My father is a very calm, imperturbable man. We speak just about every morning and his voice only rises when reporting that the Red Sox lost to the Yankees. He rarely calls in the evening but he did so last night. He had gone to Mass at St. Joseph’s Living Center, in Windham, Connecticut, the nursing home where my mother died two years ago and where his sister is a patient. The deacon preached the homily and, according to my father, had spoken ill of Sen. Ted Kennedy because he was not pro-life.
The news report of Kennedy’s death at the Catholic News Agency included this qualifying phrase: "though he worked hard for the poor" and mentioned his "dedication to education." The article managed four sentences on Chappaquiddick and an extensive account of his pro-choice voting record. (It also misspelled, three times, the name of Washington’s archbishop who is the Most. Rev. Donald Wuerl, not Donald Wurel.) The Catholic News Agency, alas, is not really a news agency like Catholic News Service. It is an ideological rant pretending to be a news agency.
Someone named Patrick Madrid, who runs a blog and is involved with something called the Envoy Institute at Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, decided to attack my colleague at NCR Sister Maureen Fiedler for her post remembering the late Senator. "Maureen, with all due respect," he begins, words that reek of condescension. He writes: "Whatever his positive qualities may have been, and no doubt he had some, the tragic reality is that Senator Kennedy's long political career was squandered by his vociferous, relentless promotion of abortion. And that, sadly, will be his enduring legacy. I agree with you that tears are appropriate upon hearing the news of this man's death, but not for the reasons you are crying them." I have my moments of hubris but it has never occurred to me to tell another soul why and why not to cry, still less in a blog post.
Who are these people? To what level of boorishness have the spokespeople for the pro-life community descended? And, it is any wonder we keep losing the political fight for life when some of our own exercise such obvious, callous, inhumane indecency as to ignore a lifetime of good works, render judgment not just on a man’s ideas but on his soul, and to speak ill of the dead when the body is still warm. It is shameful. And, I hope the bishops recognize that it is counter-productive to the pro-life goals we should share. Hatefulness is not attractive or persuasive.
To say that Sen. Kennedy was flawed is to say that he was a human being. To dismiss his career because of his stance on abortion is to be ignorant of the complicated way the issue of abortion manifested itself in the early 1970s: I think Kennedy got it wrong but I do not find it difficult to understand why and how he got it wrong. If the pro-life leaders would stop ranting for a second and study that history they might become more effective at advancing their cause. Besides, Ted Kennedy got many more things right than he got wrong.
Yesterday, watching the news shows, it was especially moving to see Kennedy’s political foes, conservatives like Sen. Orrin Hatch, come on and praise their former colleague. Kennedy maintained such friendships, which had their political usefulness, because of his heartfelt, contagious, infectious Catholic humanity, because he did not keep score, because he was quick to forgive, because he did not take himself too seriously, and because he saw that the promise of American democracy was greater than its failures. These loudmouths from the right should study his behavior and emulate, not castigate him. As I watched Sen. Hatch recall his memories of Ted Kennedy, I cried. I suppose Mr. Patrick Madrid will tell me I cried for the wrong reason. I don’t think so.
Michael, I'm afraid you're the one who comes off as a boorish 'someone' here, so offended by the CNS article and Patrick's (perfectly reasonable, I thought) combox remark that you write an entire article trashing both of them, decrying them for being 'judmental' while making a whole string of derogatory, judgmental, put-down remarks yourself, much worse than any language they used. I mean really. Qquit judging Catholics for not doing it exactly as you would.
Saying that ''he was flawed because he was human'' is pure sophistry-we are all sinners, yes, but we are also all given the opportunity to use our freedom for the good. Unfortunately, contrary to the teaching of Christ, the Gospels, the Fathers, and the ecclesial tradition, Kennedy sold out to the pro-choice agenda in this crucial area. As a Catholic politician, he had a grave responsibiltiy before God and before his constituents (with GOD coming first) to promote true social justice and social charity, which cannot exist when the ''least of these'' are not wholeheartedly defended.
Thus, while the passing of the senator signals the end of an era, and is an understandable reason for the tears of many, perhaps the best we can do is pray for the senator's soul, begging and trusting in God, who is ''rich in mercy.'' Please consider this, before canonizing Senator Kennedy, and before critizicing Catholics who awholeheartedly cling to the Church's teaching on the instrinsic unity of all issues of human life, abortion included!
