Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

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Recently heard an interview with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (promoting her new book) in which she talks about how Christianity’s opposition to gay marriage and abortion are too “narrow” and don’t really reflect Christ’s teachings. She also indicated she’d like to see the Catholic Church ordain women.

Looks like we’ve got another so-called Catholic living in anticipatory obedience to the third Vatican Council which will usher in a golden age of divorced female priests shuttling back and forth between blessing same-sex marriages and third trimester abortions.

If they want to see the fruits of their errors they only have to look at the Episcopalians.
 
I read this excerpt from her book Failing America’s Faithful:

**
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend:
My own Catholic Church has allowed its social agenda to be trumped by an all-consuming focus on contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem cell research—none of which are mentioned in the Gospels.
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Mainline Protestant churches have been losing members and power, and no longer serve as the voice for radical change—fighting for civil rights and against the Vietnam War—that they did only a generation ago. And evangelical Protestants—who have been fabulously successful in recruiting members—have focused their attention primarily on private matters: who has sex with whom, where, and how.

The Catholic Church of my youth dealt with issues at the core of the Gospel—suffering, injustice, sickness, and poverty. It provided me with a loving welcome when my father was killed. Its rituals, songs, stories of saints, and the Rosary led me out of my despair—just as they have helped countless others for two thousand years. My Church created a sense of community for family and friends that stretched back in time. The nuns who taught me had also taught my mother and the mothers of my friends and shared with us stories from times when they were as young as we. In many churches parishioners met regularly over bingo games, Sons of Italy dinners, and Christmas collections for the needy of the parish. The Church gave shape to our lives. It taught us how we should act at home, school, and work. And it taught us that how we acted locally was all part of God’s larger plan for alleviating the suffering of humanity globally. **

I don’t understand why KKT is asserting that the Catholic Church today does not address the issues of suffering, injustice, sickness and poverty. It seems that she is spending to much being fed by the media and making the arrogant (but common) assumption that so many American Catholics make, that the American Catholic Church is the Catholic Church. Yes, the American Church has had to deal with the issues of same sex marriage, stem-cell research, et. al. because these issues have been forced onto American Catholics from the larger culture. Of course it is the responsibility of our bishops to respond with the Catholic position on these issues according to moral law.
 
Just another cafeteria Catholic extolling liberation theology to take focus off of the purpose of the Church, morality, and turn it into a social vehicle. 🤷
 
She is not really extolling Liberation Theology - there’s much more to that movement than social justice. And social justice in and of itself is of course a very important issue in the Church, always was and always will be. (note I am not a proponent of LT, or the cafeteria Catholic position she is taking, I just wanted to suggest a point about what was said about LT :))
 
Ugh. Just reading those excepts was making my chest tighten with anger. Could someone please email her a picture of an aborted baby and then talk to her about poverty, injustice, sickness and suffering??
 
bakhita said:
Recently heard an interview with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (promoting her new book) in which she talks about how Christianity’s opposition to gay marriage and abortion are too “narrow” and don’t really reflect Christ’s teachings. She also indicated she’d like to see the Catholic Church ordain women.

Looks like we’ve got another so-called Catholic living in anticipatory obedience to the third Vatican Council which will usher in a golden age of divorced female priests shuttling back and forth between blessing same-sex marriages and third trimester abortions.

If they want to see the fruits of their errors they only have to look at the Episcopalians.
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Typical liberal Kennedy statement - doesn’t surprise me in the least.
 
Please alert us when there is a Kennedy who actually publicly espouses the Church’s teachings.
 
IMHO she is just upset that she was the first Democrat to lose the Governor race in Maryland in 30 years and is trying to blame the church for her loss. Instead of blaming the true reasons, the fact that she was Lieutenant Governor in an adminstration that put us into a huge debt and was more concerned about giving kickbacks to its friends. Also many people saw her as all fluff and no substance.

I am happy that many people in Maryland saw through the name branding and voted against her 4 years ago.

I read an interview in the Baltimore Sun by her and she is real good at spouting Catholic urban legends but knows very little about the true facts. I submitted the article to the Catholic League, guess they were to busy to respond.
 
