JFK's nephew was barred from receiving Communion at Church for supporting abortion
JFK's nephew was barred from receiving Communion at Church for supporting abortionThe nephew of former president John F Kennedy has been barred from receiving communion at his Catholic church due to his support for abortion rights, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
US Representative Patrick Kennedy, son of the late senator Edward Kennedy, was told of the move by Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, according to a newspaper in Rhode Island.
Kennedy represents a district in Rhode Island in the US Congress.
"The bishop instructed me not to take communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me communion," the paper quotes Kennedy as saying in a telephone interview.
Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him that he was not a good practising Catholic because of the positions that he had taken as a public official, particularly on abortion, the report said.
The congressman declined to say when or how Tobin told him not to take the sacrament or whether he had obeyed the bishop's injunction, the report said.
Kennedy voted against an amendment tightening abortion restrictions that was sought by the bishops.
But he voted in favor of a health care plan that included the amendment he opposed.
Bishop's letter
Tobin urged Kennedy not to receive communion in a February 2007 letter, a portion of which was released publicly by Tobin's office Sunday.
"In light of the Church's clear teaching, and your consistent actions, therefore, I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving Holy Communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so," Tobin wrote.
