TIMELINE Simmering disagreement

Feb. 21, 2007: Bishop Thomas Tobin sends a private letter to U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy “requesting” he refrain from taking Communion because of his support for abortion rights.

Sept. 22, 2009: Bishop Tobin sends public letters to the Rhode Island congressional delegation urging them to support a health-care overhaul, but only if it does not provide funding for abortions.

Oct. 21: Kennedy, in an interview with the Cybercast News Service, criticizes the Church’s position on the health-care bills, calling it “an absolute red herring” that fans “the flames of dissent and discord.”

Oct. 23: Bishop Tobin calls Kennedy’s comments “irresponsible and ignorant of the facts” and demands an apology. Later that week, he invites Kennedy to meet to discuss their differences.

Oct. 29: Kennedy writes to Bishop Tobin that his remarks “were never intended to slight the Church.”

Oct. 30: Bishop Tobin says in interview with The Journal that Catholic legislators who “obstinately” oppose Church doctrine on key issues “really have to question their membership in the Church.”

Nov. 9: Bishop Tobin, in a letter to the Rhode Island Catholic, calls on Kennedy to repent and says his position is “unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members.” A meeting between the two is postponed.

Nov. 10: Kennedy calls Bishop Tobin’s comments “unfortunate” and says it is “disconcerting” that the bishop would not keep discussion of

Kennedy’s faith private.

Nov. 20: Kennedy tells The Journal that Bishop Tobin had told him not to receive Communion and instructed diocesan priests to deny him the sacrament.

Nov. 22: Bishop Tobin says he asked in his 2007 letter that Kennedy refrain from

Communion, but did not order him to do so; says he never instructed priests on the

matter.