Rep. Kennedy uses religion to rally support for health care overhaul after feud with RI bishop

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Kennedy touts health care reform, sidesteps flap

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rep. Patrick Kennedy used the language of faith Monday to rally support for expanding the nation’s health insurance system in his first public appearance since escalating a public feud with Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop over health care and publicly financed abortion.

Kennedy, a Catholic, refused to address head-on his weekslong war of words with Bishop Thomas Tobin, the spiritual leader of the nation’s most heavily Catholic state. The fracas escalated just over a week ago when it was revealed that Tobin asked Kennedy in early 2007 not to receive Holy Communion because of his support for abortion rights.

“In the final analysis, all of us are children of God, all of us have the spark of divinity,” Kennedy told a Brown University audience during a panel discussion of the politics of health care reform. “And if any one of us is denied health care, it really is a threat to who we call ourselves as human beings.”

He borrowed from the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel to further his point.

“I hope we agree with the notion that we ought to be there and be our brother’s keeper because all of us needs each other in the final analysis,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, the nation’s first Roman Catholic president, ignited a sharp exchange of words with the outspoken bishop when he criticized church leaders in an October interview for threatening to oppose a plan to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system unless it included tighter restrictions on abortion.

Kennedy, a Democrat, voted against the abortion restrictions sought by the bishops, but he ultimately supported a version of the bill that included the restrictions he opposed.

Tobin accused Kennedy of making an unprovoked attack on the church, publicly questioned his faith and requested a meeting that ultimately fell apart. Tobin said the meeting was canceled by mutual agreement and issued a scathing public letter to Kennedy.

“Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members,” Tobin wrote. “It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.”

The Congressman accused the bishop of breaking an agreement to stop discussing his faith publicly.

Their dispute appeared to simmer down after Kennedy said he was done discussing the issue. But in a story published just over a week ago, Kennedy told The Providence Journal that Tobin had banned him from receiving Holy Communion because of his support for abortion rights. Kennedy also said Tobin had instructed priests in Rhode Island not to give him the sacrament.

Kennedy did not explain when Tobin issued those instructions.

The bishop fired back, saying he wrote a letter in early 2007 asking that Kennedy abstain from receiving Communion. Tobin denied ever telling priests to withhold it from Kennedy or any other elected official. Tobin said Kennedy, who has struggled with mental illness and drug abuse, was acting erratically.

Kennedy refused Monday to answer questions about his dispute with Tobin, including why he did not explain the timing of Tobin’s request that he not receive Communion.

He would not comment when asked whether he has considered leaving the Roman Catholic church.

“These are personal issues of faith for me,” Kennedy said. “I am not going to indulge in this debate any more.”

Police dragged perennial political candidate Christopher Young from the auditorium after he yelled at Kennedy during a question-and-answer session for supporting abortion rights. Young tossed a boxed movie that landed harmlessly on a table set up in front of the speakers.

“Why would you mandate Catholics to support the funding of abortion when it goes against our religious beliefs?” Young said, just before he was dragged outside and arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.