Folks, my reading of the canonical tradition behind Canon 1184** says that those actions suffice as “some signs of repentance”, making Ted Kennedy eligible for a Catholic funeral. Of course I wish that Teddy’s repentance, if that is what it was, had been more explicit, for the scandal the man left in life was enormous and demanded great atonement in this life (or more dreadfully in the next). But on the narrow question as to whether Edward Kennedy is eligible for a Catholic funeral, the information before me suggests that he is, and that a bishop who permits such rites can find support in the Code of Canon Law for his decision.
Now, about President Obama giving a eulogy thereat, don’t even get me started.
Even most Catholics don’t know that eulogies are against canon law. Besides often being undignified, these speeches tend to presume that the deceased is in heaven, which he/she likely is not. We’re not Protestants…
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