Hardball. I likey!
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman’s support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.
The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal’s Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation’s most famous Roman Catholic family.
“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy told the paper in an interview conducted Friday.
Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion.
He declined to say when or how Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.
Good for Bishop Tobin. You will remember, of course, the choice words of Kenndy’s that got him into this state.
CNS Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) told CNSNews.com that the Catholic Church is doing nothing but fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by taking the position that it will oppose the health-care reform bill under consideration in Congress unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit funding of abortion.
“I can’t understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we’re caring and giving health care to the human person–that right now we have 50 million people who are uninsured,” Kennedy told CNSNews.com when asked about a letter the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had sent to members of Congress stating the bishops’ position on abortion funding in the health-care bill.
“You mean to tell me the Catholic Church is going to be denying those people life saving health care? I thought they were pro-life?” said Kennedy. “If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform because it’s going to provide health care that are going to keep people alive. So this is an absolute red herring and I don’t think that it does anything but to fan the flames of dissent and discord and I don’t think it’s productive at all.
November 22, 2009 at 3:50 pm
My supportive comments will go the the communications office of the Providence Diocese with the hopes that Bishop Tobin will get word that some of us Americans support his adherence to the Magisterium.
November 22, 2009 at 4:38 pm
It's almost sad that so many Catholics are giddy over a Bishop upholding Catholic teaching. The Church in America is in crisis right now.
I'm an Army wife living in South Korea and the Catholics here have unbelievable faith. They delight in obeying Christ in the Church. Maybe because America has no martyrs and see the faith as optional, I don't know, but it's frustrating to see the American Church struggling with questions like: "should we be pro-life?"
November 22, 2009 at 5:04 pm
So Bishop Tobin is "ultra" orthodox, according to the AP. I guess the AP thinks most other bishops are heterodox enough to avoid the dreaded "ultra" label. It would be too bad if they're right about that.
Greg
November 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I fully expect this to get misreported all over the place. Things to note that will surely be stated incorrectly in the MSM:
1) Kennedy took this order to not receive the Holy Eucharist public, not the Bishop.
2) Denial of Communion is not excommunication.
3) This action by the Bishop is not about politics, it is about Kennedy's actions as a politician that make him ineligible to receive the Body of Christ.
4) The Bishop most likely didn't do this to score political points, but out of concern for Kennedy's soul and the souls of those who watch someone like Kennedy oppose Catholic teaching without correction.
November 22, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I almost threw up on the "ultra orthodox" name calling. WHEN will they just report the news & stop the spin???
November 22, 2009 at 7:07 pm
This is good hopefully if this man continues his actions. Public excommunication should be in the table.
November 22, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I suggest everyone read Bp. Tobin's statement:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/21692154/detail.html
Apparently, Bp. Tobin didn't ban Kennedy from the Eucharist, but privately asked him not to receive the sacrament two years ago.
November 22, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Per Dakota above, nothing new has happened, except this politician's renewed desire for publicity:
http://www.canonlaw.info/blog.html
Fr. Ben
November 22, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Bravo! There is hope for the US bishops.
November 23, 2009 at 12:36 am
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:11-13
November 23, 2009 at 1:37 am
One of the things that led me to the Catholic Church is her consistent and unwavering prolife stance. But I'm honestly not sure what the right thing is to do in this instance.
One thing we all share in common with Kennedy is our sinfulness. And many of us commit the same sins over and over.
I'm a convert and certainly have many things to learn about our Church, but under what circumstances is it appropriate to deny someone Communion or, as another commenter suggested, to excommunicate someone from the Church? Can anyone clear up the muddle for me?
November 23, 2009 at 2:09 am
Well, because this man rejects the autority of the Church. It is one thing to not agree but to submit to the teaching of the Church and pray for understanding. (Faith). It is another to flat out live your life in direct opposition to the Church's position on an issue without having the humility to submit to its authority. In other words, this man has no faith in Christ but labels himself as a Christian. He is a lie and a contadiction. As a public leader he sends a false message that says Catholicism is relative.
Yes, we struggle and commit the same sins over and over. However, we recognize our sins, don't publically promote them, and work to overcome them.
November 23, 2009 at 2:21 am
Hi, NC Sue, I think one of the reasons is that Kennedy, being a public figure, causes great scandal to the Church by being pro-abortion and claiming that it doesn't make him any less Catholic. It may and probably is leading Catholics to think in the same way. By promoting pro-abortion legislations, he is committing mortal sin and is thus supposed to refrain from receiving communion. It is also a mockery if he receives communion when he is not fully in communion with the Catholic Church and what she believes.
As members of the Church, we all have times when we commit mortal sin. In such instances, we first need to receive God's grace in the sacrament of confession before we present ourselves in communion.
November 23, 2009 at 3:49 am
I think the Bishops are finally starting to get how much damage to people's souls they have done with this wishy-washy-ness. So as a crazy ardent Catholic my main thought is: yay.
My secondary thought is prayer, but, you know, whatever.
November 23, 2009 at 3:50 am
"I can’t understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time…" Of course he can't. He doesn't seem to know the faith at all. How could he possibly be expected to understand it. Apparently, he doesn't care to learn it either.
November 23, 2009 at 4:52 am
My anti-Catholic husband was impressed by this and told me about it, and that made me extra happy.
November 23, 2009 at 1:49 pm
First of all, greetings from Spain, where we’re used to hear politics talk the same gibberish. The strategy is exactly the same, is to divert a simple debate (abortion yes or no) to a larger ensemble of ideas, where the abortion one is slipped among many others. Here they have used to extortionate the voters, the idea of women going pregnant to jail, and how could the church be pro prison of innocent people. Needless to say that, under Spanish legislation, no woman has entered prison for 25 years or so, due to this type of offense; even the doctors, that have been caught perpetrating these misdeeds, have managed to avoid sentences.
Well done Bishop Tobin!!
November 23, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Does anyone else wonder why Kennedy just revealed this all of a sudden? It seems this is his latest move in their game of chess. He is trying to pit liberal Catholics and the MSM against the sort of Catholics who agree with Bishop Tobin.
November 23, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Bishop Tobin is called an "ultra orthodox" bishop in the article. I chuckled. To my mind, either one is orthodox or one is not. I didn't know there was a distinction between those who really follow the church's teachings and those who really really follow the church's teachings.
November 23, 2009 at 7:06 pm
NC Sue, we all need to confess our mortal sins before receiving communion. I think the difference between Kennedy and the rest of us is that we sin privately while he has publicly supported abortion and spoken against Church teachings – that's why Tobin has publicly told him not to receive communion.
If we did the same thing, and say wrote into our newspaper about how we were committing some sin that Church doctrine was wrong about it, our bishops should take the same course with us. If, on the other hand, we're privately sinning and our pastor somehow knows about it, he should privately educate us and privately tell us we're not to receive communion if we refuse to repent.