Again, as someone once so wisely observed, we don’t have a shortage of priests. We simply have a surplus of artifical Catholics.
 
bakhita said:
Recently heard an interview with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (promoting her new book) in which she talks about how Christianity’s opposition to gay marriage and abortion are too “narrow” and don’t really reflect Christ’s teachings. She also indicated she’d like to see the Catholic Church ordain women.
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Gee what a surprise - a Kennedy “claiming” to be Roman Catholic and then arrogantly asserting themself into the role of “theologian” - a dissident one of course. :mad:

They are either IGNORANT of the faith, or they simply choose to snub their noses at truth and are comfortable to be a “heretic.”

Given their reputations and long legacy of debauchery - I believe it’s the latter.
 
I am reading that book right now. The author does bring up some really good points. I don’t agree with her on premarital sex, and I would like to see laws against abortion. However, I do get sick of the attitude that unborn children are more important than people who are already born and that abortion is practically the only sin there is.

I have a Catholic Catechism printed in the early 1900’s. I don’t think that either abortion or birth control was mentioned. At least, I couldn’t find them anywhere. One interesting thing, however, is that cheating widows and orphans was mentioned as one of the major sins that cries to heaven for vengeance.

Jesus did say that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If He thought that not to have an abortion was the greatest commandment, I do believe that He would have said so.
 
Listener said:
I am reading that book right now. The author does bring up some really good points. I don’t agree with her on premarital sex, and I would like to see laws against abortion. However, I do get sick of the attitude that unborn children are more important than people who are already born and that abortion is practically the only sin there is.

I have a Catholic Catechism printed in the early 1900’s. I don’t think that either abortion or birth control was mentioned. At least, I couldn’t find them anywhere. One interesting thing, however, is that cheating widows and orphans was mentioned as one of the major sins that cries to heaven for vengeance.

Jesus did say that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If He thought that not to have an abortion was the greatest commandment, I do believe that He would have said so.
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I don’t think we can pick and choose which of the Church’s teachings we will accept. Either we are a faithful Catholic or we are not. Sorry to offend, but I get a little weary of hearing “Catholics” try to explain away the tenets of the Church. These are people who want to live as they wish, regardless of what Mother Church says.
 
mary_bobo said:
I don’t think we can pick and choose which of the Church’s teachings we will accept. Either we are a faithful Catholic or we are not. Sorry to offend, but I get a little weary of hearing “Catholics” try to explain away the tenets of the Church. These are people who want to live as they wish, regardless of what Mother Church says.
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Exactly! Too many catholics in name only!
 
Robert Kennedy’s daughter, former Lt. Gov of Maryland Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, recently wrote a book entitled Failing America’s Faithful. In this book, she goes on a long rant criticizing the Catholic Church for it’s “failure” to adopt progressive positions on moral issues (ex., abortion, contraception, women priests, etc.). I was in Barnes and Noble the other night and I decided to skim through the book. Her arguments are remarkably lame and misinformed. She repeatedly tries to rationalize her pro-choice position with very weak arguments and blasts the church for not changing it’s position on an all male priesthood. Her argument for the latter centers around her belief that the Church will not allow women priests because of an unwillingness to give up power - this is a typical radical feminist way of thinking. She essentially dismisses the authority aspect of the Magisterium and tries to put forth a doctrine of conscience only (but being well informed doesn’t appear to play a part in following one’s conscience). We’ve heard it all before from cafeteria Catholic dissidents: the Church doesn’t follow the culture so it must be wrong style of argument. Don’t waste your money or time on it.
 
I wouldn’t sweat this book. Ms. Townsends intention (I optomistically feel) are in a good place. It’s her Catholic theological understanding that leaves something to be desired.

She lends much credibility to her fathers emphasis on “helping the poor” aspect of the faith which can never be overemphasized. It was of paramount importance and emphasis in Jesus’s teachings. Where (I feel) she misses the boat some is in her lack of understanding of the Churchs’ teachings on other aspects of the faith. She seems to play an either or game. The Church can be (and is) correct in both, it’s emphasis on others (love thy neighbor as yourself) AND it’s teachings on the evil of abortion and other such less popular teachings. She is simply illinformed yet in a position to shout. Not many will listen.
 
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