Politics | Patrick Kennedy RI Bishop Disses Kennedy Over Pro-Choice Stance Spat over Patrick's position on abortion escalates By Polly Davis Doig Posted Nov 22, 2009 8:23 AM CST Copied In this Sept. 9, 2009 file photo, sons of Teddy Kennedy, Ted Jr, left, and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, listen to President Obama's speech on health care before a joint session of Congress. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) Health care reform, the cause of his father's life, has made Rep. Patrick Kennedy persona non grata in his Rhode Island parish—thanks to the furor over publicly funded abortion. As the debate rages, Bishop Thomas Tobin has told the only public servant remaining in America's most famous Catholic family not to receive communion because of his pro-choice stance, Kennedy tells the Providence Journal. In the rare step, Tobin denied Ted Kennedy's youngest communion because "I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official ," says Kennedy, who admits "personal feelings of disappointment" over the ban. The snub is the latest in escalating public sniping between the two. Read These Next Husband of the Coldplay 'Kiss Cam' woman breaks his silence. Wall Street is getting twitchy over falling lumber prices. He was on the run with his kids for 4 years. It just ended badly. Those discarded COVID masks are shedding chemicals. Report an error