Church vs. Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy, nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, is henceforth forbidden to receive the body of Christ. In plain language, that means that Kennedy, a Catholic, has been excluded from the so-called rite of Holy Communion. The reason for this religious barrier is the Democratic congressman’s position concerning the termination of pregnancy. The Catholic Church in America seeks to make the abortion issue a litmus test for President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms. Apparently, the clergy’s concern that millions of Americans have no access to health insurance is less pressing than their disapproval of public funding for abortion – a right assured to American citizens by the Supreme Court 36 years ago. Kennedy accuses the Catholic Church of “fanning the flames of dissent and discord” in connecting the abortion question to the reform debate, thereby promoting objections by other religions. The Catholic Church, which has more than one problem in the ecumenical world, gets the most traction with the abortion question in America, otherwise known as God’s country. The Catholic Church has been known to publicly show its instruments of persuasion to dissidents. Fortunately, those instruments are much less painful today than they were in the past.