The Conciliar Church and the Kennedy Funeral

By: Dr. J. P. Hubert

Subsequent to the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, many Traditional Catholic commentators have opined about the unsightly scene in Boston’s Mission Church where Cardinal Archbishop Sean O’Malley officiated at the late Senator’s funeral Mass. Others complained about the highly visible presence of retired Cardinal Theodore Mc Carrick of Washington D. C. who led the grave-side ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The obvious question was; would their presence not be taken as Catholic Church approval of the Senator’s many anti-Catholic views.

The basis of much criticism had to do with the fact that Senator Kennedy was a notorious dissenter from Traditional Roman Catholic teaching in the areas of the sanctity of human life specifically; his staunch support for abortion on demand, partial birth abortion, public financing of abortion for the poor, destructive embryo research (DER) including embryonic stem cell research and human cloning for biomedical research purposes (CBR). Others forcefully objected to his support for legalized sodomy, same-sex “marriage”, Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) and Euthanasia among other things. In all these areas of public policy, the senator very publicly opposed the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church.

It is noteworthy that no public evidence appears to exist that the Vatican or the U.S. Catholic hierarchy ever confronted Senator Kennedy about his anti-Catholic beliefs and actions which over multiple decades served as a source of great scandal for the Catholic faithful and ridicule for the institutional Church world-wide.[1] It is certainly possible that the responsible Catholic prelature tried to correct the senator privately. If they did, their attempts had no effect on his public advocacy for initiatives which were totally incompatible with Traditional Catholicism. One can only hope that the responsible hierarchy did everything humanly possible to impress upon the Senator just how incompatible with the faith and egregious were his anti-Catholic public utterances and activities.

In any case, since his funeral, not one comment has been issued in way of clarification--by responsible Catholic Church officials either in Rome or the United States--that many of Senator Kennedy’s most publicly held views were incompatible with the orthodox Catholic faith. That being the case, it is understandable why faithful Catholics would be concerned. In light however of the almost complete conciliar church rejection of Traditional Catholic moral teaching, it is not surprising perhaps that Senator Kennedy retained his long held heterodox views. Had the hierarchy--as they were required to do in defense of the faith--ever demanded that the Senator publicly recant those views or face excommunication, he would have been forced to side with either the Church or his secular political party. It is tragic for him and the world that neither the Vatican nor his local Ordinary did so--not to mention the horrendous degree of malfeasance it represents for the responsible church officials involved.

In a certain way, Senator Kennedy was allowed to live a life of sinful rebellion from the full deposit of Catholic truth because of the irresponsibility of those high ranking Roman Catholic clergy whose very job it was to protect him from thinking that his professed beliefs and actions were acceptable.[2] Knowing that for over 40 years the Traditional Roman Catholic Church has been absent from the scene allows us to conclude tragically, that Senator Kennedy simply reflected the confusion and lack of holiness that has characterized the conciliar church in general--a situation which has been appropriately referred to as a diabolical disorientation.

Moreover, it seems intuitively obvious that in light of this extremely public case of denial of the True Faith and so many others in which no disciplinary actions have been taken, the conciliar church could not possibly be the Traditional Roman Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. It is simply unimaginable that a Pope Pius V or Pope Pius X who famously protected the sheep from ravenous wolves would have allowed such a grievous case of public heresy/apostasy to go unanswered by the Vatican. One is left to conclude that the conciliar church which allowed Senator Kennedy to remain a Roman "Catholic" in good standing without issuing a formal reprimand and who provided the very highest Catholic Church honor[3] in Christian burial was fundamentally in agreement with him.

For more on Senator Kennedy and the meaning of his death for Catholics, see THIS..., THIS... and THIS...

NOTES:

1. All that exist are the statements from Kennedy’s parish priest Fr. Hession and Cardinal Archbishop Sean O’Malley that the Senator most assuredly attained salvation. One is left to presume that he made a sincere and complete sacramental confession which included fully repenting of his life-long anti-Catholic views and actions.
2. That is not to say that he bore no personal responsibility for them because as an adult Catholic he was responsible for knowing what the Church teaches.
3. A formal Catholic "Mass" with the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston in attendance who stated that despite no public recantation of his heretical/sinful views and actions, Senator Kennedy had achieved salvation.