The ongoing dispute -- between Bishop Tobin of Providence, RI and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy -- over the role of abortion in the House health care bill reminds us that Kennedy policies must be understood as an inter-generational phenomenon. In the National Catholic Register opinion page, I look at Ted Kennedy's best-seller: "True Compass" and suggest that the family's deeply partisan version of Catholicism continues to shape our understanding of the church's role in the public square.
There wasn't space in my article to add an additional insight gleaned from the memoir. While the Kennedy family's rise to political power unleashed a kind of primitive tribal euphoria among American Catholics, it's also true that many church leaders permitted the Kennedy men to operate as if the great opportunities for social change secured through political influence trumped the individual moral obligations of church membership.
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