A man who is chronically drunk, commits several crimes worthy of jail time by drinking and causing a death, and touted to be fighting for "the people" (poor people) when he was living above the system, has lost all of my respect. He worked in an extreamly lavish offices with marble everything, beautiful wooden panel walls, and carpet you could sleep on comfortably to name just a few. Last time I checked, our public officers were not kings.
Should he be touted as a Hero? Well, I guess Michael Jackson was. Apparently our nation is okay with morally sloven public figures who speak out of both sides of their mouths.
Let the man rest in peace, and let us move on. I'm sure he had good intentions during his lifelong career of politics, but that doesn't excuse his slithering around the law and moral askew motives.
Not only do I have great friends who are of the Catholic faith, but I share much in common with their moral beliefs. Ted Kennedy may have been a self proclaimed "Catholic", but like so many of my faith who decide to go "Jack", he didn't practice it. I can't put it any better than this courageous Catholic priest.
A Catholic pro-life leader has some scathing words concerning Senator Ted Kennedy's Catholic funeral.
Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, released this statement concerning Senator Kennedy. "We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him, let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event."
He adds that while Senator Kennedy called himself Catholic, like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden, they are actually wolves in sheep's clothing.
"They do not hold to the teaching of the church. They, in fact, take every opportunity seemingly to contradict the teaching of our church," Euteneuer says. "So in the case of Senator Edward Kennedy, he was not only against his church's teaching on the issue of abortion, but the same with embryonic stem cell research, the same with gay marriage and
various other issues which set him in diametric opposition to his church's very well-defined and clearly articulated teaching."
Euteneuer says he is speaking out now to remind everyone that Catholics cannot honor a person with a full and public Catholic funeral when, like Senator Kennedy, he really was not.
7 comments:
I think this may be a first: I agree 100%!
Ted Kennedy was, I'm sure, a decent man, but he was FAR from being a moral one in my opinion. Have you ever heard of Mary Jo Kopechne? If you haven't you really should. That's the woman he "killed" after crashing his car into Lake Chappaquiddick. Now, crashing a car into a lake isn't a crime in and of itself, but what he did AFTER sure is.
Ask yourself this: if you accidentally crashed a car into a lake with a passenger inside what would you do? Well, Ted Kennedy decided to go sleep it off in his hotel room, followed up with conspiring with his advisors and closest friends. I guess calling 911 or diving in to save the woman is a silly notion.
If you haven's seen this clip you really should. It's Ted Kennedy explaining why he did what he did 2 weeks after the incident. It's pathetic and wrong:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hdhLG0g6A&feature=related
Cerebral concussion = "I better cover my butt instead of saving that stupid lady."
In fairness, Ted Kennedy did do a tremendous amount of good in the Senate...of this there is no doubt or debate possible. He will be a historic figure for many of the things he accomplished. HOWEVER, this does not justify or make amends for what he did. Mary Jo Kopechne was somebody's loved one who Ted Kennedy simply ignored in order to save his own political skin. Reminds me of King David sending Bathsheba's hubby off to die on the front lines just to save his hide. David did a lot of good for Israel but none of that can erase his glaring misdeed.
As Winston Churchill put it:
"Give me a choice between the brightest and best politician who happens to be corrupt, and the simplest and uneducated father who happens to be just, and I will take the father any day of the week. He is worth his weight in gold to mankind."
Well, they did and he had a correspondence with the Pope who put out a statement praising him for his faith in the church. Seems like Euteneuer's boss doesn't agree with him. I don't think it is up to anyone but HF to decide who is and isn't a "real" Catholic, Mormon, Christian, etc. In the long run the only people we need to worry about, or have control over is ourselves.
I would not call Kennedy a "decent" man. I think he has a lot to account for. I feel the same way Brad and Richard do. I put Kennedy in the Reid category, they profess faith, but don't act upon it. Isn't that the saying...actions speak louder than words??
Well, I don't put Reid in that boat, and I'm not sure why you do. Reid was a former Bishop (not that it means he's a good guy) but Bishops are, for the most part, good people, are they not?
I will agree with Lisa on this point: it's sort of silly for us to say who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. We're probably all guilty of pointing out the rod in the eyes of others but not the beam in our own I guess.
I dunno, I knew a bishop who had an affair and was ex'ed, while he was a bishop. So, this may be an extreme example, but would you say Hitler was bad? Or Moses good? ...I still think actions speak louder than words.
However, I am not the person doling out justice, and thank goodness I'm not on a jury.
While I agree in part with Lisa that the only people we have to worry about is ourselves, and HF is the true judge of character, the proof is in the pudding. Would YOU allow your daughter to go out with such a man with that track record? Or better yet, how would you feel if it was your daughter in the car with him that night?
Would you think a good Catholic is one who should be against abortion spelled out by his religion or like Edward K, and promote the idea? Like I've said before...the bad things we see popping up in public figures with the media in their pocket is just the tip of the iceburg of what goes on behind the scenes.
Re: bishops... Bishops are human. They are not exempt from sin. In the last days, "even the greats shall fall".
And if you are implicating the mis-taught principle of the gospel of "thou shalt not judge"...you are again not correct. For example...if a big burley man is walking toward you with a lead pipe in an alleyway, should you "judge" him? HECK YEAH! The scriptures teach us to "judge righteously" if I may paraphrase the teaching. No where in the scriptures are we taught to be ignorant idiots, but learned patriots (agian, paraphrased).
If the Pope did say those things...I don't know who he's trying to impress, or what he was smokin'.
Richard, I'm with you 100%!!
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