Politics: Senator Kennedy's Funeral Service | The New York Times

my left is fine my left ready my right side STS ready h h h help the third time there Hope Center ready now ready up ready down ready up ready up ready down ready up for everyone good ready through the ball in motion be gracious and the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all and also with you my dear friends in the spirit of this historic church so close to the hopes and aspirations of the city we welcome the body of our friend and brother Senator Ted Kennedy almost since his birth.

Senator Kennedy led an exclusively public life his life was part of ours our lives a concern of his but Ted also led a private life a life of faith and prayer to which his actions always pointed but which was jealously Private perhaps it is here in the tranquility of this Sacred Space that he visited so frequently that we can better recognize that the two lives, public and private, were actually one: it was the private life of faith and prayer that held the secret of the extraordinary public life of compassion and of

service

and so in the spirit of the faith that Senator Kennedy enjoyed and his compassion that we shared we began in the waters of baptism.

Senator Kennedy died with Christ and rose with him to a New Life, may I now share with him eternal glory for Eternal is my Ho Holy holy holy paternal glory GL all Son of God to break our hearts PR etal the glory ET the glory PR everyone good morning in the name of the Most Reverend Father Patrick Woods the Provincial Superior of the Redeemer of the Province of Baltimore and the entire Redemptive Community I have the privilege of welcoming you this morning to the Basilica of our Mother of Perpetual Help, affectionately known as Mission Church, the eminent Cardinal Sha Ali Archbishop of Boston, welcome once again to this Basilica, the redeeming fathers and brothers are very grateful. for the many occasions he has joined us here and we look forward to many future visits.

We gather today with sadness but hope as we commemorate the passing of the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, the Honorable Edward Moore Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy and the entire family. We offer our sincere condolences and prayers in this place of faith, hope and healing. We gather with confidence that Senator Kennedy has gone forth to eternal life in the presence and mercy of the Lord. We are honored to welcome President and Mrs. Obama this morning. Vice President and Mrs. Biden, Honorable Former Presidents and First Ladies of the United States, Members of Congress, Representative of the British Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Governor of Massachusetts Dval Patrick, Mayor of Boston , Thomas mamino, and all the distinguished guests as we begin our liturgy. this morning for Senator Kennedy, rest assured that all of you will always be welcome in this blessed and holy place.

May each of us share the gifts of strength and peace that Senator Kennedy found when he came here to pray especially at our mother's altar of Perpetual Help, my dear friends, a few miles from here, the town of Ona Hill is stands out less against the morning sky and the Sea toward Nantucket is a little sadder for the loss of one of its most inveterate lovers as it welcomes them to the mass of Resurrection to commemorate the life of Senator Kennedy. I am sure I speak for everyone in expressing our deepest condolences to the entire Kennedy family, but especially to the Senator's wife, Vicki, his sons Teddy and Patrick, his daughter Cara, and his sister Jean, we share. your sadness as you share your love and pride for your husband, father, brother and friend in the solemn Liturgy of the Eucharist of the church, sadness softened by hope, fear banished by faith in the love and compassion of Christ Our Lord, who through his own death and resurrection have conquered death and therefore, as a believing community, let us now pray to Almighty God, our Father, it is our Christian faith that your son died and rose again, we pray for our dear friend and brother Ted Kennedy, who died in Christ through your love and compassion, raise him up on the last day to share the glory of the Risen Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever. the centuries, amen.

I will be seated for the Liturgy of the Word. Can you see it first? The reading is a reading of the book of wisdom of Wisdom. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will touch them; In the eyes of fools, they seemed to be dead and their death was thought of as affliction and total destruction is coming out of us, but they are at peace, because if before men they are really punished, but their hope full of immortality is punished a little. , you will be greatly blessed because God tested you and found you worthy of himself as gold on earth. oven he tested them and as sacrificial offerings he took them for himself at the time of his visit they will shine and shoot like sparks among the leaves they will judge the nations and rule the people and the Lord will be their king forever those who trust in him will understand the truth and the faithful will remain with him in love because grace and mercy are with his saints and his care is with his chosen the word of the Lord thank God responsorial psalm 72 Justice will flourish in its time and the fullness of Peace for always Justice will flourish in its time and fullness Peace forever Mount Yow peace to the people and the hills Justice will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the poor Justice will flourish in its time and fullness peace forever Justice will flourish in his days and deep peace until the moon is no more he will be able to rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the Earth Justice will flourish in his time and the fullness of Peace forever because he will rescue To the poor when he cries and the Afflicted when he has no one to help him, he will have mercy on the humble and the poor.

The lives of the poor will be saved by Justice and will flourish in its time and fullness of Peace forever be his name blessed forever while the son his name remain in him all the tribes of the earth will be blessed all the nations will proclaim their happiness justice will flourish in this time and the fullness of peace forever the second reading is a letter from Paul to Romans, if God is for us, who can against us? He who did not spare even his own son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with the one who will accuse God's elect?

