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Bishop bars Patrick Kennedy from Communion at Mass over abortion stance

KELLY FINCHAM,

IrishCentral.com Editor

Published Sunday, November 22, 2009, 8:30 AM

Updated Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 12:57 PM

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Barred from Communion: Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island

Niall O'Dowd / No winner in Kennedy-bishop abortion standoff / Click here

Story / Like father like son? Kennedy Jr. takes on Catholic Church / Click here

Congressman Patrick Kennedy has been barred from receiving Communion by his Bishop in Rhode Island.

Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred Patrick, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, because of his position on abortion rights.

"The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy told the Providence Journal.

It is not clear if other bishops will follow Tobin's lead. Kennedy also attends Mass frequently in Massachusetts, where the family has a home.

Kennedy said the bishop had told him "that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I've taken as a public official," particularly on abortion.

The dispute between the two men began in October when Kennedy criticized the nation's Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose health care legislation unless it included tighter controls on federally funded abortion.

Kennedy actually eventually voted for an amendment to the bill that did restrict the abortion funding in order to get the entire bill through.

Tobin, who serves in the most-Catholic diocese in the nation, demanded an apology from Kennedy for his remarks and asked for a meeting.

"While I greatly respect the Catholic Church and its leaders, like many Rhode Islanders, the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy of the church on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic," Kennedy wrote in a letter to Tobin, agreeing to a meeting.

"I embrace my faith which acknowledges the existence of an imperfect humanity."

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AnnCallanPrice | Jan 27, 2011, 10:29 PM EST

....rEAD SCRIPTURE, FROM cHRIST'S OWN WORDS................ AND MOST cHRISTIAN'S HAVE NOT FOLOWED hIS TEACHINGS...... lOOK TO YOUR OWN EYE BEFORE YOU TRY TO JUDGE THE SPLINTER IN ANOTHER'S.......EVEN IF THEY ARE WRONG....TRY HELPING mR kENNEDY...AND YOURSEIVES ALSO... hOW MANY cHRISTIANS IN aMERICA HAVE SOLD ALL THEIR POCESSIONS GIVEN IT TO THE POOR AND WALKED AS A DISCIPLE OF cHRIST? tAKING ONLY THE SHOES AND CLOTHES YOU WEAR....GOING FROM TOWN TO TOWN SPREADING THE gOSPEL? NOT MANY.....MAYBE A FEW HUNDRED, A FEW THOUSAND, OR A MERE HANDFUL? sOUNDS LIKE THE TRUE CHURCH OF gOD AND THE bOY sCOUTS AND MANY LICENSED DAY CARE CENTERS ARE FULL OF "DIRTY OLE MEN , PETOFILES,,,,NOT JUST THE cATHOLIC CHURCH..... SO DO NOT FOCUS ON THE c cHURCH FOR ALL THE SINS OF MANKIND... aMERICA HAS GRAVE GROUP SIN AS WELL AS GRAVE INDIVIDUAL SIN! ....A SOUL IS , AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION, SEPARATE FROM THE SOUL OF THE mOTHER. AND ADOPTION IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO RAISING THE CHILD, IF THE mOTHER DECIDES NOT TO mOTHER ...END OF DICUSSION.....cHRIST SAID SO....... SO S T O P IT.......OR YOU ARE NOT A TRUE DISCIPLE OF cHRIST.... YOUR CHOICE,,,,hEAVEN OR hELLL.......THERE....CHOSE THAT PRO CHOICERS!

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jmhickey | Jul 10, 2010, 08:27 AM EDT

I think the heirarchy of the Catholic Church has done NOTHING to accept responsibility for the disgressions of their own flock. Who is the bishop to pass judgment on a man who has dedicated himself to public service. And they wonder why no one goes to mass anymore. It's actions like these that push people away from the church. I was brought up in the Catholic Church of compassion. Abortion is almost always the only choice for some women. If men could get pregnant, I'm sure the church would have a very different view about this subject.

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michealcollins | Apr 15, 2010, 07:41 PM EDT

There is something rather troubling about this story. Mr. Kennedy supports abortion, but regular attends mass. Honestly, I don't regularly attend mass, but when I do, I don't take communion, because I don't feel worthy to accept the body of Christ. At the present time, to have the Bishop of Rhode Island, lecturing on Mr. Kennedy not being a good Catholic is laughable. The clergy have lost their moral authority, and need to recover it, before passing judgement on the laity. What's worse deny someone the right to communion because they are prochoice, or the collusion within the church to protect sexual predators? I am willing to bet those priest involved were not denied communion over the years.

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murphy66 | Apr 04, 2010, 04:13 PM EDT

There hasn't been a good Catholic in that family since Rose.

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murphy66 | Mar 03, 2010, 11:06 AM EST

Thank you BildoReilly. Right on point.

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murphy66 | Mar 03, 2010, 11:04 AM EST

The Catholic church is responsible for more deaths in Africa then all the slave traders in history, and the church gave its blessing to the West African slave trade. Before they condemn anyone they should clean up their house first. Why should a bunch of dirty old men have the right to tell 51% of the population what they can and cannot do with their own bodies?

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tommsr1936 | Feb 28, 2010, 01:29 PM EST

It's about time that the Church has stood up against these people who don't follow the laws of the church. They are "CINO".

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Harriette | Feb 05, 2010, 11:49 PM EST

I agree with Kennedy's stand on the abortion issue. Good for him !!!

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Lillyobrien | Dec 26, 2009, 01:33 PM EST

I think the church has far more inportant issues to look after then one of the Kennedys can take communion number one issue would be the young children all over the world that have been molested. Is the Kennedy problem the tail that waves the dog.....

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mollymcgee | Dec 04, 2009, 11:41 PM EST

Judgement by a hierachy that hid perverts actions for years....amd massive abuses.....think that be the proverbial two edged sword some writers paint in words......sad-so- sad....

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seano32b | Nov 25, 2009, 12:28 PM EST

Good. About time that the Catholic Church in the U.S. took a stronge stance on this issue.

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DANOLO13 | Nov 25, 2009, 12:25 AM EST

what! "acknowledges the existace of an imperfect humanity"?!?!?! This does not give us the right or excuse to hide behind it and say it is okay. If you say your Catholic, then "thou shall not KILL" should be kept, without the search for an excuse. Especialy one that sounds like, "but everyone else is doing it." Besides that, basic understanding of biology is enough to understand why abortion is useless.

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liseuxx | Nov 24, 2009, 10:04 PM EST

It's not her own body- not unless she has now four hands and four feet while preggers. AND, if she's carrying a male baby, suddenly the mamma has developed a penis? That's the oldest and most illogical argument ever played, "It's my own body..." DNA evidence now proves otherwise.

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plasticpaddy | Nov 24, 2009, 06:22 PM EST

and bugger it if she or anyone else will tell anyone what to do with their own body. Funny how the anti-abortionists are more against liberty and freedom to decide ones own fate than the ones they regularly criticise.

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Chicago1 | Nov 24, 2009, 02:23 PM EST

"The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters" And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign." MOTHER TERESA, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1994

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