Bishop wants apology from Rep. Kennedy regarding abortion stance

October 23, 9:14 PMAtheism ExaminerTrina Hoaks

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Patrick J. Kennedy
United States Congress

Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, leader of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island, is calling for an apology from U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy. He said that comments made by Kennedy, who himself is Catholic, were irresponsible.

According to an Associate Press report, Bishop Tobin said in a written statement, "'Congressman Kennedy continues to be a disappointment to the Catholic Church and to the citizens of the state of Rhode Island. I believe the Congressman owes us an apology for his irresponsible comments.'"

Reportedly, Rep. Kennedy said in an interview published on CNSnews.com "that the Catholic Church is doing nothing but fanning 'the flames of dissent and discord' by taking the position that it will oppose the health-care reform bill under consideration in Congress unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit funding of abortion."

He questioned the motivation of the Catholic Church, saying, "'I can't understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we're caring and giving health care to the human person.'" He went on to muse, "'You mean to tell me the Catholic Church is going to be denying those people life saving health care? I thought they were pro-life?'"

A couple of things come to mind when considering Bishop Tobin's "better-than-thou" attitude:

First, if he wants to discuss disappointments, perhaps he should consider the disappointment the Catholic Church has been to humanity at large by protecting their pedophile priests and reassigning them making it possible for them to take advantage of young boys yet again.

Second, perhaps if their grand poobah, the Pope, and his Catholic cronies weren't "irresponsibly" spreading the myth that condoms are dangerous and that abstinence-only is the way to go, there might not be as many abortions as there are.

Third, perhaps they should stop pointing fingers at others for being irresponsible when their very own Pope acted perhaps more irresponsibly than any other person on the planet in the fight against HIV/AIDS when he made false statements about condoms in regard to AIDS prevention.

How about some apologies from Tobin for his Church's irresponsibility?