Kennedy: Wrestling with the ninjas of his nature

By Win McNamee, Getty Images
"This is a story of light and dark doing battle"

So said Newsweek and On Faith editor Jon Meachem, joining the parade of experts memorializing Ted Kennedy on morning talk shows today, in an effort to put the epic life of the senator in spiritual context.

Today, will be a steady unfolding of stories of Kennedy's life as surviving brother of a political dynasty, lion of the senate, man of huge and sometimes unconquered appetites, and a proud Catholic who broke with his church's doctrines on abortion yet carried its banner of social justice for the poor and the immigrant.

His funeral will be held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in the Misssion Hill section of Boston, a cavernous church where, the Boston Globe says, he once prayed daily for his daughter Kara to recover from cancer. When President Obama visited Pope Benedict XVI in July, he personally delivered a private letter from the senator to the pope and later, Obama said, he had asked the pope for his prayers for Kennedy.

I'll be watching as the world of faith responds so circle back or

refresh your screen here.

WOULD YOU AGREE ... with Meachem that in the battle between the good and evil ninjas of his nature "the good ninjas won."

NOTE: The comment rules at Faith & Reason are clear: All views, respectfully presented, are welcome.

UPDATES:

5:55 p.m:Washington DC Archbishop Donald Wuerl, like Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley earlier in the day, praised Kennedy's social justice efforts. And Wuerl added a Washington note -- Kennedy's active support raising millions for urban Catholic schools:

For five years, between 2003 and 2007, he and Representative John Boehner of Ohio organized and co-hosted the annual Boehner-Kennedy Dinner to benefit the schools. As a result, thousands of disadvantaged children in the District of Columbia have had their lives transformed through a quality Catholic education.

2:11 p.m:Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, writing for Beliefnet.com on the biblical roots of Kennedy's activism, quotes Deuteronomy 16:20: "Justice, justice shall you pursue."

While we all may not agree about his vision of a just society or how it was to be attained, these words are ones that Ted Kennedy lived by. And like his vision of work so grand that it would go unfinished, this verse from the Hebrew Bible appreciates that justice is never fully attained, but must always be aggressively pursued.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, writing for Beliefnet.com on the biblical roots of Kennedy's activism, quotes Deuteronomy 16:20: "Justice, justice shall you pursue".

While we all may not agree about his vision of a just society or how it was to be attained, these words are ones that Ted Kennedy lived by. And like his vision of work so grand that it would go unfinished, this verse from the Hebrew Bible appreciates that justice is never fully attained, but must always be aggressively pursued.

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, called Kennedy

... a devoted supporter of Israel and Soviet Jewry and a close ally of the American Jewish community and of the Reform Jewish community in particular, often partnering on social justice efforts with American Jewish organizations and leaders.

12:20: Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley's statement today extends prayers to the Kennedy family...

... who stood by his side, particularly during the past year as he faced his illness with courage, dignity and strength.

We join with his colleagues in Congress and the people of Massachusetts in reflecting on his life and his commitment to public service. For nearly half a century, Senator Kennedy was often a champion for the poor, the less fortunate and those seeking a better life. Across Massachusetts and the nation, his legacy will be carried on through the lives of those he served.

We pray for the repose of his soul and that his family finds comfort and consolation in this difficult time

10:10:At the conservative Catholic journal First Things, Elizabeth Scalia, blogging as The Anchoress, writes that Kennedy's death...

... will do what every Kennedy death does: shine a spotlight on Catholicism, its rituals and rites and rubrics. There will be lots of people -- both Catholic and non-Catholic -- who will declare themselves "shocked and scandalized" that Kennedy would be given a Mass of Christian Burial. Some will declare that he should have been "thrown out of the church" a long time ago; others will insist that his Funeral Mass brings shame to us.

And, like the health care legislation he advocated that might (or might not) include funding for abortion, she writes, he would linger in puragory, enduring purification for his sins -- with pretty much everyone else..

What can one do when one is likely unfit for heaven, but possesses just enough charity and love to stave off hell? Let us suffer the purgation, then. I am certain that someday I, in all my sins, will end up there, too.

The blog also has a lengthy, largely critical wrap up of reaction from the Catholic world if you're looking for more links.

9:50: Rev. Jim Wallis, founder and president of progressive evninjaicals at Sojourners, recalled how Kennedy called on him to talk about ways to change the moral debate in America.

...We focused on the great moral issues facing the nation, and how we as people of faith needed to respond to them ... I pray that God may now move us as a nation to address the greatest commitment of Senator Kennedy's life -- the need for a comprehensive reform of the health care system in America -- as a deeply moral issue and one that calls forth the very best that is within us.

9:35: At the Baltimore Sun'sTalk Forum one question, "Should the Catholic Church Allow Ted Kennedy a Funeral Mass?" has triggered an outpouring of anti-Catholic vitriol. Can we hold that down here, please. The comment rules at Faith & Reason are clear: All views, respectfully presented, are welcome.