Congressman Patrick Kennedy claims he's been denied communion in the Roman Catholic Church because of his support for abortion.
Over a three-year period, Bishop Thomas Tobin has had an exchange with Kennedy (D-Rhode Island), and the only remaining public official in the nation's most prominent Catholic family recently stated publicly that the bishop had instructed him not to take communion. Judie Brown of the American Life League comments on the situation. "Why Kennedy has picked this particular time to go public with all this, I do not know," Brown states. "But I think that even under fire, Bishop Tobin has proven to be someone who is not going to back away from controversy [and] is in fact going to respond to allegations made about him that are untrue, and [he] is...now making it clear to the entire country that individual politicians like Patrick Kennedy who defy church teaching must not receive Holy Communion -- and that's a good thing." Kennedy has not made clear how or when Tobin informed him of his decision, and Brown adds that discussions between a bishop and an errant member of the church are best handled privately, not through the media. She further believes that Bishop Tobin is simply doing his job of trying to save a soul. "The bishop has taken this opportunity to do something that no other bishop has done," notes Brown. "He has made lemonade out of a lemon, and I think that's wonderful." An injunction similar to Bishop Tobin's took place in 2003 when Bishop Raymond Burke chose to deny Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin the same privilege because of his mixed voting record on the abortion issue. Catholic bishops' denying communion to church members is not an action from which they are restricted, but it is one that is unusual. Furthermore, withholding communion is considered an unfortunate penalty for any Catholic Church member, but not as serious as that of excommunication.
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