God & Country

Ted Kennedy's Funeral at Church Where He Sought Healing

August 27, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

The Boston church that will host Sen. Edward Kennedy's funeral mass on Saturday doesn't have air conditioning. It's less grand—and a lot less well known—than Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It lacks parking.

So why is the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help the staging ground for a historic event this weekend? Because Kennedy, like thousands of others, came to the church seeking help for medical ills. Boston Globe religion reporter Michael Paulson explains:

For years, thousands of Bostonians have sought healing by praying before a golden image of the Virgin Mary in a shrine on Mission Hill. They kneel before the painting, leave flowers by the rail, deposit notes in a glass bowl, turn on electronic candles, even drop off crutches or braces as a sign of a miraculous cure.

Many of the petitioners are poor and powerless.

But over the years, Senator Edward M. Kennedy also came to the shrine seeking healing, and now his family has chosen the landmark basilica in which the shrine is located as the site for the senator's funeral Saturday.

Kennedy visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help daily in 2002, while his daughter was being treated for lung cancer at the nearby Brigham and Women's Hospital, praying before the icon and meeting with a priest thought to have a healing touch. And the senator again visited the basilica last year, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

"The senator wanted to be buried from the basilica because of a deep connection developed here during his daily visits while his daughter, Kara, was going through cancer treatment,'' said Scott Ferson, a former Kennedy staffer who is helping the family with funeral preparations. "Because of her recovery, it remained an especially sacred place for him.''

The choice of the basilica, a puddingstone Romanesque Revival structure that punctuates the cityscape with its high octagonal cupola and twin spires, came as a surprise to many. . . .

Read the full piece here.

Here is a video tour of the church:

Tags:
Ted Kennedy,
religion

Reader Comments Read all comments (9)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

Promoting Abortion

Catholic Cannon Law of the Church

Those Catholics who publicly announce their denial that abortion is always gravely immoral, or who publicly promote abortion, or who publicly argue in favor of legalized abortion, also commit a mortal sin and also incur a sentence of automatic excommunication.

This sentence of excommunication applies to Catholics who are politicians, as well as to those Catholics who are political commentators, or public speakers, or who write or otherwise publicly communicate their erroneous view that abortion can be morally-acceptable or that abortion should be legal. This sentence of excommunication also certainly applies to those Catholics who claim to be theologians or Biblical scholars, but who believe or teach that abortion is not always gravely immoral.

Those Catholics who promote abortion are automatically excommunicated for two reasons. First, they have fallen into the sin of heresy by believing that abortion is not always gravely immoral (canons 751 and 1364). Second, these Catholics are providing substantial assistance for women to obtain abortions by influencing public policy to make abortions legal, and to keep abortions legal, and to broaden access to abortion. Those who provide such substantial assistance commit a mortal sin and incur a sentence of automatic excommunication (canon 1398).

Voting for Abortion

Any Catholic politician who casts a vote with the intention of legalizing abortion, or of protecting laws allowing abortion, or of widening access to abortion, commits a mortal sin.

When such a vote indicates that the Catholic politician believes that abortion is not always gravely immoral, such a politician incurs a sentence of automatic excommunication, under canons 751 and 1364, because of heresy.

When such a vote is intended to have the effect of making abortion legal, or more easily obtainable, or more widely available, such a politician incurs a sentence of automatic excommunication, under canon 1398, as someone who is attempting to provide substantial or essential means for women to obtain abortions. Catholic politicians who pass laws which legalize, protect, or widen access to abortion, are providing essential assistance to women who want to obtain abortions.

It is not sufficient for Catholic politicians to claim that they are “personally opposed” to abortion. If any Catholic politician favors legalized abortion, despite a claim of personal opposition, such a politician commits a mortal sin by promoting abortion and by voting in favor of abortion.

The same is true for any Catholic who casts any vote with the intention of legalizing abortion, or of protecting laws allowing abortion, or of widening access to abortion. Such a voter commits a mortal sin and incurs a sentence of automatic excommunication for two reasons. First, they are committing the sin of heresy by believing that abortion should be legal and available. Second, they are committing the grievous sin of providing

John of MA 7:32PM August 31, 2009

It's always revealing how so many mean-spirited people who call themselves Christians, crawl out of the woodwork, on occasions of death or adversity to vent their spleen on the victims or the departed. First, I learnt an old but timeless rule: never speak ill of the dead. Secondly, the man after whom these nominal christians call themselves was clear in his life, teaching and example that we should live always with humility and compassion. Even if we think our lives are as pure as driven snow, or as spotless as the lamb itself, we should live always by that fearful caveat "there but for the grace of God go I." The Christ they claim to follow famously reminded us that our flesh is weak, our wills are perverse, and our nature is fallen and flawed. We do well to remember the lessons he was trying to teach in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, two men who went up to the temple to pray: the one an egotistical, hypocritical braggart (I give tithes, I fast, I pray multiple times a day, he bragged), the other a reserved self-effacing man, conscious and honest about his sinful nature (prayed only "god be merciful to me a sinner). Of the latter he said "I tell you, that man (the publican) went down to his house more justified than the other." Or of the woman taken in adultery and berated and held in high minded moral scorn, he turned to the crowd and invited, yea taunted them, "let him that is without sin cast the first stone."

debraff80 of IL 3:58PM August 29, 2009

Enjoyed the kind words of Father Dabney and seeing the magnificent Mission Church again. They don't build churches like OLPH anymore. I just don't know where they will find the parking spaces that will be needed for this important & somber occasion. Say a prayer that all turns out well. I would love to be there and hear the glorious music from the organ and choir singers. It would be nice if they could play the "Hymn to St. Patrick" or even "Danny Boy" (although I never heard that one in a Catholic Church). Also, keep in mind the Kennedy Family just recently lost Eunice whom we should not forget for her work with the Special Olympics. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kennedys at this time, & I especially appreciate that Senator Kennedy chose Mission Church Basilica as a place to begin his eternal life.

Theresa (Supple) Martin (Class of '54) of VA 6:57PM August 28, 2009

God & Country

U.S. News Weekly

Subscribe Now!

Order the new U.S. News Weekly digital magazine at a special low introductory price!

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

Is increasing access to healthcare a moral or faith-based cause?

View Results

BLOG ROLL

Follow Dan Gilgoff on: Facebook | Twitter | MySpace

Photo Gallery

Faith Photo of the Day

See what's going on in the faith world across the globe every day.

SPECIAL REPORTS

Secrets of Islam

A guide to the world's fastest growing religion.

Sacred Places

Explore the significance, history, and enduring power of places people consider most sacred.

Women of the Bible

The "daughters of Eve" play many roles in the Old and New Testaments.