Despite strong pressure to stay away, Cardinal Sean O’Malley opted to preside over Ted Kennedy’s funeral Mass, and gave the final commendation.
During his remarks, he made a point of thanking Obama (he also talked to him for a few minutes), and he talked about Ted Kennedy’s last days in the loving embrace of his family, noting how being surrounded by such love allows a person to die with great dignity. It was moving. In an earlier statement, he noted that “for nearly half a century, Senator Kennedy was often a champion for the poor, the less fortunate, and those seeking a better life….Across Massachusetts and the nation, his legacy will be carried on through the lives of those he served”.
Cardinal Sean’s pro-life credentials are second to none. He will undoubtedly be attacked by the extremist elements of the Church for presiding on Saturday. He already is. But the cardinal took a decision that was both brave and correct. As Fr. James Martin put it, it was “largehearted, compassionate, pastoral, sensitive and, above all, Christian”.
How does it serve the cause of the unborn to follow the advice of people like Judie Brown (who has been known to defend torture)? And yet when you look at the impressive litany of Kennedy’s record — civil rights, healthcare, education, economic justice opposition to war and the death penalty– you don’t have to be a foam-at-the-mouth right-winger to note the absence of protecting the unborn against violence. How do Catholics persuade those like Kennedy, those with otherwise impeccable social justice records, to become more consistent, to embrace a culture of life that is not selective? I’m not quite sure how to do it, but I’m very sure how not to do it — by dismissing Kennedy’s record as having no worth whatsoever, by engaging in bomb-throwing hyperbola and blaming him for the blood of millions, and by engaging in nasty and grotesque attacks on his personal life. These tactics might gain you accolades among your friends at the fringe, but they are actually harming the pro-life cause.
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