Is God? It is God, the God who absolves us, the one who will condemn us, it is Christ Jesus who died rather rose again, the one who is also at the right hand of God, the one who truly intercedes for us, what will separate us from the love of Christ will be anger or anguish or persecution or famine or Danger or nakedness or the sword not in all these things we overcome overwhelmingly through him who loved us because I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come Neither power nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Lord Jesus our Lord the word of the Lord thank God for friends the Lord be with you also a reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew glory to You Lord Jesus said to his disciples when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels angels with him will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as the Shepherd separates the sheep of the sheep. goats he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left then the king will say to those on his right come you are blessed by my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world because I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty and you gave me a drink to a stranger and you received me naked and you dressed me badly and you took care of me in prison and you visited me then the righteous will answer him and say when we saw you hungry and fed you or thirsty and gave you drink when we saw you a stranger and we received you or naked and we clothed you when we saw you sick or in prison and we visited you and the King will say to them in response amen I tell you, everything you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did for me, then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, cursed in the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because I was hungry and you gave me. they did not give me food I was thirsty and you did not give me a drink a stranger and you did not receive me naked and you did not give me clothing sick and imprisoned and you did not care for me then they will respond and say Lord when we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not minister to your needs he will answer them amen amen I tell you what you did not do for one of these least ones you did not do it for me and these will go to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life the gospel of the Lord praise you, Lord Jesus Christ, so good morning everyone, once again, there have already been a number of presentations, but I certainly want to greet the remaining ones, Cardinal Shawn, President and Mrs.

Obama, President and Mrs. Bush President Clinton and M and the Secretary Clinton President Carter and Mrs. Carter and our Vice President and Mrs. Biden all of us in church today dear friends of Ted and especially you Vicki Caroline and Karen Cara Teddy Patrick your mother Joan a sister to everyone in the world I would love to have in Eugene with your devotion to Dr. Larry and a great team of doctors and nurses and so many helpers at Hyenas Port these last weeks and months and, most especially, to the youngest of the gang of Ted, Gracie, Max, Kylie and Teddy, in the tradition Catholic, the The mass of Christian burial intertwines memory and hope.

Church worship positions us precisely between a past we remember with reverence and a future in which we firmly believe. We gather today as a community from across the country to entrust the life of Senator Edward Kennedy. in the hands of God and to give you comfort and support, we bring with us Treasured Memories of Ted Kennedy, memories not only of a national leader and a great legislator, but also of a beloved husband, a great father, a great grandfather, a father , a sweet uncle, a dear friend. a trusted colleague a wise mentor we enter this church with these memories deeply alive for each of us We gather to cherish the memory and share our sense of loss the Liturgy of the mass its Scripture its music and ritual are designed to recognize these memories to provide a context for community prayer, prayer and reflection in which they can be considered deeply personal and sacred, but the Liturgy does not leave us alone in the past, it points us with Christian hope towards the future.

Our prayer expressed with confidence and hope has to do with the future. destiny of our brother and friend with his future with God the Bible readings of the day selected by Ted and Vicki and their family take us from memory to hope from the past to the future Karan proclaimed the first lesson of the mass pronouncing the words of wisdom The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God we believe that our lives are in the hands of God in life and in death Saint Paul states our case with his usual confidence and Carolina proclaims it with such beauty because I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, for trust is the Triumph of Life over death.

Rooted in the central belief of the Christian faith, the resurrection of Christ the Lord, the Christian conviction upon which all faith is built is that Christ, who passed through death to the New Life, as promised, will guide us through from death to New Life also on this day. We hold the memory of Senator Kennedy's life with reverence and with respect we also recognize that like all of us his life has a destiny Beyond history the destiny of the resurrected life in the kingdom of God the gospel of Matthew from which I proclaimed the center our attention on this Destiny by reminding us of the words of Jesus and the tests he posed for entry into that Kingdom.

O Come, blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world because I was hungry and you gave me food. thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you welcomed me I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me in this text on this day our memories and our hopes converge these The works of the Kingdom were daily concerns of the Teddy Kennedy's public life, were the fabric of his mind, heart and hands as he sought to realize them in a society dramatically more complex than the society in which Jesus spoke these words, our hope, our trust.

The Christian hope is that the fruits of his labors as a political and public figure have prepared him well for the kingdom of God as we reflect together on Ted's life. The choice of this incredible basilica church as the location for his

funeral

provides an appropriate context for our thoughts and prayers. This Basilica reminds us of two important aspects of the Senator's life and work. First, we learned in thedays after her death that when a critical illness threatened her own daughter, she came to this place every day to pray. She came here like Generations. Before we seek the healing hand of God, we are reminded that the most public personalities also live a very personal existence.

This church was the place of private prayer for a public man. Second, this church is in the midst of neighborhoods where the important issues that are so openly visible are addressed: the needs of the poor social justice health care and education housing and minimum wage the choice of this church by Senator's part for his

funeral

mass resonates with the meaning and purpose of his life and work as I search for Words that could capture his life. I have been amazed at how many different perspectives so many people gathered today for Vicki and her children by the many members could bring to her. of the Kennedy clan by the presidents by members of both houses of the United StatesCongress and both political parties by the dedicated staff who served him for four decades and, as we have seen in recent days, especially by the citizens of Massachusetts whom he faithfully served , the extraordinary diversity of these many memories is quite overwhelming, it is not my place nor in my power to capture them all.

