Barring Kennedy from Holy Communion disputed by Bishop Tobin

November 24, 9:08 AMProvidence Headlines ExaminerDonna Diegel

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Bishop Tobin

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy’s stance on abortion rights could keep him from taking Communion. A dispute between Kennedy and Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin goes back to 2007, in which Kennedy claims the Catholic leader instructed him not to take Communion. Tobin refutes this, saying it was a request that Kennedy not take the Holy Sacrament because he supported abortion.

It's a classic "He said, He said" verbal disagreement that has gone very sour. Kennedy claims one thing, Tobin claims another. The fact this goes back to 2007 makes it tough to take sides, and to prove who said what to whom.

In an earlier Projo report, Kennedy claimed he was barred from taking Holy Communion. According to the Projo.com, "The leader (Bishop Thomas J. Tobin) of Rhode Island’s Catholics criticized the timing of Kennedy’s decision to publicize what the bishop called a private, “pastoral” message. He termed “absolutely inaccurate” Kennedy’s assertion that the bishop had instructed the priests of Rhode Island not to give him Communion."

“If he took it as an instruction, so be it, but it was really a request,” Bishop Tobin said upon releasing excerpts of a Feb. 21, 2007, letter to the Rhode Island Democrat. The bishop said he felt he had to comment on the letter because Kennedy had chosen to “break it open.”

The Projo goes on to quote Tobin, “My correspondence with him was nearly three years ago — and I think it’s important to stress that — [and] was intended to be personal and confidential and pastoral,” the bishop said. “It was never intended for the public domain.”

This raises more questions. Rhode Island Democrats, Catholic Sen. Jack Reed and Catholic Rep. James R. Langevin have had dealings with Bishop Tobin regarding moral issues in the past. So far, Tobin, along with each of these politicians, has excercised confidentiality between priests and parishioners. Episcopalian Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island congressional delegate also supports abortion rights.

Source: projo.com