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 | Blogs > CaringInAction > Radical Christianity > Life Is Bigger Than The Kennedy's |
Life Is Bigger Than The Kennedy's
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Power, position, prominence is the usual description of the Kennedy family. I watched the elaborate and long funeral activities of Senator Kennedy. I was moved many times to sheer admiration and gratefulness that his life was such a public sharing. He started out in life with more than a silver spoon in his mouth, but ended up his life in church on his knees in prayer. It is unquestionable that his interest in suffering events in the lives of others was unmatched. I hate it when people can only see the wrong in other person's lives and so easily skip over the good. There are many lessons to learn from the Senator's life. But one I would like to draw on is to start out of life on our knees in prayer rather than the ending. We inherit much from our parents. Blessed are those of us whose parents were active in Church and had a good basic ethical faith foundation to their life that they were willing and able to share. Senator Kennedy often said his dad was an inspiration, and his mother was a light. Our personal example will never be out shouted or outshone by our words. Probably our personal example as parents is the strongest influence we have. |
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9/6/2009 7:11 am |
Good morning. ....I am from the Boston area,and I used to attend the Mission Church as we have always called it..that was many years ago,but I too was never a fan of Senator Ted Kennedy,for a variety of reasons. But I will not be his judge,and neither should others. but all in all it was quite a site to see so many people out there on bridges and highways just to wave good bye,my daughter included ,with my four grandchildren,God bless them. Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. CEO Salt + Light Catholic Television Network Consultor, Pontifical Council for Social Communications While I was never a fan of Senator Ted Kennedy for a variety of reasons, I watched his funeral on television last Saturday. I prayed for the repose of his soul, the forgiveness of his sins, the consolation of a large Kennedy family who allowed the world to share their grief and sorrow once again on the public stage. I know of no family that has allowed the entire world into so many moments of personal grief, tragedy and loss over the years as the Kennedys. Among that great lot are some very good people. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who preceded her brother in death only two weeks before left her mark on the world by her championing the Gospel of Life throughout her own life. As a Roman Catholic Priest who is pro-life, I was proud of my Church last week, and grateful for the courageous and gracious actions of American Church leaders in Boston and Washington, who opened the doors of their Church to reveal a Gospel of mercy and hospitality, in the midst of sinfulness and ambiguity of public leaders who are in need of conversion, forgiveness and prayers, like the rest of us. Leading up to the Kennedy funeral last weekend, and in its aftermath, many so-called lovers of life and activists in the pro-life movement, as well as well-known colleagues in Catholic television broadcasting and media in North America, have revealed themselves to be not agents of life, but of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence. Their words and actions vitiate their efforts in favor of life. Their open and public attacks against Cardinal Séan O’Malley, OFM, Cap, Archbishop of Boston; Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C.; the priests involved in the funeral liturgy in Boston’s historic Mission Basilica, (be they Redemptorist, Jesuit or Diocesan) indicate that something is terribly wrong in the pro-life movement. Civility, charity, mercy and politeness seem to have dropped out of the pro-life lexicon. Through vicious attacks launched on blogs, a new form of self-righteoussness, condemnation and gnosticism reveals authors who behave as little children bullying one another around in schoolyards- casting stones, calling names, and wreaking havoc in the Church today! What such people fail to realize is that their messages are ultimately screamed into a vacuum. No one but their own loud crowd is really listening. We will never change laws and bring about conversion of minds and hearts with such behavior. We make the Church and our efforts for life look ridiculous and terribly anti-Christian. Sowing seeds of hatred and division are not the work of those who wish to build a culture of life. Though we did not even carry the Kennedy Funeral on the Salt + Light Catholic Television Network in Canada, nor did we have any intention to do so, I was shocked at the messages and calls we received over the past few days from those claiming to be “pro-life.” They expressed regret that we did not join in the public condemnation of the Kennedys, the Obamas, the O’Malleys, and the McCarricks of this world. That is not what Salt + Light Catholic Television Network is about. Nor will we ever be about such things. We will not contribute to the misery and division within the world and the Church. We believe in the Gospel of Life and strive to humbly bring the Gospel message to the world. We defend life from the earliest moments to the final moments of natural death. But we refuse to destroy and kill others along the way. As I reflected on Senator Kennedy’s life over the past few days, and read the reactions and responses to the funeral rites of this public figure last weekend, I could not help but think of John’s Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery [John 8]. There is probably no other event in Jesus’ life that more clearly illustrates the triumph of mercy over justice than this story. We are not to judge others, not because we shouldn’t but because we can’t. It is impossible to know the heart, the motives, the pain, the weaknesses, the struggles, the suffering of another human being, as wrong as they have been with some of their decisions and allegiances in life. To recognize and bring out the sin in others means also recognizing one’s self as a sinner and in need of God’s boundless mercy. To preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Life without acknowledging the necessity of profound personal conversion and the free gift of God’s mercy is to deny the central Christian message of conversion. Jesus’ stance before this woman remains a permanent call and challenge to his disciples and to the Church throughout the ages. At the end of that powerful Gospel story, everyone had gone, and Jesus and the woman were left standing alone. It is a magnificent scene, described by St. Augustine with the words: “Relicti sunt duo, misera et misericordia.” “And two were left… one filled with misery, and one filled with mercy.” Which person are we at this moment in our own personal journey? There is lot of misery in our world and in our Church, and both the world and the Church desperately need merciful communities, and merciful, joyful, hopeful people. Let us pray that we will become more and more a people, a church and a community overflowing with mercy. That was the image of the Church revealed last Saturday morning in a Boston Basilica, and last Saturday in the fading light of day at Arlington National Cemetery. Let us pray for the repose of the soul of Senator Kennedy. Now that he is reunited with his brothers John and Bobby, Rose, the Catholic matriarch of the Kennedy clan and her husband, and other members of the Kennedy family, let us learn from what they tried to do in their lives, albeit imperfectly, and work for the building of a culture of life and hope, justice and peace, with God at the center. Let us also pray that some of the Kennedy children and grandchildren, so visibly present throughout last weekend’s ceremonies, and often identifying themselves as Catholic, learn from the gestures of mercy of their Church, and be more courageous in living and expressing their Catholic faith in a society that longs for the Gospel message and their living witness of that message. Love & prayers K
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