I know Ted and Vicki and her family as their pastor. My sources of reflection are the Scriptures and the pastoral experience of ministering to Ted and his family. My vision like his cannot encompass the entirety of his life. My memories seen through the lens of a Catholic parish priest are about how a person, a man, a husband, a father, a public figure, a Catholic and a citizen, tried to overcome the tests of the kingdom of Matthew's gospel to know it. as a pastor. introduced to the Kennedy family, the

senator

led the family, she supported him through a long and complex career, and his family supported him as his life entered its final chapter.

We all instinctively know the fundamental importance of our families, none of us expect to face the great responsibility of being the most visible figure in a family whose narrative is woven throughout our nation's history over the past century. As a priest I saw him treasure and draw strength from his family like others here today. His role as leader of this family required him to sustain them through life and death, through victory and tragedy; It is no exaggeration to say that his constant political and legislative concern for the well-being of families, especially those on the socioeconomic edge of American life, was Rooted in his own experience of a vibrant and loving family life, Senator Kennedy was a tower of strength for his family and an imposing presence in the American public landscape.

Others are better prepared than I to describe in detail his legacy as a pastor. My description seeks to root your public life in your personal convictions no person's faith is easily summarized the broad demands of Christian discipleship are clear enough in principle few, if any, of us meet them all, but we are all called to pursue the full vision of faith even when we recognize the inevitable gap between what we are called to do and what we actually achieve. In fact, most of us have a strength combined with gaps and struggles. There are few passages that express this more directly and movingly than Senator Kennedy's own eulogy for his beloved brother Robert in St.

Patrick's Cathedral 41 years ago, in 1968, when he said that my brother did not need to be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life to be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw the bad and tried to write it down. suffering and tried to heal it he saw the war and tried to stop it like his two brothers Ted Kennedy was a public man with a public faith his strength was a central current of biblical faith expressed in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures his strength was faith of the great Hebrew prophets of Isaiah Jeremiah Amos it was they who linked the quality of Faith with the character of Justice on earth it was they who defended the widows, orphans and refugees of their time the striking resemblance of these groups The women, children, families and immigrants in poverty of our time did not escape Ted Kennedy's warning, their public faith was reinforced and nourished in the Christian scriptures that we have heard from Matthew today, we must now remember the commonly known Gospel of Luke like the gospel of the poor the Jesus of Luke knew well the poor of his time he was among them he often defended them defended them and reminded his disciples of God's special concern for them at the heart of the gospel of Luke is the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus Senator Kennedy had a special respect for her great prayer.

The Magnificat, a prayer that simultaneously glorified God for his blessings and promised God's protection of the poor in their last days. The

senator

, Vicki, and I reflected on this sentence in terms of the meaning of his life's work. Our Blessed Mother proclaims these sent sentiments. The Mercy of God is from age to age for those who fear Him. He has shown power with his arm and scattered. The Arrogant of mind and heart. He brought down the rulers of the Thrones of him, but exalted the lowly. He satisfies the hungry. with good things the rich send him away empty Ted Kennedy, of course, lived in a world much more complex than that of Jesus' time and place, but that challenge evoked in him his public gifts, he understood the complexity of society in the who lived.

Recognized for his mastery of data, his sense of the possible, and his genius for crafting laws and policies that benefit the widows and orphans of our time, he once again described the motivation for his public life in light of the legacy of his Brother Robert's vision when he spoke these words: Our future may be beyond our vision, but it is not completely out of our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our hands, coincide with reason. and principle that will determine our destiny each public figure has a unique personal life, distinct but not totally separate from the public world of work and achievements that others have recalled last week and will address this morning Ted Kennedy's record of achievements I'd like close with this reflection as one lives towards the final moments of life, the public character fades and the deeper personal convictions and commitments that have sustained a person throughout a long and complex life come to occupy the center of the stage.

This was the case in Over the past few weeks and months, as Ted and Vicky faced the final measure of their lives together as any priest would, I was present for them and with them the faith that had sustained a visible historical presence now became in faith that teaches us how to see. This life in the light of the next life, the gift of the Eucharist that Jesus promised would nourish us in this life and lead us to eternal life, became an even greater source of strength and comfort for Ted and Vicki as they The support that Senator Ted Kennedy sustained through so many public struggles became the source of a silent confidence in a truth taught by his church at the Second Vatican Council.

In these words we do not know the time for the consummation of the earth and humanity, but we are taught. that God is preparing a new home and a new Earth where Justice will dwell and whose blessedness will answer and overcome all the longings for peace that spring up today in the human heart in this Holy Eucharist, we pray, we are sure that Ted Kennedy has entered into this new home of God because as the Liturgy today inspires us Lord for your faithful people life changes does not end when the body of our earthly home lies in death we gain an eternal home in heaven may he rest in peace right now we pray to the Lord not only for Teddy but for all of us that he leaves behind among his brothers and sisters, he was the youngest, so now his grandchildren, his little nieces and nephews and the youngest son of one of his nieces will offer intercessions every time, please respond.

