Sean Cardinal O'Malley Statement on the Ted Kennedy Funeral

9/3/2009
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

I wish to address our Catholic faithful who have voiced both support and disappointment at my having presided at the Senator�s funeral Mass.

It is my sincere hope that all people who long to promote the cause of life will pray and work together to change hearts, to bring about an increased respect for life, and to change laws so as to make America a safe place for all, including the unborn.

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BOSTON, MA (Catholic Online) - The following statement was released by the Office of the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston on his increasingly popular "Cardinal Se�n's Blog."

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Statement of Sean Cardinal O'Malley

"Saturday was the 39th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, at St. Augustine�s Church in Pittsburgh by Bishop John B. McDowell, who is still going strong today. In the Church�s calendar, the feast day for August 29 is the Beheading of John the Baptist. People usually take note when I tell them that I was professed to religious life on Bastille Day, July 14, and ordained on the feast of the Beheading. Not that I am superstitious.

On Saturday morning I attended the funeral Mass for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Father Donald Monan, S.J., former president of Boston College, celebrated the Mass and Father Mark Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victories in Centerville, preached the homily.

The music was outstanding with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus enriching the liturgy along with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham who later sang an absolutely striking rendition of Schubert�s �Ave Maria.� Cellist Yo-Yo Ma graced us with his beautiful solo performance of Bach and later joined Placido Domingo, who sang the �Panis Angelicus.� Placido has a superb voice. I told him how much I like the Zarzuela, the Spanish classical musical theater productions. His family had a troupe that presented Zarzuelas in Mexico and he promised to arrange a performance.

The venue for the funeral Mass was Mission Church, the magnificent Redemptorist Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Senator Kennedy prayed often in this church when his daughter, Kara, was stricken with cancer. It is a church where countless faithful have gone to pray and ask for healing, grace and forgiveness.

In light of these themes, I wish to address our Catholic faithful who have voiced both support and disappointment at my having presided at the Senator�s funeral Mass.

Needless to say, the Senator�s wake and Catholic funeral were controversial because of the fact that he did not publically support Catholic teaching and advocacy on behalf of the unborn. ��Given the profound effect of Catholic social teaching on so many of the programs and policies espoused by Senator Kennedy and the millions who benefitted from them, there is a tragic sense of lost opportunity in his lack of support for the unborn. To me and many Catholics it was a great disappointment because, had he placed the issue of life at the centerpiece of the Social Gospel where it belongs, he could have multiplied the immensely valuable work he accomplished.

The thousands of people who lined the roads as the late Senator�s motorcade travelled from Cape Cod to Boston and the throngs that crowded the Kennedy Library for two days during the lying in repose, I believe, were there to pay tribute to these many accomplishments rather than as an endorsement of the Senator�s voting record on abortion.

The crowds also were there to pay tribute to the Kennedy family as a whole. On the national political landscape, if Barack Obama broke the glass ceiling of the presidency for African Americans, Jack Kennedy broke it for American Catholics.

As a young lad, I saw photographs of both Pope John XXIII and President John Kennedy hanging in the thatched cottages of County Mayo and heard the Gaelic greeting, �God and Mary be with you.� Three of the Kennedy brothers died in service of our country in the prime of life. And Eunice Shriver, who died just a few weeks ago, was an outspoken defender of the unborn and an apostle of the Gospel of Life. She taught us all how to love special children and to make room for everyone at the table of life. In 1992, Eunice petitioned her party�s convention to consider �a new understanding� of the issue, �one that does not pit mother against child,� but instead seeks �policies that responsibly protect and advance the interest of mothers and their children, both before and after birth.�

Much of what is noble in the politics and work of the Kennedys had its origins in the bedrock of the faith of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. As a young woman she had a profound experience of God�s love that transformed her life. She strove to communicate that faith to her large clan. Since the time of her funeral Mass I have kept her memorial prayer card, inscribed with Rose Kennedy�s own words:

"If God were to take away all His blessings, health, physical fitness, wealth, intelligence, and leave me but one gift, I would ask for faith � for with faith in Him and His goodness, mercy, love for me, and belief in everlasting life, I believe I could suffer the loss of my other gifts and still be happy � trustful, leaving all to His inscrutable Providence."

There are those who objected, in some cases vociferously, to the Church�s ...

