In the Name of Catholicism

In her new book Being Catholic Now, activist Kerry Kennedy interviews 37 prominent Catholics (many of them Irish American) to discover what being Catholic means to this generation of followers. Kennedy tells CAHIR O'DOHERTY how her faith as a Catholic, which she learned as a child in the center of America's royal family, has carried her through all the heartbreak that have haunted the Kennedys over the years.

GROWING up in a house and family affected by great loss, it's no surprise to discover that for Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, her Catholicism has been a well of strength and solace for decades. Although as an adult she has come to question some of the teachings of the church, all the while she has remained a deeply impassioned believer.

For Kennedy her faith and her family's spirited commitment to social justice are indistinguishable. In 1988 she set up the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, and since then she has led more than 40 human rights delegations working on international issues as diverse as child labor, ethnic violence, disappearances and environmental protection. It's simply an expression of her faith at work.

In Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning (Crown Publishers), Kennedy has hit on the idea of asking some of the most familiar names in America about their own experience of the faith. Among her famous respondents are individuals as diverse as Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Pelosi, Frank McCourt and Susan Sarandon.

"I set out to talk to Catholics who were well known for depth and expertise on a particular issue or profession and which represented all walks of life," Kennedy explained to the Irish Voice.

"Actors, historians, journalists, political commentators, judges, cardinals, priests, nuns, union leaders, businessmen and students ranging in age from 19 to 86. Liberals and conservatives, people from various races, those who love the church and those who feel it has wronged them."

Even by ordinary standards of Catholic piety, the family of Robert F. Kennedy was - and has remained - unusually devout and steeped in the traditions of the church.

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Nster.com