Lord, he, our prayer, Teddy served for 47 years and called us all to

service

, so these intercessions are in his words for his life's work, it is our prayer for our country and our world, for commitment and my grandfather's perseverance to not exceed values. but to the old values ​​that will never wear out that the poor may be out of political fashion but they are never without human need that circumstances may change but the work of compassion must continue let us pray PR to the Lord Lord for my grandfather summons that let us do it In our nation we do not measure human beings by what they cannot do but we value them by what they can do, let us pray to the Lord our Lord for what my grandfather called the cause of his life, as he said so many

times

in each part of this land that all Americans will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.

Let us pray to the Lord, Lord, our PR, for a new season of hope that my Uncle Teddy envisioned, where we will rise to our highest ideals and close the book on old

politics

. of race and gender group against group and straight against gay let us ask the Lord Lord our prayer for the call of my uncle Teddy to fulfill the promise that all the men and women who live here, even the strangers and the newcomers, can rise without matter your color, no matter what. their birthplace for workers without jobs, students without college tuition and families without the opportunity to own a home for all Americans seeking a better life and a better land for all those excluded or left behind let us pray to the Lord Lord for me Uncle opposes violence, hatred and war, and believes that peace can be maintained through the triumph of justice and that the truest justice can only come through the works of peace .

We pray to the Lord here, as my Uncle Teddy once said to thousands and thousands and millions. can be said of us in dark passages and bright days and the words of Tennison that my brothers quoted and loved and that have a special meaning for us now I am part of all that I have known, although much is taken, much remains who we are They are an equal temperament of heroic hearts strong in the will to strive, seek, find and not give in, let us pray to the Lord, our Lord, for the joy of my Uncle Teddy's laughter, the light of his presence, his rare and noble contributions to the human spirit for his faith that in heaven his father and mother, his brothers and sisters and all who came before him will welcome him home and in all the moments to come when the rest of us will think of him hugging him affectionately on the boat surrounded by his family as we sail into Nantucket Sound we pray to the Lord Lord our PR for my grandfather's brave promise last summer that the work begins again, hope rises again and the dream lives on we pray to the Lord Lord here our prayer Lord Our God Giver of peace and healer of souls hear the prayers of the Redeemer Jesus Christ and the voices of your people whose lives were purchased by the blood of the Lamb forgive the sins of all who sleep in Christ and grant them a place in your kingdom we ask it through Christ Lord our amen amen up leave on the other side thank you beautiful see beautiful pray my dear brothers that your sacrifice and ours may be acceptable to God the almighty father may the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hand the praise and glory of his name for our good and the good of his entire church Lord accept this sacrifice that we offer for our brother Ted Kennedy on the day of his burial may your love cleanse him of his human weakness and forgive any sin he has committed We ask all this through Christ our Lord, amen, the Lord be with you and also with you, lift up your hearts, we lift them up to the Lord, we give thanks to the Lord, our God, it is right to give thanks to God and praise, almighty and ever-living father, God, we do good always and everywhere in giving you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord in him who rose from the dead Our Hope of Resurrection dawned the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality Lord through your faithful people life changes It does not end when the body of our earthly abode lies in death We gain an eternal abode in heaven and so with all the choirs of angels in heaven We proclaim your glory and join them in their endless hymn of praise holy holy holy Lord God and Heaven and Earth are full of your glory in the highest blessed blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord in the highest Lord You are Holy indeed and all creation rightly praises You all life all Holiness comes from you through of your son Jesus Christ Our Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit from age to age you gather a people for yourself so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made for the glory of your name and thereforefather we bring you these gifts we ask you to sanctify them by the power of your spirit so that they become the body and blood of your son our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose order we celebrate this Eucharist the night he was betrayed he took the bread and He gave thanks and praise, broke bread and gave it to his people. disciples and said, all of you take this and eat, this is my body that will be given for you when the supper is over, he took the cup again, gave thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples and said, take this, all of you, and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood the blood of the new and eternal Covenant will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven do this in memory of my father remembering the death that your son suffered our Salvation his glorious resurrection and Ascension to heaven and ready to greet him When He returns again, we offer you in Thanksgiving this holy and Living Sacrifice, look with favor on the offering of your Church and see the victim whose death has reconciled us to Himself, grant that we, who are nourished by His body and His blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit and let us be one body, one Spirit.

May Christ make us an eternal gift to you and allow us to share the inheritance of your saints with Mary, the virgin mother of God, with Joseph, her husband, the apostles, the molders and all your saints, in whose constant intercession we trust for receive help, Lord, may this sacrifice that has made our peace with you advance the peace and salvation of the whole world, strengthen your Pilgrim Church on Earth in faith and love. servant Pope Benedict our Cardinal Archbishop Shawn and all the Bishops with the clergy and all the people that your son has won for you father listen to the prayers of the family that you have gathered here before you in a special way Lord remember your dear our dear friend Ted in baptism died with Christ may he also participate in his resurrection when Christ resurrects our mortal bodies and makes them like his own in his own Glory.