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1 - 10 of 84 Comments

Paul Nevins
1 year ago
See my article @politicsofselfishness.com, "Have the Bishops Abandoned the Church?" and @ http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=217033954982340. Most American Catholics - including ,sadly, the hierarchy, most of whom have been chosen because they are supplicants rather than prophets- know why little about the broad contours of Catholic social teaching and consistently endorse ideas that emerged in the Protestant Reformation and are inimical to the Gospels. One illustration: Ted Kennedy's commitment to social justice more exemplified Catholic social teaching than the gospel of selfishness promoted by putative Catholic politicians like Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Paul Ryan. The latter are , in fact, not conservatives, but 18th century right-wing liberals - i..e apostles of anti-social individualism.
Nancy Danielson
3 years ago
Out of Charity for Christ and His Church, why has Cardinal O'Malley not commented on Boston College Law School's refusal to support God's intention for the Sacrament of Marriage? I refer to the attack on Professor Fitzgibbon's defense of Marriage.
Carol
3 years ago
I wish to humbly stand corrected... I mistakenly called His Eminence Cardinal O'Malley-Bishop O'Malley, which goes to show that we Catholics are just not perfect!!!!!! In any case, kudos to the great Franciscan that the Cardinal Archbishop O'Malley is in getting elevated to a Cardinal. See, all you naysayers, the Holy See has given us many, many good and solid bishops in this country for we should all be grateful. I now know why---after reading the story of Senator Kennedy's funeral just why the Vatican wanted a solid leader like His Eminence to run the Boston diocese. Because he's one smart Archbishop and an even smarter servant of God!
Carol
3 years ago
Good Catholics everywhere who are complaining that His Excl. Bishop O'Malley attend the funeral of the late Senator Kennedy, why--that is exactly what he and any other responsible Catholic priest should be expected to do...To bury the dead correctly as in our faith is a corporal work of mercy. Who is any one of us to judge the soul of a dying man... as I read correctly many times prior to the Senator's death, that he did receive the Sacraments. I am presuming correctly so that he did make an honest and sincere Confession, which people--wake up-- means in our faith that he can be assured at least of going to Purgatory, which by the way, is where most of us are headed in order to be sufficienty purified to be able to experience the true kingdom of Heaven.... While it might have been a wonderful conversion story to have seen the Senator take a complete change of position on the abortion issue, he did many other notable acts of kindness throughout his lifetime...It is not for us mortals to ponder the fate of a man who was properly disposed of the authentic Catholic Sacraments as I was taught to know them and avail myself of them, because to do that means that we are trying to play God and we are not Gods. God is mercy and love... We Catholics need to be very, very careful when rashly judging another brother or sister, most especially if we know that they received the last Sacraments. Just think.... in the Senator's case...He had the time to make things right with his God. What about the person who dies suddenly? I can surely tell that the good Bishop O'Malley is a Fransiscan..because to them, a soul is precious no matter what....The Bishop did the right thing and so did all the other priests surrounding the late Senator Kennedy. May Jesus take note of their compassion..
John
3 years ago
I applaud Cardinal O'Malley for his Christ-like approach to Senator Ted Kennedy's funeral.

I do not believe Jesus had a litmus test for following Him. I do not believe He has one now. Is abortion -and supporting abortion- a sin that can send you to hell? Probably. But there are many other sins out there will accomplish the same feat. If we start creating a hierarchy of sinfulness, at what point do we start trying to squeeze our Brethren through the eyes of needles? Who shall ever pass? Which one of us is without sin?

Thank you Sean O'Malley for standing inside the Catholic house and not succumbing to the politics of "choice" and "life." Thanks for reminding us of the Jesus who loves us no matter how sinful a life we may have lead.
BF Gilson
3 years ago
Dear Catholics:

When it is time to promote/support/vote, we have a moral and ethical responsibility as Catholics to promote/support/vote against any evil. �VOTING/SUPPORTING/PROMOTING IS A MORAL ACT.� It involves duties and responsibilities. Our duty is to promote/support/vote in keeping with a conscience properly formed by fundamental moral principles (from "Moral Principles for Catholic Voters" issued by Kansas Catholic bishops). It is important to remember, however, that it is possible for our conscience to be certain and at the same time incorrect about what is good and evil. For this reason, we have an equally serious duty to properly form or teach our conscience so that it can correctly judge what is good and evil. We are obliged to seek the truth and then to abide by it (from "Moral Principles for Catholic Voters").

There are specific actions that are intrinsically evil by their very nature or their essence and must never be promoted/supported/voted into law because they directly violate the very life and dignity of the human person. At the top of this list are the five intrinsic moral evils: �Abortion, Euthanasia, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Human Cloning, and Homosexual Marriage.�

Making Your Decision

1.) For each office, first determine how each candidate/politician with a real�even if unlikely�chance of winning stands on each issue that will come before him and involves nonnegotiable moral principles.
2.) Rank the candidates/politicians according to how well their positions align with these nonnegotiable moral principles.
3.) Even if these candidates/politicians support the poor and health care, give preference to candidates/politicians who do not endorse and support/promote/vote for the five intrinsic moral evils.
4.) Where every candidate/politician endorses positions contrary to non-negotiable principles, choose the candidate/politician likely to do the least harm.

