Catholic Bishop on the war path

By Matthew Crow

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, democrat, of Rhode Island

Head of the R.I. Catholic Church Bishop Thomas Tobin

Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the Rhode Island archdiocese, has again spoken out against Congressman Patrick Kennedy. His latest in a series of public pronouncements that has vaulted the spat into a national scandal comes in response to Kennedy’s revealing of a ban on communion issued by the Bishop in a letter to the congressman three years ago.

Kennedy asserted in The Providence Sunday Journal last Friday that Bishop Tobin “instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion.”

Bishop Tobin responded, in a statement, that “my correspondence with him was nearly three years ago — and I think it’s important to stress that — was intended to be personal and confidential and pastoral. It was never intended for the public domain.”

He described the ban as a request, and denied revealing the contents in the letter to the diocese. “If I had told 300 priests of the diocese in any format not to give Communion to Kennedy or anybody else, you think that would have remained confidential?” Bishop Tobin said.

Tobin then appeared on both Hardball with Chris Mathews and the O’Reilly Factor over the weekend, discussing the communion ban and the church's position on abortion, over which the public rift between the two began. 

Kennedy had spoken out against the Catholic Church’s opposition to health care legislation – legislation that has taken on a kind of tribute status to his father, Edward Kennedy – that includes any subsities for abortion.

The health care bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives includes a controversial amendment restricting federal funding for abortion, a major victory for abortion opponents. Kennedy opposed the amendment but voted for the final bill.

“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?” Kennedy told the Catholic News Service last month.

A tit-for-tat public spat then ensued. Kennedy apparently cancelled a scheduled Nov. 12 meeting with Bishop Tobin.

"I had initially agreed to a meeting with him, provided we would not debate this in public in terms of my personal faith, but unfortunately, he hasn't kept to that agreement, and that's very disconcerting to me," Kennedy said.

Tobin responded in a scathing column published in the Rhode Island Catholic, to which he has been a frequent contributor since his instatement in 2005, bringing into question Kennedy’s status as a Catholic.

“The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic,” Kennedy had said.

“Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does,’’ Tobin wrote in the thousand-word op-ed. “Your position is unacceptable to the church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the church.”

“Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic,” he wrote.

The Catholic diocese of R.I. had stepped back from public debate in the political arena after a 1986 attempt to pass a referendum that called for strict restrictions on abortion in the state. The legislation failed miserably, in a state where the Catholic segment of the population is 58 percent.

“After that defeat, the church kind of stepped back, and the next bishop was this live-and-let-live’’ leader when it came to politics, University of Rhode Island political scientist Maureen Moakley told the Boston Globe. “But the arrival of Tobin has been a very different attitude, a willingness to be confrontational about issues.’’

Since Bishop Tobin was instated as the head of the R.I. diocese in 2005, he has waded into the waters of political discourse many times.

“I admit it; I’m a political junkie,’’ Tobin wrote in a column this month. “I follow political news pretty closely and if I weren’t a cleric, I’d probably run for something or other.”

The bishop has evaded questions about the implications of banning a politician like Kennedy from communion. He would not say whether he has made such a request to Sen. Jack Reed, another Catholic Democrat from Rhode Island who is pro-choice. Reed similarly declined to comment, saying in his statement issued Sunday, “I respect the bishop and recognize his authority regarding these matters of faith, but any discussions we’ve had are between us.”

Bishop Tobin also declined to comment on Rhode Island Rep. James Langevin’s support for embryonic stem cell research, which the church opposes. However, he praised Langevin for opposing abortion subsidies in the House version of the health-care bill. Langevin, a Democratic Catholic, is pro-life.