He receives into your kingdom our deceased brothers and sisters and all those who have left this world. In your friendship we hope there. to share your glory when every tear is wiped away that day we will see you our God as you are, we will be like you and praise you with every thought through Christ Our Lord from whom all good things come through him with him in him in the unity of the spirit holy all glory and honor is yours Almighty father forever and ever amen and let us now pray together in the words that our father taught us our father who art in heaven be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in the heaven give us today our daily bread and forgive us our offenses as we forgive those who offend us and guide us do not fall into temptation but deliver us from evil deliver us Lord from all evil and grant us peace in our day in your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait with joyful hope for the coming of Our Savior Jesus Christ for the kingdom the power the glory is yours through the Lord Jesus Christ you said to your Apostles I leave you peace my peace I give you look not at our sins but at the faith of your church and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where it lives forever and ever, amen, the peace of the Lord be with you and also with you, let us offer each other a sign of Christ peace peace little hard you, as the Lamb of God, take away the world have mercy on us Lamb of God take Take away the S from the world have mercy on us L of God take away the S from the world gr us peace Lord Jesus Christ with faith in your love and mercy we your body and drink your blood may it not bring us condemnation but Health in mind and body this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world Happy are those who are called to his dinner Lord I am not worthy to receive you but just say the word and I will be May the body of Christ bring us to eternal life amen, I crossed the bottom of course, H son for Ser me s is for Serv nothing yet, stay still, here Tom will give Gra in fre stand Bre Bre Jo and everything oh I'm for making Mar more day oh before GL in is in everyone Mor is Mor is in this only my name is Ted Kennedy Jr a name I share with my son a name I shared with my father although at

times

it has not been easy to live with this name I have never been more proud of That is why today, Your Eminence, thank you for being here.

You honor us with your presence, all the musicians who have come here. My father loved the arts and he would be very happy with your performances today. My heart is full and first I want to say thank you, my heart is full of appreciation and gratitude to the people of Massachusetts, my father's loyal staff, who in many ways the loss of my father is as great for them as it is for those of us in our family and for all of the family and friends of my father who have come to pay their respects listening to people talk about how my father impacted their lives and the deep personal connection people felt with my father has been an overwhelming emotional EXP experience in which my father had the best friends.

The world, all of you here are also my friends and your greatest gift to me. I love them as much as he does. Sarah Brown, the tauk. President Obama President Clinton Secretary Clinton President Bush President Carter you honor my family with your presence here today. I remember. how my father would tell the public years ago I don't care that I'm not president, I only care that there is someone else. There is much to be said and much will be said about Ted Kennedy, the statesman, the master of the legislative process and bipartisan compromise. The workhorse of the Senate Beacon of social justice and protector of the people there is also much to say and much will be said about my father, the man the Storyteller, the lover of costume parties, a prankster, the consummate painter, he was a lover everything, French cheese, wine and women.

He was a mountaineer Navigator Tactical captain Airplane pilot Rodeo rider Ski jumper Dog lover and everywhere adventurer Our family vacations left us all injured and exhausted He was a table debater and devil's advocate He was Irish and a proud member from the Democratic Party here's one you might not know from Harvard: He was a recruit of the Green Bay Packers but decided to go to law school. He was a devout Catholic whose faith helped him survive unbearable losses and whose teachings taught him that he had a moral obligation to help others in need. He was not perfect by any means, but my father believed in Redemption and never gave up, never gave up. of trying to write mistakes, whether they were the result of his own failures or ours, but today I simply feel compelled to remember Ted Kennedy how my father and my best friend when I was 12 years old I was diagnosed with bone cancer and a few months after losing my leg there was a heavy snowfall on my childhood home outside of Washington DC and my dad went to the garage to get the old flexible steering wheel and asked me if I wanted to go sledding up the steep road and I was trying to get used to my new artificial leg and the hill was covered in ice and snow and it was not easy for me to walk and the hill was very, very slippery and as I was struggling to walk, I slipped and fell on the ice and I started crying and said: No I can do this.

I said I'll never be able to climb that hill and he picked up. He lifted me into his strong, soft arms and said something I will never forget. He said: I know you can do it. There is nothing you can't do. Let's climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day. He hugged me around my waist and we slowly made our way to the top and you know, at 12 years old, losing your leg seems like the end of the world, but when I climbed on his back and we flew down the hill that day, I knew he was Okay, I knew it was going to be okay.

You see, my father taught me that even our deepest losses can be survived and that is what we do with that loss, our ability to transform it into a positive event, which is one of my best lessons from my father: he taught me. He taught that nothing is impossible. During the summer months when I was a child, my father would arrive late Friday afternoons from Washington and as soon as he arrived in Cape Cod he wanted to go right out and go sailing. maneuvers in the victura in anticipation of that weekend's races and we would be lying around and the sun would set and the family dinner would be getting cold and we would still be there practicing our jobs and our Spiner sets long after everyone else had safely disembarked once, but one night there was no other ship to be seen on the summer sea.