So you are saying the editor at Osservatore Romano is boorish as well? Here's what they said about your 'beloved' Ted Kennedy, 'Consistently winning re-election to the Senate, Edward Kennedy was constantly in the front lines of battles such as those for protection of immigrants, arms control and a
minimum wage for the less well-off. But unfortunately he also took positions favorable to abortion."
"some of our own exercise such obvious, callous, inhumane indecency as to ignore a lifetime of good works, render judgment not just on a man’s ideas but on his soul, and to speak ill of the dead when the body is still warm. It is shameful." What is shameful is the 70 million murdered people because a politician chose his career over the lives of people.
"Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old."
Politicians should understand that they will be remembered for their actions when alive and after they have died.
Eternal rest grant on to him oh Lord.
I would like to know if any of the individuals who rant on about being pro-life actually lift a finger to help or even look in the direction of a person who is facing an unplanned pregnancy. Senator Kennedy did and his policies have made a difference. Do these condemners DO anything or simply blather on and on? In the end, self righteousness, lack of compassionate action, and empty words will not save one actual life from being aborted.
The late senator went 0 for 5 of the Church's non-negotiable issues.
I'm afraid I have to agree with Patrick Madrid about the Good Sister's tears.
I think Bill Bennett said it best yesterday, while its not right to speak ill of the dead, its also not right to lie about the dead either.
Far from being a "boor", Patrick Madrid is a Catholic apologist who has his finger on the pulse of American culture while maintaining a commitment to fidelity to the Catholic Church. He is fearless in speaking the truth about the downward spiral of this nation and the importance of the defense of human dignity from conception to natural death. That is a socially unpopular position to take and it certainly makes it difficult to get a fair hearing in the liberal press.
In order to be truly Catholic one must adhere to all of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Our Congress and even the Executive branch is sprinkled with those who like to call themselves Catholic while practicing their own relilgion of selective beliefs that are politically acceptable and socially palitable. Mr. Kennedy was a perfect example as is Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Biden. These compromised, outwardly Catholic polititians have sold their faith for political acceptance and while they may still do many good things for the people of this country, they are not Catholic in their beliefs. While Mr. Kennedy did beautiful things like bring a young girl and her family here from Russia when the girl was an infant and dying of malabsorbtion disease, he worked tirelessly to assure that women in this country were able to murder their own children in their own wombs before they ever got the chance to see the light of day. $4000 a day in this country die because of this man's work and those of his ilk.
I applaud Mr. Madrid for having the courage to stand up and speak the truth no matter how unpopular it is and no matter how many supposed Catholics call him a "boor." It is obvious that he knows that when death comes to his door as it has to Mr. Kennedy's, he will answer to God for the words he speaks and the works of his hands.
There is no doubt that you have great affection for Senator Kennedy. Such loyalty is admirable.
But when you say things such as ''Who are these people?'' it comes across as if you are berift of argument, that you are appealing to some sort of hierarchy of legitimate Catholic opinion into which Mr. Madrid has not been appropriately invited.
But oddly enough, you didn't seem to hesitate to explore Sarah Palin's apparent apostasy with a gleefulness on how this may affect how catechism Catholics react to the Republican ticket. http://tinyurl.com/nfklm6 It seems to me that your purpose was not a serious one. It was not because you seemed to care for Ms. Palin's soul and thought she should be brought back into communion with the Church. No, you saw it as an opportunity to score some political points against those to your right.
As you know, baptism is as much a sacrament as last rites. To exploit either for political gain, is, well, unseemly.
And further when you say,
"...when some of our own exercise such obvious, callous, inhumane indecency."
I actually agree with you that Ted Kennedy got more right than what he got wrong. But what he got wrong was incredibly wrong-he got wrong the murder of millions- and it is useless to deny or downplay this.
I hope in the future you can keep it in check a bit more. You'd be a more credible voice if you did.
The moment I heard the news of Senator Kennedy's death, I prayed for his soul as it was being judged. As a Catholic, that is a pro-life response. Something I hope many people do for me at the moment of my death. We tend to put a person on a pedestal after they die. The truth of the matter is that his legacy WILL in fact be about his career as a senator and his voting record. His record clearly states that he was not a defender of the poor in the womb. This is not a rant, it is the truth! I don't 'dismiss his career because of his stance on abortion' I am just saddened and appalled that he called himself Catholic all of these years when his belief in the essence of life (proven in his voting record) was completely opposed to the Catholic faith.
