Thank Heaven for Bishop Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi, Texas. He sets the record straight on his web log. He notes where the "buck stops" for the scandal, but leaves it to the laity to complete the analysis. To this end, we have a brief commentary from James Larson.
First, here are clips from two of Bishop Gracida's articles:
1) THE SCANDAL OF THE EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY FUNERAL IN BOSTON
WHERE DO I BEGIN
There was so much wrong with the funeral liturgy celebrated in Boston last Saturday for Senator Edward Moore Kennedy that I hardly know where to begin. Aside from the impropriety of such a grandiose celebration for one of the country’s most notorious dissident Catholics, the ‘celebration’ was filled with liturgical errors and transgressions against the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which governs every celebration of the Church’s liturgy. I am afraid that if I, a bishop, were to go into the details of the scandal it would only add to the scandal and so I will let the laity speak to it.
2) THE SCANDAL OF THE TED KENNEDY FUNERAL, REVISITED – HOPEFULLY FOR THE LAST TIME
As President Harry Truman famously said, referring to the latest White House scandal, “The buck stops here!” referring to the President’s desk in the Oval Office. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the ‘buck’ for the scandal of the secular extravaganza which obscured the sacred liturgical nature of the Kennedy funeral should stop at the desk of the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston. Again, since I do not want to directly criticize another bishop, I leave it to the laity to analyze the true nature of that celebration. I give the final word to a layman for whom I have a great deal of respect: Philip Lawler.
From a layman's perspective, James Larson thinks the "buck stops" a bit higher:
The fact that a Catholic Cardinal has presided over a public Catholic Funeral for the most powerful and explicit pro-abortion legislator in the country, with the eulogy given by the most pro-abortion President in history, is not just a violation of truth and charity, but rather a perfect inversion of all things Catholic. There is a reason why such a thing as this has been made possible in the Catholic Church. The roots of what happened in the Basilica in Boston or at the commencement ceremony at Notre Dame do not terminate in Boston or South Bend, but rather in Rome. Succinctly put, if Pope Benedict XVI could be photographed showing great pleasure and affection in embracing, with both his own hands, the hand of Barack Obama on a day (any day) when thousands of babies were being murdered in their mothers' wombs with the total legal and moral support of the President, then then why should what happened in Boston not be perceived as the next logical step?
If we look at the structure of both events (the Kennedy funeral and the Pope's reception of Obama), they are basically the same. In both instances, some fundamental truth (and our responsibility towards it) about being is sacrificed to a political and social agenda. The problem is, of course, that it is impossible to do such a thing unless one has lost belief in that truth to begin with.
The truth with which we are concerned in this case is, of course, the equal value and dignity of the life of the unborn. In order to perceive this loss of belief, one need only put it to the test. If, instead of Barack Obama, the Pope were faced with meeting Adolph Hitler (whom he knew was responsible that very day for the extermination of 4,000 Jews), would we have witnessed such a scene of diplomatic love-making? Or, similarly, would Cardinal O'Malley offer a Funeral Mass for such a man? The logical conclusion, therefore, is that neither Pope Benedict XVI or Cardinal O'Malley really believe that unborn babies possess equal dignity and right-to-life with the Jews (or whomever). The reasons for this loss of faith has been explored in my articles, especially in The Final Decay (to appear in the October issue of Christian Order), The War Against the Soul, and The Quintessential Evolutionist.
The problem then becomes: what happens to our faith when we allow our reverence for the Papacy to prevent tracing this problem to its roots and effecting the necessary cure? What happens to our charity if we work diligently at healing the feet, hands, lungs, liver, kidneys, and heart, but leave the wound in the head to fester and destroy all the rest?
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