Ted Kennedy

I have been debating over what to say, or even if I would say anything about the passing of Ted Kennedy. Reading much of the debate there isn't a lot I can add.

But, I will say what my 1st thoughts were.

1: He will have to answer to & for the untold number of babies aborted since he was a fullfledged supporter of abortion.

2: He will finally have to answer for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

I have heard that he went to confession right before he died. So, it looks like he can have a Catholic funeral Mass. I give the same qualified yes to it that Edward N. Peters, JD, JCD does.

& while Dr. Peters doesn't want to get started on Obama giving the eulogy, I am a little more willing to say what I think. Obama's getting up there is wrong for so many reasons.

1st of all, The Rite of Christian Funerals 141 & 2000 GIRM 338 both clearly state there is to be a short homily, but absolutely NO eulogy.

2nd , as has been pointed out elsewhere, the eulogy Obama will give will basicly be a canonization of Ted. It will ignore all the evil he did & praise him in a way that, IMHO, will make Jesus look like a slacker.

In other words, what should be a sacred & solemn liturgy will be turned into a grave scandal.

Then there is the scandal of all the pro-abortion Catholics like Nancy Pelosi, VP Biden, Sen Kerry, & the whole mess of pro-abortion Kennedys in public office that will receive communion.

Human Life International issued a statement that got it exactly right. There should be no public funeral Mass (or as I would call it, circus). Instead: "Senator Kennedy needs to be sent to the afterlife with a private, family-only funeral and the prayers of the Church for the salvation of his immortal soul. He will not be missed by the unborn who he betrayed time and time again, nor by the rest of us who are laboring to undo the scandalous example of Catholicism that he gave to three generations of Americans. "

I conclude with the opening staement from the HLI release (emphasis mine): "We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event. There was very little about Ted Kennedy’s life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today."