Christianity Without Conviction
by
Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.
On Saturday morning, a funeral Mass for Senator Edward “Teddy” Kennedy will be held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica on the outskirts of Boston.
A Kennedy family statement says that the Basilica “took on special meaning as a place of hope and optimism” for the Senator.
What kind of hope? What source of optimism?
Before Vatican II, a man with Kennedy’s record of cardinal offenses could never expect his corpse to be blessed in a Roman Catholic Church – - let alone a Basilica.
In its “Declaration on Procured Abortion, published by the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith on November 18, 1974, the Roman Catholic Church declares that anyone who advances the cause of abortion merits immediate excommunication and the loss of eternal salvation.
No one advanced the cause of abortion more than Teddy Kennedy.
Senator Kennedy voted against legislation that would define an unborn fetus – - even a fully formed fetus in its ninth month of gestation – - as a child.
He voted in favor of allowing minors to cross state lines to procure an abortion.
He voted against notifying the parents of minors who receive out-of-state abortions.
He supported the allocation of over $100 million in public funds to distribute condoms and birth control pills to unmarried teenagers – - this in flagrant violation of Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical on artificial contraception.
He voted against legislation that would make the killing or harming of an unborn child a criminal offense.
He voted in favor of partial birth abortions.
He voted to repel the ban on abortions at overseas military facilities.
His pro-choice voting record at the time of his demise was 100%. Certainly, no American Catholic was more deserving of ecclesiastical opprobrium and censure.
How can a legislator with such a record be blessed and buried from a Roman Catholic Church?
Moreover, how can the Church allow President Barack Obama to deliver the eulogy from the pulpit?
A homily, according to Canon Law, can only be delivered by an ordained priest or a deacon who has received special dispensation. The pulpit certainly must not be open to a political figurehead who stands against every dictate of Roman Catholicism – - from its teachings on the sanctity of life to its dictates on natural law.
Other questions must be raised about the high solemn Mass and the sprinkling of the Kennedy casket.
By canon law, a man who divorces his wife can not receive a Catholic funeral and his remains cannot be blessed by the sprinkling of incense. And Teddy not only divorced his long suffering wife Joan but also placed her in a mental asylum.
To compound matters, he was a public prolific and rake who preyed upon young women, and a reprehensible coward who failed to take responsibility for his killing Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick.
The time-honored teachings of the Church have no meaning in modern America - – an America that Senator Kennedy worked to secularize by his commitment to multiculturalism and the removal of all vestiges of the country’s Judeo-Christian heritage from the public forum.
Catholics should express their outrage at the travesty of the Kennedy funeral and the wholesale surrender of their sacred claims by weak-kneed prelates to the Godless spirit of this crooked age.
Catholics should express their outrage. Just stop giving money to the church. They will get the message. This is all about money anyways. The Kennedy’s have money and influence. T. Kennedy was able to have the Catholic Church annul his marriage after 26 years of marriage and producing many kids. I still don’t understand how the church could do this and then allow him to get remarried. This along with the coverup of homosexuality inside the priesthood would leave any descent Christian looking for another religion.
I’m not catholic, but I am Christian. The fact that Ted Kennedy made jokes about the fact he killed a woman, that he favored killing unborn babies ( unlike Eunice Shriver Kennedy who thought every child should be brought into the world, no matter what afflictions they might have ),his treatment of women in general, including his first wife, his far-left politics, I could never respect the man.
My prayers do go out to his family who have lost a father, brother, grandfather,….
p.s. You notice the Pope has made no comment.
There was a time when someone from Vatican made a statement saying that North American Church is not that important anymore, that African Church is much more important… now we know why. It’s a cafeteria church. They choose what they like and ignore what they do not like. It’s over with America anyway. They will become a “captured nation” soon.
Cardinal O’Malley is guilty of motal sin and scandal because he violatd C anon Law. I willnever contribute another cent to the Church. Instead, I will durect my money to EWTN and Father Frank Pavone. i am cosidering joining the Society of pious x
What is a disgusting travesty is the pedophile priests, the way they were hidden, with the help of the current Pope and the disgust that comes with it. THAT is the true sin of the Church.
No one spoke for the unborn at this abortion politician’s funeral in the Roman Catholic Church – the hypocrisy of these men of the cloth is deplorable and reprehensible. As a victim of abuse from a priest as a teenager I feel vicimized as a woman again, because no Catholic priest has spoken agains Kennedy’s powerful pro choice stance that victimizes the woman and child who is aborted. Shame on ll of them!
As I have continues to lead my life after the abuse, I again say, “Those….will not keep me away from Jesus!”
Deu 8: 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…