The Worcester Telegram & Gazette is reporting that:
"Two national religious organizations today will formally ask Bishop Robert J. McManus to reinstate Victoria Reggie Kennedy as the commencement speaker at Anna Maria College.
The small Catholic liberal arts school in Paxton withdrew its invitation last month after the bishop raised concerns with college officials about positions taken by the widow of former U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on abortion, gay marriage, contraception and other social issues of interest to the church.
The school has yet to announce a new speaker.
Representatives of Catholic Democrats are expected to deliver a petition to the chancery on Elm Street requesting the bishop to reverse his decision. The petition has about 20,000 online signatures.
The petition drive was organized by Faithful America, an online interfaith organization concerned with moral and social justice issues.
'We’re glad to receive the petition, but I can’t comment on it since I haven’t seen it,' said Raymond L. Delisle, the diocesan spokesman.
Those scheduled to deliver the petition include Steven D. Krueger, the national director of Catholic Democrats; Maureen McCullough, an Anna Maria alumnus, and George Shea of Uxbridge, who worked for Mr. Kennedy in his 1994 re-election bid.
Petition organizers charge that the bishop has associated Mrs. Kennedy with political and social organizations that promote points of view that are contrary to fundamental church teachings, but they said he has not substantiated those claims.
They said the bishop — through two intermediaries — has declined to speak to Mrs. Kennedy to explain his opposition.
Mr. Krueger said Bishop McManus’ action is just another example of a political tilt to the right by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
'This issue affects the public square beyond the Diocese of Worcester,' said Mr. Krueger. 'Basically, she’s not being allowed to speak because her last name is Kennedy.'"
Got that? Supporters of Victoria Kennedy, angry that Bishop Robert McManus will not permit her to speak at a Catholic college, are demanding that he explain himself to Ms. Kennedy. Now popes and bishops serve God's revealed word, which they are commissioned to hand on (see Lumen Gentium, No. 25 and Dei Verbum, No. 10). Their teaching is not their own. Rather it is a teaching which has been received from the Lord and which they must guard as inviolable and expound with fidelity. A bishop answers to the Holy Father. He answers to God. He does not answer to politicians or certain individuals who happen to have a famous (or infamous) last name.
As the Telegram & Gazette article notes, the petition drive to reinstate Victoria Kennedy as the commencement speaker at Anna Maria College was organized by "Faithful America." This organization, is anything but faithful. It is rather, a liberal ultra-leftist organization which supports the radical homosexual agenda. The organization has referred to the Family Research Council as a "hate group" because of its opposition to the homosexual agenda. It has also worked with homosexual Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, a rabid anti-Catholic bigot, in an effort to get MSNBC to take Family Research Council President Tony Perkins off the air.
A domain registrant search shows that the website for "Faithful America" is maintained by Rev. Jennifer Butler, the Executive Director of Faith in Public Life who has served as the Presbyterian Church (USA) Representative to the United Nations. Rev. Butler, referring to Catholic Rick Santorum, has said that, "few politicians exhibit greater hostility toward gay and lesbian Americans." This because he opposes same-sex "marriage."
16 comments:
"Should the Bishop pay any attention to..."
I am not a Roman Catholic and even my answer is an emphatic NO!
These activists are demanding that the Bishop genuflect before Victoria Kennedy and that he put Catholic teaching on the shelf to accommodate her.
Satanic.
Jennifer Butler's article critical of Rick Santorum because of his opposition to same-sex "marriage" may be found here:
http://www.fplaction.org/compassionate-conservatisms-comeback/
Yeah, we're going to take our marching orders from a group that endorses sodomy. Guess again Jenny.
"Petition organizers charge that the bishop has associated Mrs. Kennedy with political and social organizations that promote points of view that are contrary to fundamental church teachings, but they said he has not substantiated those claims."
Mr. Krueger has substantiated those claims with his own words, according to the April 26th Catholic Free Press:
Mr. Krueger said Mrs. Kennedy introduced a gay rights activist to raise money for scholarship fund for gay students, but that the Church does not prohibit that. He was speaking about a Point Foundation scholarship which is for students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and marginalized due to their sexual orientation. Mrs. Kennedy, in a speech at the Point Foundation, available for viewing on YouTube, praises David Mixner’s activism to earn equality for the gay community, including the right to marry and raise a family. The Church opposes gay marriage. When questioned, Mr. Krueger said he did not know Mrs. Kennedy’s position on gay marriage.
Asked about her position on abortion, Mr. Kruger said all he knows is she supports Catholic Democrats, which supports policies to reduce abortions. He said she is on the organization’s board.
He said Mrs. Kennedy has not discussed abortion publicly; the only public mention he knew of was a 2004 op-ed piece she wrote in the Washington Post calling on bishops not to deny Communion to “pro-choice Catholic politicians.”
In addition, as I mentioned in my first post on Victoria Kennedy, in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, Ms. Kennedy wrote, "The pro-choice position recognizes that the United States is a diverse, pluralistic society where a woman has a constitutional right to make a decision based on her own conscience, religious beliefs and medical needs."
Bishop McManus must appear before a "rump parliament" of assorted Leftist and Kennedyite misfits to enable them to deconstruct the Roman Catholic Church? These folks are deluded and dangerous.
Why would anyone professing to be Catholic want to hear this banal and enervated woman anyway?
It's not as if she has anything positive to offer our Catholic youth.
In his Apostolic Exhortation on Catholic Universities Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the heart of the Church), Pope John Paul II teaches that, "Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected. Any official action or commitment of the University is to be in accord with its Catholic identity." (§ 4).
This teaching is very clear and unambiguous. There is no room for doubt here. Any official action of a university - such as a graduation ceremony - is to be "in accord with" the Catholic identity of that university.
This is why Victoria Kennedy's invitation was rescinded.
The Telegram & Gazette is now reporting that Bishop McManus is unmoved by the petition and will not be asking Anna Maria College to reinvite Kennedy.
I know some people who would want to hear her speak those“progressive” LCWR nuns
Then those nuns can always attend a Planned Parenthood or NARAL meeting or a gathering of LGBT activists.
"They said the bishop — through two intermediaries — has declined to speak to Mrs. Kennedy to explain his opposition."
In my humble opinion Mgr Mc Manus should summon Mrs Kennedy to explain her what the RCC teaches on the issues she is feigning to ignore.
And make a public communication in the case she would persist.
It is never useless to repeat tirelessly the bimillenial stance of the Church bcs so many are beieving that VATII "liberalized" them.
Isn't it hypocritical though to tell Anna Maria College not to invite Victoria Kennedy as a commencement speaker and to allow the "commission for women" to have guest speakers such as Elizabeth Dreyer (who dissents from the Church's teaching that women cannot be ordained and even agitates for change) and New Age promoter Joyce Rupp?
What's the message here? That dissident guest speakers are allowed only if vetted by diocesan officials?
I dislike the idea that college students (ie young adults) are to be prevented from listening to a speaker that the church and perhaps they themselves) disagree with. College ought to be about exposing yourself to all kinds of ideas good and bad. It is called an education.
How are the students prevented from listening to Victoria Kennedy? I suspect even you realize you're being dishonest which is why you posted your comment anonymously. Students at Anna Maria have access 24 hours a day to television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines and so forth.
As I said in my previous comment, Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation Ex Corde Ecclesiaeis clear: "Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities...Any official action or commitment of the University is to be in accord with its Catholic identity." (§ 4).
You were saying?
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