When there is no choice of a candidate(s)/politician(s) that avoids supporting/promoting/voting intrinsically evil actions which include �Abortion, Euthanasia, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Human Cloning, and Homosexual Marriage,� we, as Catholics, are morally obligated not to support/promote/vote that candidate/politician. �Concerning choices that are intrinsically evil, Catholics may not support/promote/vote or even remain indifferent to them� ("Moral Principles for Catholic Voters�).

As we look at the political\religious landscape of our society today, President Obama, V.P. Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, and our faithful who promote/support/vote or even remain indifferent to these five intrinsic moral evils are wrong and are against GOD. We must voice our disdain for any candidates/politicians, shepherds of our church, and even our faithful who believe in promoting these evils. These are non-negotiable principles, and as Catholics, we may not promote/support/vote or even remain indifferent to them.

In this same spirit, it is a mockery of God and against our teachings to have a public Mass for candidates/politicians who promote/support/vote any or all of the five intrinsic moral evils. Where are our shepherds and/or our faithful and our disdain for the mockery of God and the Church that He built?

God, please help us to remain faithfully to your word/truth. Amen.
John
3 years ago
Health care for the poor. (I believe we already have walk-in clinics.) The plan to help less fortunate American's is distorted by political jockeying and leftist hypocrisy. The D's continue to promote a culture of death by adding to their universal health care proposal, such language as "End of Life Counseling" and "With holding Expensive/Needless Treatment"
Containing Health Care costs would be best addressed in at least 3 separate pieces of legislation. 1) Prescription Drugs 2) Insurance Companies and Insurance Premiums 3) HSA's (Universal Health) and Walk in Clinics.

I am happy that the Cardinal had an opportunity to speak with the President and share the good news of salvation and to spread the word of God. I have been told by many good Priests that God is kind and merciful and who forgives our sin. I pray that I may be forgiven and I pray Ed may be forgiven. Amen.
John Sherratt
3 years ago
Sadly, a segment of he Catholic Church succumbed to the deceitfulness of Ted Kennedy. Kennedy constantly displayed the weaknesses of humans, using the political machines to "grease the wheels" of his political career, avoiding the Biblical teachings of Jesus Christ.

Yes, as a professed Christian I forgive those who trespass against me, my family,and my nation. But, I hope and pray that those in the Catholic Church who are responsible to "lead the flock" will turn away from taking the "political road" and tell the truth about those in the Church
who denigrate and walk away from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Lora Keidel
3 years ago
At what point does a person put themselves outside of communion with the Church? If parents can't have a child baptized just because they want to, or receive communion because they feel like it, or get married in the Church on a whim, are there any requirements for receiving a Catholic funeral other than being dead? We all want love, mercy, and forgiveness at the end of our life. Perhaps Sen. Kennedy was sold short by the episcopacy that did not make clear enough to him the ramifications during his long lifetime of the consequences of the choices he was making that were scandalous to so many. And maybe the People of God should have prayed harder for him while he lived.
Vance
3 years ago
Cardinal O'Malley did the diplomatic thing for the Kennedy family. He cites that thousands remember Ted Kennedy for his accomplishments. He did accomplish quite a lot. Women's Rights had a profound effect on our society and culture. This culture gave us many women chosing a job (career)over marriage and family. Millions of babies have been aborted. Women do not need men. They can have children via artificial means. How about Octomom.

Kennedy did a lot for the poor. He fought against President Clinton's Welfare Reform to keep poor welfare recepients on the dole. He succeeded in creating multiple generations welfare recepients and massive food stamp fraud and abuse.

Ted kennedy was the champion for the Blacks and Hispanics. He succeeded in creating a 70% out-of-wedlock births among Blacks.

He was a champion for education. Blacks and hispanics continue to perform low on the SAT scores and have high drop-out rates.

He was a champion for Homosexual (gay) Rights. He fought hard to include any criticism of the homosexual life style as "Hate Speech". He strongly believed that priests should not quote God from the Bible on homosexuality. A man wearing a dress should have the 'RIGHT' to teach Catholic School. Homosexuals should be married in the Catholic Church.

Kennedy was a champion for the Arts( Endowment of the Arts) that promoted pictures of Pope John-Paul II and crusifixes in glasses of urine, images of our Blessed Mother in dung, among other blasfemmies. This is Ted Kennedy's great accomplishments.

Yes, Kennedy accomplished a lot for us as many Catholics believe. Are they deceived? Jesus said that we will know the great deceiver by the fruits he bares. What kind of fruit did Kennedy bare? He fought against the Pro-Life movement and those people who promoted what the Catholic Church teaches. My question is when will our bishops stand up for our church's sacraments that have been under attack for decades from politicians like Ted Kennedy?

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