While Sen. Ted Kennedy was a cherished figure across Massachusetts and the nation, few, even at Boston College, know of his history with the Jesuit, Catholic university. Most relate the prestigious Kennedy name to not only another institution but another, perhaps more politically successful, brother.
So close was the ailing senator's relationship not only with the University but with the Jesuit, Catholic tradition, that the main celebrant at what was called by some "the most elaborate procession in Boston history," was Rev. Donald Monan, a Jesuit, a Boston College trustee, and former University president. But perhaps more importantly, he was a friend to the Kennedys, even when the Catholic Church openly opposed and criticized the politician for his views.
"I have known Sen. Kennedy for 35 years as a close friend, as a trustee of Boston College, and as a person who certainly was one of the strongest advocates for the value of higher education," Monan said in a statement.
Most recently, the senator spoke at the dedication ceremony of the Connell School of Nursing in 2003. However, despite his Irish Catholic heritage, not all were pleased with the choice. After all, Ted Kennedy has always remained perhaps the most controversial of the Kennedy brothers, whether it be because of his pro-abortion sentiments or his outspoken position on today's most controversial topic: health care reform.
Prior to the dedication, outrage poured forth toward a man that one Heights reader, Deb Mahoney, BC '85, described in a letter to the editor as someone who "turned his back on the tenets of the Catholic Church under the guise of separation of church and state," in a 2003 letter-to-the-editor in The Heights. But Kennedy's legacy of health care reform perhaps made him one of the best choices to address those attending the dedication of a nursing school.
His controversial appearance at the dedication even sparked a call for local bishops to consider censoring political speakers on Catholic university grounds, according to the Boston Globe.
Yet not everyone on the Heights viewed Kennedy as a hypocrite, or a "fair weather" Catholic. Carol Bengel Gilbert, a former Heights news editor, interviewed the senator in 1978, when The Heights was a mere weekly publication. Her interview provided insight into what was to become Kennedy's legacy. Kennedy, speaking at the Greater Boston Conference of Bioethics, talked about reform with the same vigor that he would convey in years to come, according to Gilbert, who writes for Associated Content.
"He described the extant health care system as inadequate, saying 'the poorest people are the ones at greatest risk. We don't deliver to the neediest people in society,'" she wrote.
The "liberal lion's" relationship with BC dates back to 1966, when he received an honorary LL. D. His brother John received the same degree just 10 years earlier. The LL. D. was given to Kennedy as an honorary degree after he began to gain prominence in the Senate following a plane crash. Apparently, it was the crash that allowed Kennedy to immerse himself in academics while hospitalized and perhaps even drove him to fight for education reform.
Yet even in light of his death, the controversy, religious or otherwise, has not ceased. The Chappaquiddick incident, which the younger generation has perhaps never even heard of, has resurfaced to tarnish the legacy of a man who was ultimately fighting for the health and safety of all. Yet controversy over even the naming of the health care bill for which he long pushed for has also tarnished his name.
Ted Kennedy's controversial legacy with BC is the same as it was with the rest of the world; he held strong beliefs that could inspire the worst in people and the best in people, depending on whether or not they agreed with him.
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