Tobin v. Kennedy

I have been trying to resist writing about the current public dispute between Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island and his bishop, but there are some aspects of it that are noteworthy.  Without getting into all of the details, the basic scenario is that Kennedy publicly lashed out at the U.S. bishops' opposition to the pro-abortion aspects of the health care reform bill as it was working its way through the House of Representatives a few weeks ago.  Kennedy asserted that a person can be a good Catholic and also support a woman's right to abort her child.

Bishop Tobin, believing that he has an obligation to the Catholics in his care, publicly rebuked Kennedy for making those patently erroneous statements.  Tobin's basic premise is that being Catholic means being pro-life and when a public official who is in a postion of power and influence, uses that power and influence to teach error to the faithful, scandal results.  The scandal has the effect, so the logic goes, of forcing the hand of the bishop to correct the error and since the scandal is inherently public, so too must be the rebuttal.

The dispute took center stage this week as Chris Matthews and Bill O'Reilly each invited Tobin on to their television programs and proceeded to defend Kennedy and attack Tobin.  Tobin likely knew that he was entering a hostile environment, so you have to give him credit for being courageous as he tried to defend his position.  I say "tried" because the program hosts had no intention of giving him the chance to make his points.  So what does it all mean?  Here are some thoughts on the matter:

[1] Being a Catholic means certain things and one of those things is that abortion is morally wrong.  To say that a Catholic can be Catholic and pro-abortion is like saying that an elephant is a giraffe. 

[2] Kennedy may have been baptized as a Catholic, but his actions show that he is not practicing his faith now.

[3] He is, instead, an astute politician who is trying to advance his pro-abortion agenda.

[4] He hopes to persuade Catholics to support pro-abortion policies by deceiving them into thinking that he is their brother in the faith. 

[5] He hopes that Catholics will think that he speaks with moral authority which he does not, but some will be duped and then go on to conclude that it must be true what he says "that it is acceptable to be both Catholic and pro-abortion."

[6] What Kennedy is doing is the definition of scandal. 

[7] Tobin knows scandal when he sees it and knows too that it is his moral imperative to correct it.

Tobin has been made to look like he is attacking Kennedy and publicly exposing Kennedy's sins.  The record, however, reveals that Tobin tried mightily to keep the matter a private pastoral issue (see November 24, 2009 article by Phil Lawler).  It was Kennedy who took the matter public at each and every turn and he did it, I submit, as a pure political ploy to deceive Catholics on the abortion issue.  Tobin should be applauded for having the courage to stand up for the truth of the faith.