There’s a significant debate among the Catholic faithful concerning whether former Vice President Joe Biden, who claims to be a life-long Catholic, but supports an unlimited abortion license, should be given the eucharist if he approaches for communion.

Well the Reverend Mark R. Hession, now 62, delivered the homily at the late Senator Edward M Kennedy’s (D-MA) funeral Mass, and said that he was the Kennedy family’s pastor on Cape Cod. I’m surprised that they didn’t make him a monsignor for that!

Priest who gave homily at pro-abort Ted Kennedy’s funeral charged with rape, indecent assault of a child

In 2009, the Boston Globe dubbed Hession the Kennedys’ ‘family priest on Cape Cod.’ During his homily at Senator Kennedy’s funeral, Hession emphasized that he had been the deceased’s pastor.

By Dorothy Cummings McLean | Friday, December 18, 2020 | 9:47 AM EST

BARNSTABLE, Massachusetts, December 18, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Catholic priest who gave the homily at pro-abortion Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral has been indicted for rape and indecent assault on a child.

Father Mark R. Hession, 62, a priest of the Fall River Diocese and the former pastor of Our Lady of Victory in Centerville, MA, where Kennedy’s Cape Cod funeral was held, was the subject of a “secret” grand jury indictment in Barnstable last Friday, Hyannis News reported. The full charges were two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14, and one count of witness intimidation.

A statement from the Fall River Diocese underscored that Hession has been “suspended from actively priestly ministry since 2019” and thus has not been able “to present himself as a priest in public settings.”

According to NBC Boston Channel 10, Hession was put on leave after complaints by some adult parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Seekonk that he had sent them “inappropriate communications.” Hession left the parish in 2018 after it was revealed that he had used funds from its budget to fund personal expenses.

There’s more at the original. But this good priest, who said of Senator Kennedy, “My vision, like yours, can’t encompass the totality of his life. My memories seen through the lens of a Catholic parish priest are about how one person, one man, a husband, a father, a public figure, a Catholic, and a citizen, tried to meet the tests of the kingdom of Matthew’s gospel,” was (allegedly) raping children under 14, and (allegedly) a thief as well.

None of the articles I found on this story noted whether Fr Hession was molesting boys or girls, but the John Jay Report studying sexual abuse by Catholic clergy between 1950 and 2002 found that 81% of the victims were boys.

So, what does it say that Senator Kennedy’s pastor, who stated that he was “confident” that the late Senator had entered heaven, who was at least willing to look the other way concerning the Senators open and flagrant support of abortion, appears to himself have been less than a paragon of virtue himself?

One wouldn’t have expected Fr Hession to speak ill of the dead at a funeral Mass, so that is, in one way, a bit less than strong evidence. But if Fr Hession ever attempted to counsel his parishioner on his views of, and Senatorial votes for, abortion, we do not know of it. If the Distinguished Gentleman from Massachusetts had ever been denied communion by his parish priest, we’d certainly have heard that; it would have been huge news.^[1]Thomas Tobin, the Bishop of Providence, requested then-Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Edward Kenney’s son, to stop presenting himself for communion due to his support for abortion.

I recently learned that my previous parish, St Joseph’s in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, has been consolidated with Immaculate Conception parish, in the tourist trap section of town. St Joseph’s, with a church which would seat over 500 parishioners, usually had around 100 on Sundays, but the Diocese of Allentown apparently saw the two parishes as not serving enough parishioners each, and consolidated the parishes. St Joseph’s Regional Academy, the parochial school, was closed down in 2018.

How much, I have to ask, is due to declining numbers of active Catholics, and how much is that decline due to a Church which has tolerated homosexual activist priests, and priests who happily present the Host to vigorously pro-abortion politicians?

Is it possible, just possible, that the Catholic Church in the United States would see more actual Catholics in the pews if they had more actual Catholics serving as priests?