We Catholics believe (or OUGHT to believe) that, at some point during the Consecration in the Liturgy, ordinary bread and wine are transubstantiated into the flesh, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ - which we call Holy Eucharist. We believe (or OUGHT to believe) that the Holy Eucharist is the Bread of Life - and without it we wither on the spiritual vine.

We also believe (or OUGHT to believe) that only those in a state of sanctifying grace may worthily receive this sacrament and that those who are conscious of having committed mortal sin - yet receive the Holy Eucharist in the act of Holy Communion - do so to their own spiritual destruction, having committed a great sacrilege, and thereby partake in the guilt of the suffering and death of Christ.

That’s pretty heavy stuff - it ain’t easy being Catholic. But then, Christ did tell us to pick up the cross and follow him. Unfortunately, some of us stumble repeatedly and fall under its weight. Others shirk it entirely, content in the delusion they can sweet talk their way past the Pearly Gates.

Thus I give you the likes of Robert Patrick Kennedy - a smarmy, self-satisfied, latter-day liberal pharisee and cafeteria Catholic who would preach his own Gospel to the successors of the Apostles.

Faithful readers will recall my post on the recent dust-up between this sniveling hypocrite and his bishop, Thomas J. Tobin, over the issue of Kennedy’s advocacy of procured abortion - a position that directly contradicts settled Catholic moral doctrine. It appears the matter has finally been settled: Bishop Tobin ordered Kennedy to refrain from receiving Holy Communion.

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.

Bishop Tobin, through a spokesman, declined to address the question of whether he had told Kennedy not to receive Communion. But the bishop’s office moved quickly to cast doubt on Kennedy’s related assertion about instructions to the priests of Rhode Island.

“Bishop Tobin has never addressed matters relative to public officials receiving Holy Communion with pastors of the diocese,” spokesman Michael K. Guilfoyle said in an e-mailed statement.

Observe the contrast between the two. Bishop Tobin - like any good Catholic bishop - takes this matter very seriously as it involves the salvation of Kennedy’s immortal soul. He refuses to discuss it publicly because it is a private, spiritual matter between a pastor and a member of his flock for whose salvation he bears some responsibility.

Kennedy, on the other hand, runs at once to the media and blathers just enough details to make himself look like a martyr at the hands of a ruthless and uncaring clergyman. There is no low point to which this liberal scumbag will not stoop to score political points at the expense of the Church he claims to love.

In an October interview about the opposition of the nation’s bishops to any health-care overhaul that did not include a strict ban on federal subsidies for abortion, Kennedy called into question the “pro-life” credentials of the churchmen. Health care for millions of uninsured is at stake, he said. Bishop Tobin shot back with a sharply worded statement, noting that the bishops are staunch and longtime supporters of reforming the health-care system. He said, however, that the bishops will not support a health-care bill that fails to include a ban on taxpayer subsidy of the procedure.

Frankly, I’m surprised the bishops’ criticism of the Democrat plan stops at the water’s edge of abortion. For starters, they could remind their flock that while Jesus often told his followers to love one another, be generous to one another and even go so far as to give everything they owned to the poor and follow him, I cannot recall him ever once saying: “Blessed are those who take from some in order to give to others.” I defy anyone to find a single passage ANYWHERE in the New Testament that authorizes individuals or governments to forcibly wrest a portion of someone’s wealth, possessions or property and give it to the poor or less fortunate.

For this reason I can only shake my head when I hear liberal Christians try to argue that Jesus and the early Christians who followed him were pure socialists - communists, even. What they fail to grasp is that the admonitions of Christ regarding the conflict between the needs and desires of this world and those of Heaven pertain to the individual, and while it is incumbent upon governments comprised of men to act in accordance at least with the Decalogue, nowhere and at no time are governments ever permitted to do that which is forbidden to individuals - including theft. It follows that a government which forcibly extracts a portion of each citizen’s property in order to redistribute it to other citizens - however noble the motive - is guilty of no less than theft.

And that is the essence of government-run health care. As they are all well-educated men, the bishops of the Catholic Church in the U.S. ought to understand this.

As for Robert Kennedy, don’t hold your breath expecting him to refrain from receiving Holy Communion. It would be a demonstration of the kind of spiritual meekness and true humility of which liberals are pathologically incapable.

I fully expect this pathetic little shit to boldly and proudly march up to receive the Eucharist sometime in the near future - probably around Christmas. And the priest will doubtless meekly administer the sacrament. After all, this is no ordinary Joe Schmo…this is a Kennedy and when the Kennedys talk - even God must listen.

Just ask Joe, Jr. Oops, bad call. Okay, ask Jack. Yikes…Sorry. Alright, ask Bobby. Ouch…Sorry again. Very well then, ask Teddy. Oh wait…he just recently died of…yeah, that.

Dang…looks like we’re running out of Kennedys. And God is still in heaven.