PROVIDENCE, R.I. — U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., used the language of faith Monday to rally support for expanding the health insurance system in his first public appearance since escalating a feud with Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop over health care and publicly financed abortion.
Kennedy, a Catholic, refused to address head-on his war of words with Bishop Thomas Tobin. The fracas escalated just over a week ago when it was revealed that Tobin asked Kennedy in early 2007 not to receive Holy Communion because of his support for abortion rights.
“In the final analysis, all of us are children of God; all of us have the spark of divinity,” Kennedy told a Brown University audience during a panel discussion of the politics of health care reform. “And if any one of us is denied health care, it really is a threat to who we call ourselves as human beings.” The Associated Press
