Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s recent public comments were puzzling as he criticized the Church publicly for not being pro-life because of its insistence on blocking abortion funding in the healthcare bill.
I could task logicians for a year to figure out how to make sense of that statement and their efforts would prove fruitless.
Tobin then asked Kennedy to meet with him and all seemed fine until Kennedy bailed on the meeting. Bishop Thomas Tobin then publicly refuted Kennedy’s public statements and now Kennedy is back to criticizing the Church and Tobin in a public manner.
LifeNews.com reports:
Rep. Patrick Kennedy is swinging back at his Catholic bishop, who rebuked him for comments he made saying the Catholic Church is not pro-life because it opposes the health care bills over abortion funding. Bishop Thomas Tobin also criticized Kennedy for canceling a meeting to discuss the situation.
When Kennedy canceled, Bishop Tobin decided to write a letter for the local Catholic newspaper saying Kennedy’s pro-abortion stance puts him at odds with the Catholic Church.
Kennedy said he was “not going to dignify with an answer” Tobin’s assessment that Kennedy could not be a good Catholic and still support abortion.
In remarks to the Providence Journal newspaper, he called those comments “unfortunate,” and said, “I’m not going to engage [in] this anymore.”
He also said he found it “very disconcerting” that Bishop Tobin would not meet with him to have a private discussion of his pro-abortion views and Catholic faith, even though it appears Kennedy is the one to have postponed their planned meeting.
Kennedy tells the newspaper that he canceled the meeting because Tobin would not promise to keep any discussion of his views private.
“I had initially agreed to a meeting with him [Thursday], provided we would not debate this in public in terms of my personal faith, but unfortunately, he hasn’t kept to that agreement, and that’s very disconcerting to me,” the congressman claimed.
So here’s the upshot. Kennedy says he can publicly criticize the Catholic Church for not being pro-life. But his bishop can’t publicly call him out for his statements.
Hmmm. Double standard? Kennedy openly and publicly criticized the Catholic Church. The bishop would’ve been remiss to allow those statements to go without comment. But Kennedy seemingly wants a gag rule put on the Church.
Hmmm. I wish there was some kind of system where a person could go talk to a priest and the priest wouldn’t be allowed to speak publicly about what you said. Oh yeah, it’s called Confession. Hey, here’s an idea Congressman Kennedy. Go to confession. Admit your sins and explain to the bishop the problems of conscience you’re having when it comes to abortion. Then the priest won’t publicly say a word about what you’ve said. But to criticize the Church to reporters and then act shocked that your bishop has called you out on seems just dishonest and petty.
November 12, 2009 at 1:42 am
"Kennedy said he was "not going to dignify with an answer" Tobin's assessment that Kennedy could not be a good Catholic and still support abortion."
How could he? Any truthful answer admits his error, any lie could be immediately refuted by a ten year old in Sister Mary Tarnatula's Catechism class.
Lose, lose situation. So he takes a high ground existing only in the minds of himself and his toadies.
P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C
November 12, 2009 at 2:19 am
It's pretty obvious the Bishop was using the moment to address the common fallacy of "It doesn't make me any less of a Catholic" much more than anything Kennedy said.
When, of course, it does. How much is debatable, but Kennedy needs to stop hiding behind his ignorance when attacking his church.
I, for one, am glads the Bishop's voices are getting louder and louder. It's really helping me trust them as true leaders again, and not just as the photo-op guys for confirmations.
November 12, 2009 at 1:08 pm
We need more Bishops like this.
November 12, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I live in RI and am incredibly proud of our bishop. Bishop Tobin was on a local talk radio station yesterday, am 630 WPRO, and the entire story came out. There was no agreement to keep the meeting in private and, in fact, the place the congressman offered to meet was a very well-known restaurant in a very busy section of town at 12:00 pm in the afternoon. Not very private at all and this is why the bishop responded publicly. Congressman Kennedy should be ashamed of himself and his politics. Unfortunately in RI the Kennedy name is gold and he will probably still be re-elected.
November 13, 2009 at 3:17 am
I just want to know when some of these bishops will excommunicate "Catholics" such as Kennedy and Mrs. Pelosi. They bring scandal on a daily basis with their statements.