I just love the headline CNA used for this article. I bet Bishop Tobin, he of the pastoral concern for Patrick Kennedy's soul, doesn't like it too much. Maybe CNA was actually referring to what JPII is reported to have done to himself.
Bishop Tobin Lashes Out At Rep. Kennedy for Going Public on Communion Decision
Providence, R.I., Nov 22, 2009 / 04:47 pm (CNA).-
Providence, R.I., Nov 22, 2009 / 04:47 pm (CNA).-
In a strong response to Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s public revelation that he has been banned from Communion for his stand on abortion, the Bishop of Rhode Island, Thomas Tobin, expressed his “disappointment” and “surprise” at Kennedy’s decision to make public a matter that was private and aimed at his spiritual well-being. (I don't understand why Bishop Tobin would be surprised as Tobin used his own diocesan paper to call out Kennedy, and generated a great deal of publicity for this feud.
In an interview published on Sunday by the Providence Journal, Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island), son of the late Edward Kennedy, said that “the bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion.”
Kennedy also said that Bishop Tobin allegedly 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.”
The congressman declined to say whether he has obeyed the Bishop’s request.
The congressman declined to say whether he has obeyed the Bishop’s request.
Later in the day, Bishop Tobin issued a statement clarifying the terms of his decision.
“I am disappointed and really surprised that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has chosen to reopen the public discussion about his practice of the faith and his reception of Holy Communion. This comes almost two weeks after the Congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church,” Bishop Tobin writes. (Was that a before of after you publicly called Kennedy out?)
“I am disappointed and really surprised that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has chosen to reopen the public discussion about his practice of the faith and his reception of Holy Communion. This comes almost two weeks after the Congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church,” Bishop Tobin writes. (Was that a before of after you publicly called Kennedy out?)
Bishop Tobin said that on February 21, 2007, he wrote to Congressman Kennedy stating that “in light of the Church's clear teaching, and your consistent actions, therefore, I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving Holy Communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so.
“My request came in light of the new statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that said, ‘If a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definite teachings on moral issues, he or she would seriously diminish his or her communion with the Church. Reception of Holy Communion in such a situation would not accord with the nature of the Eucharistic celebration, so that he or she should refrain.’”
In the same letter, Bishop Tobin wrote to Congressman Kennedy: "I am writing to you personally and confidentially as a pastor addressing a member of his flock . . . At the present time I have no need or intention to make this a public issue.”
On February 28, 2007, the Congressman responded to the Bishop sating: “I have the utmost respect for the work you do on behalf of the Catholic community in Rhode Island… I understand your pastoral advice was confidential in nature and given with the best intentions for my personal spiritual welfare.”
“I am disappointed that the Congressman would make public my pastoral and confidential request of nearly three years ago that sought to provide solely for his spiritual well-being,” the bishop writes in his Sunday statement.
Bishop Tobin explains that he has “no desire” to discuss Congressman Kennedy's spiritual life in public. ( Just a little late with this sentiment.)
“At the same time, I will absolutely respond publicly and strongly whenever he attacks the Catholic Church, misrepresents the teachings of the Church, or issues inaccurate statements about my pastoral ministry. It should be absolutely clear the Congressman himself has once again chosen to make this discussion a matter of public record. In the meantime, I will continue to pray - sincerely and fervently - for his conversion and repentance, and for his personal and spiritual well-being. I wish him well.” (Bishop Tobin might want to consider that Jesus asks for our own personal conversion, not that we pray first for the conversion of others.)
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I suspect if Patrick Kennedy's last name was something other than Kennedy that Bishop Tobin would not be quite so quick to 'lash' back.
I'm waiting for Bart Stupak's bishop to remind Bart that his rubbing shoulders with the "C" street crowd, living in their no longer tax exempt apartment building, and leading some of their Thursday night prayer services, may not be fully Catholic either. Especially since some of his "C" street buddies aren't particularly fond of Catholicism, and that Bart's rubbing shoulders with them has led Bart to lie about his connections. Seems to me lieing is supposed to be against Church teaching. Apparently being pro life and anti gay marriage allows one freedom from sins the rest of us not so fully Catholics have to avoid.
The politics of the American Catholic Bishops is getting flat crazy. I include all the bishops in that sentence because it doesn't appear any of them have the balls to stand up and defend the Church of Jesus Christ against the Republican Catholic Church. Once again Bishop Tobin fails to mention Jesus Christ. I wonder why that is. Everything he says is about obedience to the Church. He never mentions faith in Jesus. Maybe for a fully Catholic person obedience to the Church has replaced faith in Jesus. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the emphasis has been on obedience to the Church at the expense of it's Founder. Seems to be something of a recurring heresy.
Bishop Tobin has also been one of the few Bishops who have invited the Legionaries into his diocese. That doesn't surprise me given the Legion's insistence on mindless obedience to the teachings of Maciel and the authority structure of the Legion. Patrick Kennedy's mistake is not so much his stance on abortion as it is his refusal to submit to Tobin. That's why Tobin, unlike some other bishops, is personally unable to leave Kennedy alone. It's become personal, not doctrinal--and now it seems personal for both men. So much for pastoral concern.
I haven't written anything on the main page about the Manhattan Manifesto for a number of reasons. First other bloggers have brilliantly addressed this document , and secondly because I am angry at the steeple jacking of Catholicism by the IRD and other reactionary forces. I also know that what is going on in the States pales in comparison to what these forces are doing in African churches and through them to African culture. I hope readers take the time to read the full PDF document written by Rev. Kapya Kaoma. Bishop Tobin, whether he intends it or not, represents a global strategy perpetrated by financial interests to use Christian religions to infiltrate, exploit and control global cultures. These interests believe their goals place them above the morality they demand from the rest of us. This is why actively gay bishops feel free to bash other gays, adulterous politicians can extol the virtues of heterosexual monogamy, and African ecclesial authorities can castigate western NGO's for subverting their culture while taking fist fulls of money from the IRD to help subvert their cultures.
It's all very very sick and will only get sicker unless more people understand that the culture wars really mask a different kind of war. In this other war, national resources are squandered on obscene levels of military expenditures in wars that can't be won, and it doesn't matter if it's Afghanistan, Darfur, or the Sudan.