I asked him why we are always the last ones in the water. Teddy, he said you see that most of the other sailors we compete against are smarter and more talented. than us but the reason we're going to win is because we'll work harder than them and be better prepared and he just wasn't talking about sailing my father admired perseverance my father believed that doing a job actually required an enormous amount of time. and effort. Dad also instilled in me the importance of history in biography. He loved Boston and the incredible writers, philosophers, and politicians of Massachusetts.

He took me and my cousins ​​to the old North Church and Walden Pond and the houses of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Burkers thought Massachusetts was the greatest place on Earth and had letters from many of their former senators like Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams hanging on his walls inspired by heroic things he was civilian Buff when we were kids, he would pack us all into his car or his rented camper and we would travel to all the big battlefields. I remember that he often met with his friend Shelby Foot at a particular site on the anniversary of a historic battle just to better appreciate what the soldiers must have experienced that day.

He believed that to know what to do in the future you had to understand the past. My father loved other old things, he loved his classic wooden schooner, the Mayan. He loved headlights and his 1973 Pontiac convertible. My father taught me to treat everyone I meet, no matter what station in life, with kindness. same dignity and respect with which I could be talking about Gun Control with the president at 3 in the afternoon. and meet a union carpenter about Fair W wage legislation or a new Bedford fisherman about fisheries policy at 4:30. I once told him that he had accidentally left some money behind.

I remember this when he was a little boy in our hotel sink. room and he answered Teddy, let me tell you something doing everything making the beds all day is exhausting work the woman who has to clean up after us today has a family to feed and that's the kind of person she was, he answered the call from Uncle Joe. patriotism, Uncle Jack's call to public service and Bobby's determination to seek a new world, different from them, he lived to be a grandfather and knowing what my cousins ​​have been through, I feel grateful to have had my father for so long He even taught me something. of life's hardest lessons, like how to please Republicans, he once told me that he said Republicans love this country as much as I do.

I think he felt like he had something in common with his Republican counterparts. The whims of public opinion. The constant scrutiny. of the press, the endless campaign for the next elections, but above all the incredible shared sacrifice that being in public life demands. He understood that the difficulties that

politics

has on a family and the hard work and commitment it requires often brought up his Republican colleagues. home for dinner and he believed in developing personal relationships and honoring differences and one of the wonderful experiences that I will remember today is how many of his fellow Republican representatives are sitting here in front of him, that is a true testament to the man and he always told me who is always willing to compromise but never compromise on his principles, he was an idealist and a pragmatist.

He was restless but patient when he learned that a survey among Republican senators named him the Democratic legislator with whom they most wanted to work and that John McCain called him He was the most effective member of the United States Senate. He was very proud because he considered the combination of praise from his supporters and respect from his political adversaries at times as one of the ultimate goals of a successful political life at the end of his life. Dad came home, died in the place he loved more than any other Cape Con. The last months of my dad's life were not sad or scary, but filled with profound experiences, a series of moments more precious than he could ever know. have imagined.

He taught me more. about the humility, vulnerability and courage that he had taught me throughout my life, although he lived a full and complete life by any measure, the fact is that he was not done yet, he still had work to do, he was very proud of where We had only recently arrived as a nation and I, although I regret what could have been, what he could have helped us achieve, I pray today that we can let go of this sadness and instead celebrate all that he was, did and represented. I'll try to live up to it. the high standard my father set for all of us when he said the work continues the cause endures hope hope still lives and the dream will never die I love you D I always will and I miss you already President Mrs.

Obamadistinguished guests friends of my father, all of you, while a nation has lost a great senator, my brothers and sisters and I have lost a loving father when I was a child. He couldn't breathe when he was a child. I suffered from chronic, crippling asthma attacks and the medications I was taking. that they had to give me were very difficult and gave me a throbbing headache every night I had to use my bronchosol nebulizer now obviously I wish I didn't have to suffer those attacks and endure those headaches nor did I like having to grow up having a room special non-smoking, hypoallergenic, reserved for me whenever we went on family vacations, but as I now realize years later, while asthma could pose a challenge to my physical health, it supported my emotional and mental health because it kept my father At my bedside, my dad was always sure to be within reach and the side effects of the medication meant he was always holding a cold, wet towel to my forehead until I fell asleep again from the headache and the special effort that was made.

To ensure I had a suitable room to sleep in while we were on holiday as a family, this usually meant I had the nicest room and also ensured that Dad was my roommate. I couldn't have seen her at the time, but she had asthma. It was like hitting the jackpot for a child who craved the love and attention of his father when his light shone only on me. There was no better feeling in the world when Dad was away. I often didn't know when he would return and when I was young. boy, I didn't know why he wasn't around for Christmas when Santa came to the house and I was really wondering why Santa had the same two moles on his face that my dad had and in the same place as my dad even after I I found out it was my dad and I finally took off my costume.

