kennedy? Mr. Reed has a vote coming up before the end of the year on a similar section in the health care legislation. Rep. Jim Langevin is pro-life but supports stem-cell research. (He voted to not allow the use of federal funds for abortion in the recently passed House health care reform bill.) Will Langevin be eventually anathema to the church? People glibly refer to "cafeteria Catholics" who pick and choose the doctrines to which they adhere while rejecting others, like premarital sex, contraception, and divorce, all of which at various times in church history were viewed as grievous mortal sins worthy of separation from the body Catholic. Will there be a wave of ousters? If one considers how many Catholic legislators there are in Congress as well as local bodies, then there would be a huge purge of the church roster, including Vice President Joe Biden's status, another politician that Archbishop Burke called unworthy to receive Communion and who ought to be banned from receiving it. The archbishop also argued that communion should be refused to any Catholic who voted for the pro-choice Barack Obama. So, where will the exodus end? No doubt some who read this column will probably think "good riddance" to these equivocating politicians who do not obey all the maxims of their religion. Inevitably, however, non-Catholics and those whose moral views are different will refuse to vote for any Catholic if they think that Rome will rule the United States. This leaves a limited pool of candidates for public office whose views might not even be sifted through the moral teachings of the church, which, in turn, could pack Congress and legislatures with people who have no moral compass. It's not an easy dilemma to resolve. - Violet is an attorney and former state attorney general. She is also a former nun who served with the Sisters of Mercy.
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