No Catholic Funeral For Ted Kennedy!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Senator Ted Kennedy died Tuesday night after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer. His illness was diagnosed shortly after unlawfully receiving communion at a papal mass in Washington DC...

(LifeSiteNews.Com) - "Several minutes prior to the general distribution of communion a priest walked down to Ted Kennedy and gave him communion. There was some discussion amongst we in our section about the inappropriateness of his reception of the Host. Be certain, he remained seated not out of some self-enforced respect for the sacrament, but rather out of respect for his girth and mobility." - source

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"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying."

- 1st Corinthians 11:26-30 NAB

Was there a connection between this Biblical passage and Senator Ted Kennedy's brain cancer? I don't know. I'll leave that up to you to decide. What I do know is this. Senator Kennedy was in open and public rebellion against the Catholic Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life. His reception of communion in any situation was a scandal, but a few years prior to this incident, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), issued new norms for the reception of communion expressly forbidding the sacrament to Catholic politicians in favor of "abortion rights." Senator Ted Kennedy not only fit this bill, but he was the poster boy for it, a career-long supporter and advocate of Roe v. Wade. His reception of communion at the papal mass in Washington DC on April 17th, 2008 was not only a scandal, but it was a violation of canon law, and a direct slap in the face to the pope who directly issued the new norms a few years prior as Cardinal Ratzinger. No matter how you slice it, Senator Ted Kennedy was in heresy, rebellion and mortal sin.

What is even more disturbing is the way in which a public Catholic funeral was offered for him. On the surface, it would appear to be a violation of the Church's canon law, though admittedly the final decision on this rests in the hands of Cardinal Sean O'Malley...

Canon 1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:
1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;
2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;
3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

"§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Canon 1185. Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

Granted, to some this blog entry may seem cruel. After all, the man is dead, and Americans do have an unwritten custom of "speak no ill of the dead," but I'm afraid this is a time when cultural norms will have to be set aside. The life and death of Senator Ted Kennedy was a Catholic scandal and tragedy. It encapsulates literally everything that is wrong in the U.S. Catholic Church today, from rogue Catholic politicians who espouse heresy, to negligent clergy who allow them to get away with it. The man wasn't even permitted to receive the Eucharist! What makes us think he should get a Catholic funeral? Granted, it is possible that he could have repented before his death. Perhaps he had one of those "deathbed conversions." Okay, I'll go along with that, and indeed if he did, he would be entitled to a Catholic funeral. If that is the case, I'll support it. I'll even champion it. However, if that is the case, it needs to be made public! His sin was public. His scandal was public. Therefore, if his sin was public, his repentance must be made public as well. If it's not, then a Catholic funeral for this man is a sacrilegious abomination!

For those who think the written exchange between Senator Ted Kennedy and Pope Benedict XVI amounts to some kind of absolution, it does not. Having read the text of Kennedy's letter, and the excerpt of the pope's response read during the funeral, it is obvious that no absolution was given. The Holy Father was obligated by Christian charity to offer his blessings on a dying man, but he was not obligated to absolve the pro-abortion sins of a man who was clearly non-repentant of them. It is also interesting to note that the pope was silent on the matter of Kennedy's death after the fact.

That's why The Catholic Knight is calling upon all Catholics of good will to stand up and and make your concerns known to the Archdiocese of Boston, in spite of whatever cultural taboos this may violate. Without evidence of Kennedy's pro-abortion repentance made public knowledge, his funeral brings scandal to the Archdiocese of Boston and the U.S. Catholic Church in general.

At this point our best bet is to respectfully share our concerns with Cardinal Sean O'Malley at the Archdiocese of Boston. The contact page is HERE. (Just a little reminder: a cardinal archbishop is properly addressed as "Your Eminence".)