He was still a magical figure for me when he was a child. He didn't seem like much of a sailor, but my dad thought otherwise. There are also rules in navigation. like mundane, relentless government rules that are sure to make you dizzy, the rule was four people in a boat to compete with only four, but my father, of course, researched until he found a rule that sounds familiar to you, who served with him in the Senate. under 12 discovered that especially thin redheads like me could accompany me my dad found that rule that fit his mission he refused to leave me behind he did it for all those around the world who also needed a special voice when we ran in bad weather there was a lot of salt water and a lot of salt language.

Those experiences not only made my vocabulary confident, but also built my self-confidence. I saw a lot of his political philosophy in those sailboat races. One thing I noticed was that on The Boat, as in this country, there was a role for everyone, a place for everyone to contribute second in the race, since in life it didn't matter how strong the forces were against you, as long as you kept driving.go ahead there was nothing to lose maybe you would even come out a winner my dad never gave in he never gave up and there was no quitting in dad and looking at this audience and looking at the tremendous amount of people that lined the roads going up From the Cape along Boston when we toured those who waited in line for hours to see his casket as they passed by the JFK Library I have no doubt that my dad came out the winner.

I want to thank you all. for the incredible tribute you have given my father in recent days and I want to say that as proud as I was to be a crew member on a sailboat, I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to have worked with him in the United States. Congress as his colleague, I admit that I used to cling to his T-shirt and the sleeve of his coat in the capital when I was just a little boy, so when I had the opportunity to serve with him on Capitol Hill, all I had to do was prepare .

My compass early in his life My father and I were the primary sponsors of the Mental Health Parody and Addiction Fairness Act, which was signed into law last year. This bill represented not only a legal victory for 54 million Americans with mental illnesses are denied equal health insurance, but as one of those 54 million Americans I felt like he was fighting for me too to help alleviate the burden of stigma and shame that accompanies treatment. I'll really miss working with dad. I will miss my dad's wonderful sense of self. -derogatory humor when the far right made dad their model for their attack ads, he used to say that we Kennedy bring out the best in people and when he was first elected and my cousin Joe was a member of Congress and I I came to Congress, dad. finally celebrated by saying finally after all these years, when someone says who does that damn Kennedy do they think he is, there's only a one in three chance they're talking about me, most Americans will remember dad as a good and decent senator , but to Teddy Curran Caroline.

Cara and I will always remember him as a loving and devoted father and in the 1980 campaign my father often quoted Robert Frost at the end of each speech to indicate that he had to move on to another political event from which he paraphrased the phrase. The road less traveled The woods are lovely and dark and deep and I have promised to keep them and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep well Dad, you have kept that promise, both literally and figuratively, to be your brother's keeper. , now it is time for you to rest in peace, may your spirit live forever in our hearts, and, as you defy us so many times before, may your dream of a better, more just America never die.

I love you dad and you will always live in my heart forever, your eminence. Vicki carara Edward Patrick heal Caroline members of the Kennedy family distinguished guests and fellow citizens today we say goodbye to the youngest son of Rose and Joseph Kennedy the world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy, a champion for those who had none is the soul of the Democratic party and the lion of the United States Senate, a man who honored nearly 1,000 laws and who wrote more than 300 laws himself, but those of us who loved him and grieved with his passing know Ted Kennedy by his other titles than father, brother, husband, grandfather, Uncle Teddy or, as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, Big Cheese or Big Cheese.

Like so many others in the city where he worked for almost half a century, I knew him as a colleague, mentor and above all as a friend, Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its Rock, He was the happy, sunny boy who bore the brunt of his brother's teasing, but quickly learned to ignore it when he was kicked out. Six-year-old Teddy got off a boat because he didn't know what a jib was and learned to sail when a photographer asked newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his son. minor.

Brother Teddy joked that it will be the same in Washington that the Spirit of resilience and good humor would help Teddy overcome more pain and tragedy than most of us would ever know. He lost two brothers at the age of 16. He saw two more violently taken out of a country. who loved them said goodbye to his beloved sister Eunice in the last days of her life narrowly survived a plane crash watched two children battle cancer buried three nephews and experienced personal failures and setbacks in the most public way possible is a series of events that would have broken a lesser man and it would have been easy for Ted to become bitter and hardened, give in to self-pity and regret, withdraw from public life and live out his years in peace and quiet, no one would have blamed him. that but that was not Ted Kennedy as he told us individual faults and weaknesses are not an excuse to give in nor an exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves in fact Ted was the happy warrior that the poet Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote as tempted more more able to resist being more exposed to suffering and anguish, then also More alive to tenderness through his own suffering Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others the sick girl who could not see a doctor the young soldier was denied his rights because of how he looks or who he loves or where he comes from the historic laws he defended the Civil Rights Act the Americans with Disabilities Act immigration reform children's health insurance the Leave Act Family and Medical all have a common thread that Kennedy's life's work was not to defend the causes of those with wealth, power or special connections, it was to give a voice to those who were not heard, to add a stepping stone to the latter of opportunity to do the dream of our foundation comes true.

