I received this by e-mail from a reader in the UK. I think he puts it well:
Dear Father Z
I feel moved to comment on the furore concerning Bishop Tobin and Senator Kennedy, <font color="#ff0000"><b>[Representative or Congressman Kennedy. The Senator Kennedy was this fellows father, pro-abortion Ted Kennedy who died recently.]</b></font> but before I go any further may I say that my opinions cannot be discounted simply because I live in England and am thus deemed to be not directly affected. I AM directly affected, as this is MY church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church which this affair is scandalising. I take my hat off to the good Bishop who is strong enough to give a lead on this matter.
The Liberal Catholic Movement is in dire need of a rude awakening. Support for abortion, however cloaked, is sinful and against the teachings of the Church. To say that the Senator is right to compartmentalise his life so that those things he needs to do do to reflect the opinions of his electors (in this case support abortion) and his faith are kept separate, is an absolute nonsense.
1) One’s faith should be the bedrock of one’s life upon which all our actions should be built
2) This is not a matter of politics it a matter of Faith. The feeble attempt to try and conflate the two issues, and thus discredit the Bishop, will simply not wash. .
3) The Catholic Church is not a democracy, we cannot pick and choose the bits we like, but instead we give our unconditional obedience to the teachings of the Magisterium (unless of course we believe that Holy Spirit can get things wrong on occasions!).
4) Such opinions as the Senator holds, <font color="#ff0000"><b>[Patrick Kennedy is not a Senator, but rather sits in the House of Representatives. But!… But!… mutatis mutandis, there are any number of "Catholic" pro-abortion Senators to whom your comment can be applied! So your comments still strike home and with force.]</b></font> do a grave disservice to the good doctors and nurses in the UK who fought for, and won, the right to a ‘conscience clause’ which exempted them from having anything to do with abortions when they were legalised here. Had this not been allowed, many would have left the profession. Perhaps some food for thought for the Senator there.
I give my whole hearted support to the good Bishop and pray for his success. He is an outstanding example to us all.
Apologies for sounding off and being so long-winded about it.
Hardly long-winded! Very concise and well-phrased.
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“One’s faith should be the bedrock of one’s life upon which all our actions should be built”
Amen.
One need only read Philip Lawler’s FAITHFUL DEPARTED, which recounts the history of the Archdiocese of Boston, to know that this problem goes back to a meeting sponsored by the Kennedy family at their home in Hyannisport in 1964 to which they invited prominent Catholics and theologians, including Robert Drinan, S.J. The purpose: to give Catholic politicians cover for supporting abortion. The result of the meeting: Abortion would henceforth be considered the lesser of two evils, i.e., death of the child rather than be raised with Down Syndrome, Dwarfism, a low income family, etc., etc., etc.
Bishop Tobin deserves enormous credit for what he has doing. His predecessors are beneath contempt.
“… I AM directly affected, as this is MY church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church which this affair is scandalising”:- Quote from Brit. re. Bishop Tobin and Kennedy.
I do not disagree with most of Brits’ comments but he should be careful not to talk about MY Church. The Church is indeed the ‘One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic’Church but it does not belong to ‘Brit’ or any other man on earth – not even the Pope. The Church belongs to CHRIST OUR LORD; it is the Mystical Body of Christ and we are all part of His Mystical Body.
Had ;Brit’ said something like: “I ‘belong’ to….”
The Church that Our Lord Jesus Christ founded”, this would have been OK. All Catholics ‘belong’ to the One, Holy, Catholic Church but this Church is God’s Church – not our’s. Quibble, you may say but an important one.
Fellow Brit.
R. Dahl suggests, “What about a little old-fashioned excommunication?”
http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2009-1130-dahl-matthews.htm
Paul Francis-what you said!
The Church doesn’t ‘belong’ to US-it’s OUR LORD’S! [sorry if I’m ‘shouting’, Fr. Z, but it has to be said!]