Matt C. Abbott
Chicago archdiocesan agency lauds Ted Kennedy
By Matt C. Abbott
Just when I thought the Ted Kennedy story was falling off the radar — and it is, but too slowly — I received the following notice from a source (edited):
On a related note, in response to my Aug. 30 column, reader Glenna Bradshaw wrote (slightly edited):
Stay tuned for a column on Our Lady of Akita...
© Matt C. Abbott
September 1, 2009
Just when I thought the Ted Kennedy story was falling off the radar — and it is, but too slowly — I received the following notice from a source (edited):
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'Following the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy last week, Liturgical Training Publications, an agency of the Archdiocese of Chicago, sent out an updated version of their prayers of the faithful for August 30, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Liturgical Training Publications sends these prayers to subscribing pastors and parishes.
'These updated prayers of the faithful include this: 'For those who have given their lives to service to their country, promoting values of peace, justice, equality, and liberty; especially, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, that he may find his eternal reward in the arms of God...We pray.'
'To pray for Senator Kennedy as one who promoted peace, justice, equality, and liberty, ignoring the 49 million-plus babies killed through legalized abortion, would be to pray a lie at Mass. Senator Kennedy's pro-abortion voting record is well known. He voted against the partial-birth abortion ban. He voted against the ban on human cloning. He voted to expand embryonic stem-cell research. The list could be extended. He has a 100 percent rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League.'
On a related note, in response to my Aug. 30 column, reader Glenna Bradshaw wrote (slightly edited):
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'Amy says, 'It is all a matter of perspective to when life begins, again who is right or wrong, I can not say.' To which you rightly respond, 'God help us all' because Amy has swallowed whole the big lie of relativism, i.e., 'Who am I to judge? I'm not God. Who really knows?'
'If I could, I'd tell Amy that that line of thought has cost kids their lives. Actually, it cost my daughter her life. When I was pregnant when I was 20-years-old, I was considering abortion and went to a Lutheran minister who (I'm not making this up) told me not to worry about it 'since it's just a clump of cells at this point' and no one really knows when life begins anyway. I've never really blamed the minister because years before I met with him I had accepted the same big lie of relativism. It made my life so much easier because if I just lived by that code, I didn't have to confront myself or anybody else on anything. So, after speaking with him, I went ahead and killed my daughter because, really, who knew...
'Three years later I woke up to the reality that I knew. I knew it wasn't a clump of cells. I knew it was a baby, my baby. It wasn't her fault I wasn't married when she came into the world. By that time, her dad was long gone and so was the Lutheran minister and I was left to mourn her death at my hands. But not just at my hands: at the hands also of the millions of people in this country who say 'I wouldn't have an abortion myself but...' and go about their lives while 4,000 kids a day are killed.
'There is plenty of guilt to go around in this matter of life and death. Jesus' mercy is more than enough to cover it all, but not if we continue to hide behind the big lie. We have to admit our guilt by complicity, our hypocrisy in claiming not to be judgmental when what God calls us to do is hate the sin and love the sinner. By the way, if I could find that Lutheran minister again, I'd tell him what Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another Lutheran minister, said once: 'It is beside the point when life begins. The point is God intends that is a person and that's all that matters.'
'Amy's of the world, wake up.'
Stay tuned for a column on Our Lady of Akita...
© Matt C. Abbott
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