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August 30, 2009 - The Lion Of The Senate

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

The death of Ted Kennedy this week has struck a collective nerve. Even though we knew he had brain cancer and would die, the finality of his passing has given our country pause. Once more we turn our attention to the Dynasty that is the Kennedy family and we realize how much they’ve been part of our collective American story. The joys and successes surely. But the tragedies perhaps even more so. We’ve watched them over the years and yearned for a piece of their Camelot. The Hyannis compound, the sailboats, the backyard football games. The wealth and privilege of it all. But then heartbreaking loss seems to have overshadowed all else making us realize that no one is exempt, even those of wealth and privilege. The amazing thing about Ted Kennedy was that even amidst the heartache and loss of violently losing two brothers, the struggle of a son with cancer, the other with addictions, his public divorce, and, yes, of course Chappaquiddik. He could have turned in on himself and given up in the face of such tremendous obstacles. But instead he devoted himself to 47 years in the Senate passing over 300 bills that bear his name. Most of them to help the poor and disenfranchised. Despite his own economic privilege, he never lost sight of those who struggle to survive. And it seems as though his deep faith was a driving force in that advocacy. Conservative bloggers may be now questioning whether or not all of Ted Kennedy’s views and past actions were in accord with Catholic Church teaching. But as he is laid to rest with a full Catholic burial, we are reminded that Ted kept that greatest commandment to love God and neighbor. And he never forgot that his neighbor didn’t only mean someone in Hyannis. But it meant those living in housing projects in New York and Los Angeles. Or even under the highways of those cities. He remembered the words of Jesus, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.” And I suspect the words Teddy are hearing today are, “Well done faithful servant.” -Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

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