It is your personal opinion that he got 'more things right than he got wrong' and sad that he got them most important 'thing' wrong. He had an obligation as a Catholic Christian to defend life, especially as a public servant.
When I read Sr. Maureen Fiedler's statement, 'He made me proud to be Catholic' I must say I agreed, but for different reasons. He was a clear example to me of what I did not want to become as a Catholic and for that, I was grateful to God for my Catholic faith. This is something I told Mr. Kennedy himself when we both frequented
daily Mass at St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill years ago. So, all of this conversation is happening because of his recent passing, but honestly it has been a conversation that many of us Catholics have been having for a long time. I am just responding to yet another public conversation, like Mr. Madrid, nothing new.
"Someone named Patrick Madrid"
Where in the world have you been not to have heard of one of the Premier Catholic Apologists who worked with Catholic Answers and currently with EWTN?
Oh I guess since those are orthodox Catholic groups you of course would not have heard of him.
You know what is shameless? The ignoring of Kennedy's efforts to retain abortion. If Kennedy had been a racist would his faults have been so easily ignored?
It seems ironic to see the hate spew out towards a man who did so much good, coming from those who claim to be Christians. These actions are not Christlike. Mr. Kennedy sinned, as we all do. But we should celebrate the good he has done, and recognize that screaming our opinion about abortion, while not providing reasonable solutions and alternative, is not helping our cause.
Anyway. Pat Madrid is one of the better-selling writers in the Catholic market. I am sure thousands more have heard of and benefited from the work of Madrid than have heard of Michael Sean Winter or even America Magazine. He's a funny, sensible, committed guy.
Sorry, dude.
I guess your finger on the pulse of American Catholicism has skipped a few beats.
Madrid's response to Fielder's weepy, frankly, risible confession was quite kind and generous.
The point, Michael, is consistency. One cannot be rightly acclaimed as a defender of the weak if one aggressively protects the right to destroy the weakest. It's that simple. Kennedy did not cut a tortured, thoughtful path to try to balance Church teaching and the demands of democracy. He was an assertive believer that abortion should be available with no restrictions, period. That is not a fringe issue, and it undercuts everything else he might have proclaimed he believed in.
Patrick Madrid, I might add, is one of the current figures in the Church doing valiant work on bringing the sins of Maciel and the leadership of the Legionaries of Christ to the fore. You should check out what he has written on that score.
A writer recently who penned this about a political foe...
Dr. Mary Ann Glendon certainly seems to think it a moral impossibility to share the stage with the President. Given the fact that her last employer, the Bush administration, committed torture which is, last time I checked, an intrinsic moral evil, it is rich to hear her lecturing about moral outrage. I do not doubt Dr. Glendon acted sincerely. She just acted as a sincere Republican. I hope the bishops who are in such high dudgeon about Obama will demand that Dr. Glendon be forbidden from receiving any Catholic honors until she renounces her association with the Bush administration. Unlike Obama, after all, she is a Catholic and clearly falls under the prohibition of such awards to those who violate the Church’s fundamental moral beliefs made in the 2004 document "Catholics in Political Life."
...is not a tenable position to lecture anyone about boorishness, ignoring a lifetime of good works, rendering judgment or being partisan.
You can thank your column, Mr. Winters, and Sister Maureen Fiedler for the final straw.
Sounds reasonable. Mr. Winters should take his own advice.
I respectfully submit that if he trots this excuse out in front of Christ our Final Judge, it's not going to go very well. That said, I sincerely hope and pray he repented of his support and promotion of this intrinsic evil. But your umbrage at others pointing out this showstopper of a sin is, with all due respect, bizarre.
