'Kennedy... the man that he wasn't'

August 31, 4:30 PMOrlando Senior ExaminerTom Holbrook

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'Kennedy contemplating his life... hopefully'

This is my second article on the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Out of a sense of respect for his position as a United States Senator, I did not say everything I wanted to in my first one.  However, this article will be me speaking from the heart and doing my best to do this without being labeled the ‘bad guy’ for saying what I feel.

Too many times, because I am someone who wants to be loved by all and with many shortcomings of my own, I try hard to refrain from insulting or speaking negatively about others.  However, there are times I must be honest with myself, and those who read my articles.

Because of the deluge of adulation and adoration being poured out on the memory of Senator Kennedy, especially the hype driven title of ‘Last Prince of Camelot,’ I’m afraid I must say exactly what I feel about the man.

All my adult life, prior to 1974, I was not the political junkie I am today. My life was one of working hard and living hard. My attitude toward major social issues was, ‘If they don’t step on my toes let them do what they wish.’ I can remember in 1973 when our Supreme Court affirmed ‘Roe v. Wade’, my now deceased wife asked me, ‘What are your feelings toward abortion.’  My answer, ‘It’s their bodies. Let them do what they wish.’

Then in 1974 my whole life had a cataclysmic change when I entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ. He persistently challenged me to look at our society and see how it was changing for the worse and how it would ultimately step on my toes and those of my family, which now included three young boys under the age of five.  Even though I tried to stay neutral on most issues, as the years went by I saw more and more legislation being passed in Congress stripping away protection for many of the traditional moral values of our country, and began to notice that it was the Democratic Party that was proposing and supporting most of the legislation.

    Sen. Ted Kennedy became the proponent for everything that would pander to the ultra-left liberal movement beginning to run rampant in the United States. This amoral individual was a man that espoused everything I abhorred, especially the legal murder of unborn babies, and frankly I’m glad he’s no longer a member of the United States Senate.  It is too bad he had to die to be removed from office, and I know he loved his family for whom I ask favor, but I don’t see the evidence of true compassion in his legislation that would allow 3,000+ babies to be aborted each and every day throughout the United States. If he truly was the ‘Soul’ of the Democratic Party' then my former party is in very sad shape today.

As far as him being a religious man, Onenewsnow.com featured Thomas Euteneuer, a Catholic priest and president of Human Life International, who released this statement concerning Senator Kennedy. ‘We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him, let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event.’? ?He adds that while Senator Kennedy called himself Catholic, as do Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden, they are actually wolves in sheep's clothing.? ?"They do not hold to the teaching of the church. They, in fact, take every opportunity seemingly to contradict the teaching of our church," Euteneuer says. "So in the case of Senator Edward Kennedy, he was not only against his church's teaching on the issue of abortion, but the same with embryonic stem cell research, the same with gay marriage and various other issues which set him in diametric opposition to his church's very well-defined and clearly articulated teaching."?

It has been reported that prior to his death Senator Kennedy had President Obama deliver a personal letter to Pope Benedict, XVI during a Presidential visit to the Vatican.  At Kennedy’s  graveside service excerpts of the letter were read by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, wherein Kennedy reminded the Pope of legislation he had championed for the poor, the uneducated and the immigrants. It is my fervent prayer that it also contained a confession of his sins against God’s unborn children and a request for God’s forgiveness.