I have a better idea...

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A month of harsh words between Rep. Patrick Kennedy and a strident critic, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, escalated Sunday when the bishop acknowledged asking Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights.

The bishop's attempt to publicly shame Kennedy on his abortion stance comes just a few months after the death of his father, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Tobin told The Associated Press that the younger Kennedy, who has been in and out of treatment for substance abuse, has been acting "erratically."

Their dispute began in October when Kennedy criticized the nation's Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose an overhaul of the nation's health care system unless lawmakers included tighter restrictions on abortion, which have since been added to the House version of the bill. Tobin said he felt Kennedy made an unprovoked attack on the church and demanded an apology.

"The point is, because of his obstinate ... public support of abortion, which is clearly contrary to an essential teaching of the church of a matter of critical morality ... he is then not properly prepared to receive Holy Communion," Tobin said in an interview Sunday. "No one has a right to receive Holy Communion."

The feud escalated after Kennedy told The Providence Journal in a story published Sunday that Tobin instructed him not to receive Communion. Kennedy also claimed the bishop had told diocesan priests not to give him communion, an allegation that Tobin denied.

Kennedy and his spokeswoman did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Tobin said he wrote Kennedy in February 2007 and asked him not to receive Communion because of his voting record supporting abortion rights.

The bishop said his letter was prompted by a statement two months earlier from the nation's Catholic bishops. They said that believers who knowingly and consistently break with church teachings on moral issues such as abortion should refrain from Communion, the focus of Roman Catholic worship.

Abortion is a major concern for the Catholic bishops because opposition to the procedure is based on the church's earliest teachings on preserving human life, which have not changed. By comparison, church teaching on the death penalty is not as definitive and has changed over time, making it difficult for church leaders to demand that Catholic lawmakers agree.

Only a few U.S. bishops have said they would outright deny Holy Communion to a Catholic lawmaker who supports policies that violate church teaching. A larger number of prelates have publicly asked a Catholic politician to voluntarily abstain from the sacrament.

For example, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Diocese of Kansas City in Kansas had repeatedly said publicly that former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic Democrat who supports abortion rights, should stop taking Communion until she changes her stance. Sebelius is now President Barack Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services.

Other Catholic politicians have wrestled with the same issue Kennedy faces.

In 1984, former Democratic New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Catholic who supported abortion rights and was at the time a potential presidential candidate, delivered a speech at the University of Notre Dame explaining that Catholic lawmakers shouldn't be pressured by church leaders to work for anti-abortion legislation. He said Sunday it's dangerous for the church to pressure politicians because of the potential for unintended consequences.

"If you're required (by the church) to make everybody follow your Catholic role, then nobody would vote for Catholics because it's clear that when you get the authority, you're going to be guided by your faith," the former governor told The Associated Press.

Cuomo said there are two positions a politician can take: They can oppose church doctrine outright or, as he did, accept church teachings personally but refuse to carry them into the public arena where they would affect people of every faith.

"Don't ask me to make everybody live by it because they are not members of the church," Cuomo said. "If that were the operative rule, how could you get any Catholic politician in office? And would that be better for the Catholic church?"

Catholics seemed divided Sunday by the feud between Kennedy and Tobin.

Nancy Sieger, 49, who attended a celebration Sunday for her old parish church in East Providence, questioned whether Kennedy was being treated more harshly than his father, who also supported abortion rights but was given a funeral Mass presided over by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston.

She said most Americans support a separation of church and state.

"I think that the Church really needs to stay out of it," she said.

Anne Mitchell, 74, said she supported Tobin's attempts to keep strong limits on publicly financed abortion.

"Abortion is wrong. It's always wrong," she said. "Keep abortion out of the bills."





I have a better idea. How about you keep your religion out of MY government! Listen up, Mr. Tobin, you are making a very poor business decision here. Your bosses are not going to like it. You are going to cost them membership with your shenanigans, you hypocritical fruitloop! I am guessing that the "Big Kahuna" is not thrilled with you either.