Sr. Maureen was, fundamentally, holding up Senator Kennedy as a champion among Catholic politicians, one she believes should be emulated by other Catholic politicians, not to mention Catholics in general. Imagine if every current and future Catholic politician did exactly what Senator Kennedy did in terms of their votes, and speculate on the results such votes would bring about in the United States. Would fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church be violated more often or followed more often in such a hypothetical world? Insofar as Senator Kennedy actively supported abortion, stem-cell research and homosexual marriage, all sinful practices which damage not only those who practice them but many more, as well, I think it's clear that the country would be much worse off if more in the US Congress voted as he did. Does that mean Senator Kennedy never did any good? Of course not! He did a world of good on many issues, but this is not an either-or situation. I believe that if one logically speculates on my hypothetical situation given above, it would be enormously damaging to the country, to individuals (especially unborn children and families), to the Church and most importantly, to the souls of those committing such sin.
There is no reason or excuse to wish ill on Senator Kennedy's soul or his surviving family, and that would be an extreme lack of empathy and especially Christian charity. But Patrick Madrid and those pointing out that the Senator was not a Catholic whose political beliefs should be copied in many ways are not being uncharitable. Indeed, they are standing up for all the teachings of the Church founded by Christ. May God rest Senator Kennedy's soul, and may Catholic politicians who would throw life issues under the bus for political gain seek not to emulate him but to advance the Truth instead.
1. The Catholic Church condems abortion as intrinscially evil.
2. The late Senator was Catholic.
3. The late Senator was an advocate of the right for a woman to abort her child.
Hi Linda,
I have given time, tallet and treasure to our local crisis pregnancy center. I have also protested our local abortion center. I guess you would know this is common if you were more involved in the anti-abortion movement.
No doubt that's true but it's a sentiment masquerading as an argument. Abortion is the curate's egg of Catholic Social Teaching. You can say and do all you want to protect and presereve the rights of people but none of it means anything if you don't protect and preserve the most fundamental right of all - the right to life. To get that wrong is to get it all wrong.
Sen. Kennedy needs our prayers because the greater judgment falls on him as a lawgiver and model of Catholic behavior.
I think you were less then charitable when you called Mr. Madrid condescending and boorish.
I think Mr. Kennedy's legacy will be tarnished for his support of abortion but the larger balance of the blame needs to be directed to the Bishops, theologians and news reporters who gave him political cover to do so. He did uphold the inherant dignity of most people and worked for their common good.
You say that he worked to reduce abortions and I agree that he did. You forget to mention his support of the abortion license. As a legislator ending the license should have been his agenda.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. And may perpetual light shine upon him. May the soul of Edward Kennedy and all the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.
I read Mr. Madrid's comment, and while it is critical of Sen. Kennedy's record with regard to the intrinsic evils identified in Catholic teaching, it does not demean Sen. Kennedy.
I would have hoped that we were beyond some strange need to canonize people simply because they do today what we will all do on one day or another; die. Yes, Sen. Kennedy died, and we pray for the repose of his soul, and for comfort to his family and all who mourn his passing. We have no obligation to now suddenly say ''only nice things'' about him. The supersticion against saying anything critical of the dead, is exactly that; a supersticion - thus not binding upon people of faith.
As I read Mr. Madrid's comment, I find that his difficulty with the original article by a member of your staff is similar to my own: The use of Sen. Kennedy as a ''Catholic Example.'' I would not dispute that Kennedy has left a legacy of legislative accomplishment, and that he had accomplished much that is good for many people. His ''record'' as a public Catholic is not one that I would hope to see people emulate however. To do so, is to emulate and encourage ''Cafeteria Catholicism,'' which is exactly what we should be working together against.
I am sure that you will not accept anything I have here written as anything but a demeaning rant against Senator Kennedy, and that is unfortunate. By reacting thusly, you become the very ranter that you say you disapprove of.
May the soul of Sen. Kennedy, and the souls of all of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Oh. They beat me to the punch.
Pro-Choice would hail him as a champion for their immediate cause however, will future generations see his achievements in abortion arena in the same light, or a uncivilized slaughter of defenseless children?
For many Catholics around the world I am sure, would sum up his life with these words, "He could of been a contender." May his soul rest in peace.
I'm constantly on the lookout for good Catholic publications to subscribe to in order to give me information on Catholic issues. I appreciate your article in the respect that it will save me from the mistake of subscribing to your magazine.
As for the contradictions in comments above, some think that to be a "pro-lifer" (which should describe all Catholics) does not mean we can't support the poor, the migrants, the sick, etc. In fact, the two build up and support the other. So, no matter how many political programs Kennedy wanted to build up toward the poor, he forgot the poorest of the poor - the children in the womb, the dying, etc.