He was given the gift of time, but his brothers were not and he used that gift to touch as many lives and write as many wrongs against SS as the years would allow. We can still hear him, his voice roaring across the Senate chamber, his face with a renewed fist pounding the podium, a true force of nature in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights and yet as It has been noted, although his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did as his fiercest critics viewed him as a partisan lightning rod which is not the prism through which Ted Kennedy viewed the world nor was it prison through. which his colleagues saw Ted Kennedy.

He was a product of a time when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences in partisan platform and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect. A time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots and that is how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did so by qualifying the yes principle, but also by seeking compromises and common causes, not only through agreements and haggling, but through friendship, kindness and humor. There was a time when he courted Orin Hatch. to support the child insurance program by having his chief of staff serenade the senator with a song Orin had written himself when he delivered Shamrock cookies on a Chinese plate to Sweden and told a crusty Republican colleague the famous story of how he gained support. of a Texas immigration committee chairman Bill Teddy walked into a meeting with a simple manila envelope and only showed the president that it was filled with Texans' favorite cigars;

When negotiations were going well, I would push the envelope to the president. When they weren't, I would take it back in no time. The deal was done. It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, when Teddy Button held me up on the Senate floor for me. support for some legislation that was coming I showed up for a vote, made my promise, but expressed skepticism that it would pass, but when the call ended, the bill got the votes it needed and more. I looked at Teddy in amazement and asked him how he had done it.

He simply patted it. I was in the back saying Luck of the Irish, of course luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy's legislative success. He knew that a few years ago his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster could be the two best senators of all time, without missing a beat, Teddy responded what Webster did, but although it is Teddy's historic set of accomplishments that we will remember, It is his generous heart that we will miss, he was the friend and colleague who was always the first to pick up. the phone and say: I'm sorry for your loss or I hope you feel better or what can I do to help you.

He was the boss, so adored by his staff that more than 500 people over five decades showed up at his 75th birthday party. He was the man. who sent birthday wishes and thank you notes and even his own paintings of him to so many people who never imagined that a U.S. senator of such stature would take the time to think of someone like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study facing the Oval Office. a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a rookie legislator who had just arrived in Washington and who happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy received it in his office as my second gift from Teddy and Vicki after our dog boat and it seems like everyone has one of those stories that often starts with you wouldn't believe who called me today Ted Kennedy was the father who took care of not only his three children but also John and Bob's, taking them camping and teaching them to He sailed, laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings, cried and mourned with them during hardship and tragedy, and passed on to them the same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him shortly after Ted walked Caroline Di down the aisle. and he will deliver it.

At the altar he received a note from Jackie that said: "Little brother Carefree fell into a burden. A hero would have begged to be forgiven. We will all make it because we will alwaysyou were there with your love. Not just the Kennedys. The family made it through Ted's love. He did it because of theirs, especially because the love and life he found in Vicki after so much loss and so much pain, it couldn't have been easy for Ted to risk his heart again and he did. a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable Louisiana woman and she didn't just love him as Ted often acknowledged.

Vicki saved him, gave him strength, purpose, joy and friendship and was always by her side, especially in those last, most difficult days. We cannot know with certainty how much time we have left here We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way We cannot know what God's plan is for us What we can do is live our lives as best we can with purpose and With love and joy we can use each day to show those closest to us how much we care about them and treat others with the kindness and respect we wish for ourselves.

We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. strive at all costs to make a better world so that one day, if we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to remember our time here, we will know that we had a good time, that we made a difference, that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on lives of others, this is how Ted Kennedy lived, this is his legacy. He once said, as has already been mentioned, about his brother Bobby that he does not need to be idealized or enlarged in death because what he was in life and I imagine he would say the same about himself.

The greatest expectations were placed on Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. Today we do not cry for him because of the prestige associated with his name or his position. We cry because we love this kind and tender hero. who persevered through pain and tragedy not for ambition or vanity, not for wealth or power, but only for the people and country he loved in the days after 9/11. Teddy made it a point to personally call each of the 177 families. of this state that lost a loved one in the attack, but didn't stop there, kept calling and checking on them, fighting bureaucracy to get them help with grief counseling, inviting them to go sailing, playing with their children, and writing to them. each. a letter to the family every time the anniversary of that terrible day arrived, to a widow, he wrote the following, as you very well know, the passage of time never truly heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we move on because we have to do it because our loved ones would want us to do it and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us, we continue Ted Kennedy has gone home now Guided by his faith and by the light of those he who he loved and ultimately lost.

He is with them once again, leaving those of us who grieve, he is passing on with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive and a single lasting image, the image of a man in a ship, a white man fighting, smiling widely as he sails. in the wind, ready for any storm that may come, moving towards some new and wonderful place just beyond the horizon, may God bless Ted Kennedy and may he rest in eternal peace, let us pray. Lord God, your son Jesus Christ gave us the sacrament of his body and blood to guide us on our pilgrimage path to your kingdom May our dear friend Ted who shared I am GL all success my human the other side yes any other SEE there Sor was not well no way e see see my host host h h h h h h h hold something feel