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Kennedy and Catholicism: D.C. Liturgy Highlighted Drama of
Assassination
They had chosen St. Matthews
Church, instead of the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, because
Jackie could walk there from the White House, accompanying the caisson and the
casket that held her husband. It was forty years ago this week, and as the world
watched — as it was riveted — the first and only Catholic First Family resorted
in their grief to their religion.
A Streak of Devotion
No one who was alive will forget the drama of the moment, which culminated in an
old rite Mass celebrated by Cardinal Richard Cushing, Archbishop Patrick
O'Boyle, and Auxiliary Bishop Philip Hannan of Washington, a personal friend and
consultant of the president.
Kennedy, despite his roguish ways, had a streak of devotion inspired by his
mother Rose — a daily communicant — and so did his wife, who in Dallas had
prayed with a priest as he administered the last anointing. That Catholicism
proved to be a thread that ran throughout an incredible three days. At Parkland
Memorial Hospital minutes after the shooting, the priest, a Vincentian named
Oscar Huber, had opened a black bag, extracted holy oils and cotton batting,
along with a prayer book, and putting a thin stole around his neck set about
blessing the dead or dying president. "I absolve you in the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," the priest had intoned, lifting his eyes
to that part of Kennedy's head that was missing.
Did the sacrament count? No one was sure. Extreme Unction — as it was then known
— was not valid if the soul had departed. Father Huber sensed that Kennedy's
soul was still there. "Through this anointing, may God forgive you whatever sins
you may have
committed," he had prayed.
Through a faculty granted by the Holy See he dispensed remission of sins and a
plenary indulgence.
Jackie had watched the entire blessing, praying herself. Though in shock — in
unmentionable agony — the contours of her face tamed every shadow. "Father," the
obviously frightened First Lady had asked, "do you think the sacraments had
effect?"
Yes, Father Huber assured her.
"Father, please pray for Jack," she had added.
Then it had been on to Washington and the funeral Mass.
An Incredible Funeral
Bishop Hannan, 90, lives in New Orleans, and still vividly remembers it.
According to historical accounts, Jackie wanted Hannan to read the eulogy and he
was informed of this at midnight the night before the funeral.
It was a ceremony 3 a pontifical requiem Mass 3 that would be attended by
representatives of more than ninety countries, along with every prominent
politician in Washington. Hannan, who had flown in from Rome where he was
attending Vatican II, had no time to get nervous. "I said of course I would do
it," he told Spirit Daily. "Archbishop O'Boyle got the message and said
Jackie insisted that I give the sermon. Sargent Shriver had called O'Boyle to
convey this and I said okay, but that I wanted to have someone from the State
Department give me a list of leading dignitaries so that I could observe the
right protocol. I was supposed to meet the guy the next morning at 10:30 in the
sacristy of the cathedral. I was there and the guy said, 'I don't have any list.
We've been overwhelmed. We haven't kept any list. So many came that we didn't
know were coming. All I can tell you is stand up there in front of the church —
you're going to receive the body anyway — and just watch the chief guests as
they come, and remember that.'"
Thus was it the job of this auxiliary bishop to compose a salutation by
feverishly searching all the faces.
Hannan had known the Kennedys for years, since Jack was a congressman. They had
spoken on the phone and even debated issues like socialism. It was Bishop Hannan
who had been up there on the stand for Kennedy's inauguration — greeted there
personally by JFK — and had helped arrange for daughter Caroline to receive
religious instruction. It was Hannan to whom Kennedy turned for advice that was
Catholic. "When he was going to see the Pope, I told him not to genuflect and
kiss his ring, because the Protestants would put a real spin on that," recalls
Hannan. Was there a curse? "The risk-taking was just in their blood," says the
prelate.
This was a Catholic family. An imperfect one, yes, but from all indications, it
went beyond simple cultural heritage. Kennedy carried a money clip engraved with
an image of St. Christopher and when he died bore in his a pocket a note from a
priest who that morning had let him know that Masses were being said for him. He
thought that important enough to show to Jackie. Perfect? Hardly. But concerned
with the rituals of the faith. At their wedding, John and Jackie had received a
special blessing from Pope Pius XII. ("The Holy Father on the occasion of
marriage cordially imparts Honorable
John F. Kennedy and Mrs.
Kennedy his paternal apostolic blessing in pledging enduring Christian happiness
in married life.")
When their newborn Patrick died just months before the assassination, the
president had been alone in a private chapel with Boston's Cardinal Cushing,
weeping as he clutched the tiny coffin.
Now, that Catholicism was to anoint him in his own death.
Bishop Hannan was ready to stand before one of the largest audiences in the
history of the world up to that point and had no time even to configure a list
of those he should mention. There were people like Emperor Haile Salasie. There
was the queen's husband, wearing a sword. There was French President Charles
DeGaulle. There was of course the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. "An usher
put Eisenhower and Truman in a side pew — not even in the center aisle — so of
course I didn't see them and so I didn't acknowledge them, but they didn't take
any umbrage," recalls the retired archbishop after all these years.
Hannan got through it because he knew the routine from handling other Washington
events as auxiliary — he often had dealt with foreign guests — and he simply
fell back on that protocol. The homily was just eight to ten minutes with the
world watching. "Jackie didn't want long," he says. "She didn't want a high
mass, either."
God's Work Must Truly be
Our Own
At this time, the world stood still. Millions poured into their own churches.
Buses stopped in tribute. Subways ground to a halt. Trains stopped on trestles.
In Greece, in Rome, in London, traffic came to a halt.
It wasn't a high mass, but it was enough, the eulogy composed in large part with
the president's own words. "President Kennedy was fond of quoting the Bible,"
noted Hannan in the sermon. "At the last dinner of his life in Houston, Texas,
last Thursday night, he applied to a friend, as it should be applied to him,
this combination of passages from Proverbs and the prophecy of Joel: 'Your old
men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And where there is no
vision the people perish."
There were quotes from Ecclesiastes. There were quotes from his inauguration.
America, entering the steep curve of the sixties, would never quite recover.
Evil was in the air.
Along with the drama.
"The most poignant moment was the salute given by John John, but what they
missed was that there were about 10,000 people on the other side of the street
and when John John made that salute, they all burst into tears," recalls the
archbishop. "Nobody got that picture. That picture would have been the
quintessential weeping picture of the whole event."
And Hannan's last words in his eulogy? Again, a quote from the deceased
president — who many believe sought confession just before his death. "With a
good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds,
let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but
knowing that here on earth God's
work must truly be our own,"
he himself had once said and now Hannan read.
Michael Brown is the author of 13
Catholic books and director of
www.spiritdaily.com, a daily
Catholic news site.
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