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Religion

11/25/2009

Bishop says Kennedy may have to weigh other religion
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy may have to make a decision between his job as a lawmaker and his membership — “his authentic membership” — in the Roman Catholic Church, Rhode Island’s Catholic bishop said Tuesday.

11/24/2009

R.I. Bishop Tobin has testy exchange with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews
Bishop Tobin’s debate with a Rhode Island congressman was the subject of a testy exchange Monday night in a live interview with the bishop on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”

Timeline of Kennedy-Tobin exchanges

Providence Bishop Tobin says Kennedy ‘erratic’ — but he’s not referring to mental-health issues
PROVIDENCE –– Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin on Monday said Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy has shown “increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior” during their escalating dispute, but said he was “not at all” referring to the congressman’s well-publicized mental-health issues.

In the Tobin-Kennedy standoff, no shortage of opinions
Gerry Moniz didn’t hesitate when asked what she thinks of the nationally publicized dispute between Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy over whether the congressman should refrain from taking Communion given his support for abortion rights.

11/22/2009

Kennedy: Barred from Communion
Congressman says he was told by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin not to take the sacrament

11/23/2009

Providence bishop disputes Kennedy’s take on Communion message
Providence bishop says he did not instruct Rhode Island priests to deny congressman the sacrament

11/10/2009

Bishop again attacks Kennedy over abortion stand in health-care reform
PROVIDENCE –– Even as they agreed to postpone a planned face-to-face meeting that had been set for Thursday, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin turned up the heat Monday on U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy over his “rejection” of church teaching on abortion, calling on him to enter into a process of conversion and repentance.

11/09/2009

Position on gays shatters union of 2 Methodist churches
Via Abundante splits with Open Table after gay man is allowed to help give Communion

Stand on gays has long troubled United Methodist Church
As it has been with several denominations, the issue of homosexuality has remained a contentious issue in the last several General Conferences of the United Methodist Church. At the 2008 conference, delegates voted, after an emotional debate, to reaffirm the church’s teaching that homosexual practice is incompatible with Christianity, and to reaffirm prohibition on ordaining of “non-celibate” homosexuals. The decisions led to several hundred people demonstrating and decrying the decision on the conference floor.