Allow me to isolate and make clear how incredibly assinine you are. You stated the following, "The point is, because of his obstinate ... public support of abortion, which is clearly contrary to an essential teaching of the church of a matter of critical morality ... he is then not properly prepared to receive Holy Communion," Tobin said in an interview Sunday. "No one has a right to receive Holy Communion."

Read that again, Bishop Flunkie. You do NOT have the right to determine who is and who is not fit to receive communion. That would be up to your god, would it not? You seem to have lost touch with your own teachings, and yet you feel empowered enough to make your little pissing contest with Mr. Kennedy part of your faith. Interesting strategy, however lacking it is in logic. As it stands right now, your faith and the teachings thereof do NOT hold political influence. However, you aparently feel that if you bully Mr. Kennedy long enough, you will somehow rise to the surface of superior morality? WRONG! You are correct about one thing, though. No one DOES have a RIGHT to communion. No one also has the right to impose their religious views upon another by means of political influence. That IS what you are doing, here, correct? You have deduced that if you publically shame Mr. Kennedy and his stand on abortion rights, that you will somehow influence him through religiously indoctrinated guilt to change his stand on this issue, or no longer receive communion.

I have a better idea for Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy, go online and order communion wafers. You CAN do that, you know. Then take them to any ordained idiot whose parish could use a extra couple of bucks *wink wink* and have them blessed. The devour the whole freakin lot of them. Do you feel "closer to god" now? I didn't think so. Heaven forbid, we aknowledge what a scam the humans who run your faith are really perpetrating. Mr. Kennedy, hold on to your faith. Believe in your god. The act of receiving communion is simply ritualistic in nature, and is enforced and manipulated by human beings. Bishop Fuckhead has NO right to tell you whether or not you are "fit to receive communion". He seems to have allowed his "power" to go to his head. You probably should not attend church and drink the wine either, in light of your "substance abuse" issues. My guess is that Bishop Assclown hasn't quite made that connection yet.

Hey Bishop Cornhole, when you assholes pay taxes, you can have an opinion in our politics. Until then, please shove your self righteous religious bullshit straight where your obession lies...your asshole. You are a piss poor representative of people of faith. You have NO RIGHT to impose your views upon another man simply because you do not like his political stand. Now, Mr. Kennedy has a choice. He can abide by your nonsense, and change his stand, or he can continue to practice his faith and tell you to go fuck yourself. Here is the funny part. Let's see how well your bullshit holds up against his career and his income. Much like the organization that YOU work for, his is also driven by popular opinion and the almighty dollar. The difference is, his pays him and yours takes his money. Gee, I wonder who will win. Fuckhead. You don't even know the rules of your own game. Go back to school, son. Daddy is gonna be PISSED!

As for you, 74 year old Anne Mitchell, you are correct about one thing, you just seem to have missed a few words. Let me help you. It should read as follows, "Keep religiously influenced opinion about abortion out of the bills." There, isn't that better now? Listen up, Anne. I have always heard the phrase, "respect your elders". That has never made much sense to me. I can understand respect of your fellow humans, but I refuse to give you more because you have lived longer. You get from me exactly what you deserve, and that is a good swift kick in your shriveled up judgemental ass. If you think that just because you are an old bitter, judgemental, bible beating shrew that I am going to let you off of the hook for such blatent ignorance, you are mistaken. Let me explain it in terms you can understand. Let not the ignorant of the herd become the shepherd. For through his own greed and desires, he will inflict upon the loyal undue and unjust judgement, for only I can cast the hand of righteousness.

You caught me, I made that up. I bet you still googled it, didn't you? Sounds real enough to pass for the same bullshit that you fools have been spewing for hundreds of years. So, without years of translation and transcription, I will tell you what it means. According to YOUR rules, you cannot judge another. Only your god can do that. Uh oh, looks like Annie won't be receiving communion. After all, you are to be spreading the word of your god, not passing judgment or compromising with the enemy.

Don't sweat it though, Annie. Hopefully they will rewrite and change those rules before you croak. One can only have faith. Good luck.