Papal Encyclicals and the Bard's Plays: What They Tell Us about Modern Villains

Liberal conspirators planning to smear Robert Bork, two
of the "howling pack" who killed his nomination.

I belong to an interesting book club. We alternate reading Church documents with reading the plays of William Shakespeare.

What's the connection?

The four of us just happen to be interested in both. But what I'm finding is that, as a Catholic, Shakespeare addresses the big moral issues just like the papal encyclicals do. The effects of the seven deadly sins: pride, avarice, anger (think of the number of tragedies that deal with murder), lust, etc. We've been drawing the plays at random, but choosing the encyclicals by interest (with the qualification of being pre-Vatican II). The second play drawn was Coriolanus. Despite two semesters of Shakespeare in college, Coriolanus is one of the few plays I'd never read.

Ted Kennedy's Sick Sense of Humor

Kennedy 'joked about Chappaquiddick'
Biographer reveals deadly incident was a 'favorite topic of humor'


What a man! Something tells me we don't know the half of it! Wonder what Mary Jo had to say to him on Judgment Day. The diver who recovered her body said the floor of the upside down car was badly scratched indicating that Mary Jo desperately tried to escape her watery tomb.

I once had a conversation with former congressman Bob Dornan who said that a number of years after Chappaquiddick he interviewed Mary Jo's parents. Members of the Kennedy clan met with Mary Jo's mother Gwen. Rose was there, the long suffering matriarch and a priest, I believe Bob said a monsignor, and they pressured the mother not to put poor Rose through the agony of an autopsy. She had been through so much already with the assassination of two sons. The "lobbying" of Mary Jo's poor mom, which probably saved Teddy's career, convinced her to "do her Christian duty" and sacrifice finding out the truth (Was Mary Jo pregnant? Did she die from asphyxiation or drowning? etc.) and choose silence. No doubt concern for her own daughter's reputation played a part in the decision. Nevertheless, it was a crass act. It reminds me of all the bishops who bullied Catholic parents of abused children not to create scandal by revealing the truth. Dornan said Mary Jo's dad regretted not going to the meeting with his wife. As time went on and they watched the antics of the drunken womanizer who killed their daughter, I imagine their regret deepened.

I know someone who once caused the death of another in an icy crash on a winter morning when she was driving her children to school. There was no culpability there, just a tragic accident. She spent the rest of her life remembering and regretting it, despite being completely blameless. The fact that Ted Kennedy could joke about killing a young woman is consistent with the man who could cheerfully vote for legislation to stab a baby in the neck and suck out his brains.

I've prayed for Ted Kennedy, but have little confidence those prayers will do him any good. If not, perhaps the Blessed Mother used them for poor Mary Jo who had time to repent for her sins while she struggled for breath in the back seat of Kennedy's car.

What Happened on Chappaquiddick Island with Senator Edward Kennedy

Remembering Mary Jo

The Pope and the Senator -- is there more to the story?

In another move to sanctify Senator Ted Kennedy, excerpts from the Senator's letter to Pope Benedict and a reply from the Vatican were read graveside in Arlington Cemetery by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a Kennedy family friend. Friend indeed, After the 2007 Red Mass in D.C. McCarrick motioned to Kennedy and the two recessed together down the aisle, the liberal senator and the liberal cardinal, dare I say both cafeteria Catholics? Pro-abortion Catholic politicians were always welcomed to receive Communion sacrilegiously in Washington, D.C. under Cardinal McCarrick as they are still under his successor, Archbishop Donald Wuerl. Some things never change.

More on Kennedy Legacy of Abominations

Pro-Abort, Homosexual, Human Stem-Cell Groups Mourn Loss of "Greatest Champion" Kennedy

Don Feder Describes the Real Man behind the Kennedy Myth

We'll be listening to drivel for the next week or two about the "greatness" of Teddy Kennedy. But the only great thing about him was his waistline and his capacity for self-delusion. He will be buried at Arlington cemetery among men whose boots he wasn't fit to untie.

KENNEDY WAS A FITTING SYMBOL FOR LIBERALISM

Ted Kennedy was a "man of quiet prayer"

ABC News reported on Ted Kennedy's death Wednesday with a surreal account that must make those who truly fear God fall to their knees in fear and trembling for the man's soul.

The Rev. Patrick Tarrant, who was present with the family during those final hours, said he was impressed by Kennedy's spirituality and faith as he faced death.

The priest said family members were crying and that in his final moments Kennedy was "a man of quiet prayer....The truth is, he had expressed to his family that he did want to go," Tarrant told WCVB, ABC News' Boston affiliate. "He did want to go to heaven. He did want to die... He was ready to go."