Lastly, to support the poor, the migrant, etc. does NOT mean we have to support a particular government solutions to these problems. Kennedy's solutions were and are not the only Catholic solutions to these issues.
In other words, we're immigrants. :-)
But, Michael, your reasoning is flawed. Because abortion has in fact been nationalized by the Supreme Court, the federal legislature-the Congress-has jurisdiction of it. Thus, during the first term of the Reagan administration a Human Life Amendment and a Human Life Bill were proposed. Kennedy voted ''no'' in both cases. The Amendment would have placed the unborn under the protections of the 14th amendment. The bill would have done so as well under the powers given to congress under sec. 5 of the 14th amendment.
The partial-birth abortion ban was opposed by Senator Kennedy. He was one of 8 Catholic senators who did not vote to overturn President Clinton's veto of the bill in the 1990s: Thomas Daschle, Christopher Dodd, Thomas Harkin, John Kerry, Barbara Mikulski, Carol Moseley-Braun and Patty Murray.
Senator Kennedy had many admirable traits. But, sadly, he did not employ these impressive powers to protect the most vulnerable members of the human community, the unborn.
Those Catholics who are faithful to the Magisterium and orthodox in their faith practices, and most especially those Catholics who promote the right to life in the private and public sphere, are not welcome to post on this Web site, and they should keep their mouths shut about abortion and other social issues that don't align with progressive Catholic ideals.
Michael, if you want to limit this Web site and America magazine to the Catholic Left and make of it an echo chamber, how are you any different from those the progressives criticize as not being open to dialogue and too focused on what progressives perceive as a closed-minded clericalist hierarchy in the Church?
[size= 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif']You deign to castigate Patrick Madrid for ''attacking'' your college Sr. Maureen, but in so doing, ironically, you brand him with such adjectives as ''callous'', ''inhumane'', and ''shameful'' and accuse him of condescension, hubris, boorishness, hatefulness, and ideological ranting. When I compare the respective posts, only one strikes me as an attack, and it isn't Mr. Madrid's.[/size]
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You accuse Mr. Madrid of condescension, yet you claim to have never heard of him, blithely dismissing him as just ''[s]omeone [...] who runs a blog.'' To the extent Mr. Madrid was condescending, Mr. Winters, you up the ante. Patrick Madrid is not simply a blogger, as you allege. Just this morning, I walked by the bookshop at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. and noticed three books written by Patrick Madrid prominently displayed in the storefront display case. I find suspect your disclaiming familiarity with Patrick Madrid when he is a featured author at the National Shrine of the Catholic University of America. But I suppose these are simply sectarian Catholic institutions wed to the ideological right, of a far different character than the apolitical, ideologically neutral America Magazine. Please forgive my forgetting that you belong to the legitimate Catholic intelligentsia. However, if permissiveness as to adherence to Church teaching on abortion is part of the entrance criteria for your version of Catholic legitimacy, I'll cast my lots with Mr. Madrid, irrespective of his notoriety in your circles.
There's nothing I seek to add to the debate about the appropriateness of discussing, in the wake of his death, Ted Kennedy's failings on the fundamental moral crisis of our time. The countless posters above me have convincingly made their case. My sole point in commenting, Mr. Winters, is to highlight that your post is absolutely dripping with sanctimony, and to suggest that the next time you hope to correct the actions of another, be careful not to employ the very same tactics you wish to censure.
I'm not surprised you're unfamiliar with the works of Patrick Madrid- you've probably entirely missed the post-Baby Boomer, GenX revival of conservativism in the Church. No wonder you liked Ted Kennedy. He was a harmartiaphile in many ways- just like most of the rest of that misguided generation that gave us "free love", contraception, abortion, and the clergy abuse scandal.
As to the partial birth abortion ban, that was a stalking horse for the overturn of Roe v. Wade. However, Kennedy, Alito and Roberts did not take the bait and never will. It is fraudulent to continue to insist that Catholics must support the overturn of Roe to be good Catholics, since four Catholic Justices (out of six) will never, ever go along with doing so. Most Catholic voters have seen through the fraud perpetuated by the Right to Life Committee, the Republicans and the Bishops on this issue. The movement can continue to march toward irrelevancy or it can work in the world that is.