The article went on to describe how prayerful the final scene was with family members crying and praying around the Senator's bedside.

Well, a fair question to ask is, who exactly were these folks praying to? Ted Kennedy spent his entire career supporting the murder of the innocent through abortion, abortifacient birth control, and stem cell research. He championed sodomy as well making him an apostle for two of the sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. He led the calumny and slander brigade against an eminently qualified constitutionalist, Justice Robert Bork, when he was named to the Supreme Court and attemted "to bork" others who did not uphold his murderous liberalism.

God offered Kennedy a long warning of his impending death giving him ample time to publicly try to undo the scandal of his life working for the evil one. And yet there isn't one shred of evidence of public repentance. The scandal of his life will be continued at his funeral when our abortion president gets up and eulogizes his political twin. So Kennedy died as he lived. Where is the sign of conversion?

A requirement for a good confession is making a sincere purpose of amendment. Did Fr. Tarrant even remind the senator of that, or was he so starstruck that he let this man die without repenting? One unconfessed mortal sin, as St. Ignatius of Loyala reminds us in the Spiritual Exercises, condemns us to hell. Did Kennedy repent of his abortion advocacy, his support for sodomy, his defense of cannibalizing embryonic babies? A woman who aborts kills one baby; a politician like Kennedy kills millions. Judas didn't nail Christ to the cross but his betrayal killed Him.

The reporting during this entire episode reminds me of another champion of child murder, Justice William Brennan, the real author of Roe v. Wade and a Catholic. He also died as he lived, proud of his record of enabling abortion. Bill and Hillary Clinton sat in the front row at his funeral honoring a man who fulfilled their liberal dreams. He was eulogized by a colleague on the court and by the homilist, his pastor, a priest of the diocese of Arlington who gushed about how much he learned from the judge. Father described holding Brennan's newborn great grandchild, his first, at the wake. He seemed oblivious to the irony of all the unborn infants who would never see the light of day because of Roe v. Wade. Brennan, like Kennedy, apparently did not learn in his final hours that one has an obligation to try to undo the damage of his public scandal. He never publicly repented or asked that an apology be made at his funeral. In fact, Brennan spent his final days expressing the wish to be buried, not from his home parish in Arlington, Our Lady of Lourdes, but from St. Matthew's Cathredral in Washington. Even in death he craved honors.

And so also with Ted Kennedy. Eulogies aren't allowed at Catholic funerals, but Barack Obama will give one and he is the best man for the job. An advocate of murdering the innocent will stand up and praise another murderer of the innocent. Judas will praise Judas. The living Judas will rack up more political points among "cultural Catholics" who know little about their faith and care less.

One can argue that Kennedy should receive a Catholic funeral since a priest was called to his side to give him the last rites. But certainly his funeral should be a humble, private affair in view of the public scandal of his life. That those with the authority to stop this travesty allow it go on is one more indication of the collapse of the faith of the hierarchy in America. It's a reminder that the tower of Babel continues to be built by churchmen more enamored by the worldly Babylon than the City of God.

Will God be impressed?

Congress Gets Merry Christmas and a $4700 Pay Hike

Congress is smart - like the proverbial fox. Our lawmakers know how to feather their own "nests":

1) raid the hen house,
2) grab a chicken by the neck,
3) enjoy the innards for lunch
4) use the outers to make a nice warm feather bed

Yes, Congress is smart. Our lawmakers set up their pay increases automatically. It spares them the unpleasantness of a recorded vote which might upset their constituents. So while more than two million Americans line up for unemployment, the very ones who helped create the financial crisis (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, etc.) will enjoy, not only the fruits of their conflicts of interest with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but will reach deeper into the taxpayers' pockets for their $4700 pay raise. The average lawmaker's salary is $169,300. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi takes home $217,400. Of course that doesn't include the perks, privileges, and office expenses billed to the taxpayer as well. Do we get our money's worth? Maybe not, but the amusement value is worth a little something. After all, they told America's CEOs to take a salary this year of $1. But those guys are rich, not like Senators Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

To be fair, not all Congressmen support the automatic pay hike. Rep. Harry Mitchell, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, introduced a bill to freeze salaries. He had 34 co-sponsors but the legislation didn't even make it out of committee. Surprise, surprise. Heck, where's my Christmas spirit. Joe Biden and Barack Obama have told us we need to be patriotic and not mind higher taxes to help others. And, after all, charity begins at home. What could be homier than the halls of Congress?

So Merry Christmas from the taxpayers! Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank and all you other Foxy Loxies, enjoy your plum pudding while you think about the elderly living below the poverty line and the millions out of work. I'm sure it will bring a smarmy tear to your eye as you lift a glass of sherry to the politically correct spirits of the holiday season.