A new Politico piece recalls that Bishop Tobin's clash with Patrick Kennedy is not his first public lashing of a pol for his position on abortion. In 2007, he penned a piece in the diocesan newspaper Rhode Island Catholic taking on Rudy Giuliani and - in an aside - Senator Jack Reed:

"I have no idea why I received an invitation to Giuliani’s fundraiser.

And the fight goes on.

Patrick Kennedy inexplicably kept his feud with Bishop Tobin alive this weekend in a ProJo interview, claiming that the bishop forbade him from receiving communion because of his stand on abortion.

The bishop, who has proven skillful - if a bit chippy - in the row, lashed back. He said he asked Kennedy, in a private communication in 2007, to skip communion.

Some musings on media happenings over the weekend:

• The White House may be shunning Fox News, but its surrogates are still pushing the administration's line. Rhode Island's senior senator, Jack Reed, was on Fox News Sunday this weekend doing battle with Rudy Giuliani over Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try some of the alleged 9/11 terrorists in civilian court.

The clash between Patrick Kennedy and Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is but the most public flare-up in a broader effort by the church to build abortion restrictions into health care reform. The Associated Press has a good overview:

WASHINGTON — The call came in from Rome, just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants were scrambling to round up scarce votes to pass their sweeping health overhaul.

Representative Patrick Kennedy responded, today, to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin's critique of the legislator in the diocesan newspaper Rhode Island Catholic.

Tobin had questioned Kennedy's Catholicism in the wake of a nasty war of words over health care reform and abortion. Kennedy's reponse, via the ProJo:

The bishop asked in his letter if Kennedy supported the church's essential teachings on faith and morals, including abortion, if he belonged to a parish, attended Mass on Sundays and regularly received the sacraments.

In an extraordinary escalation of their public feud over health care reform and abortion, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has penned an open letter to Patrick Kennedy in Rhode Island Catholic magazine questioning his Catholicism.

This comes with news that a meeting between the two to discuss the public war of words has been postponed

Republican victories in gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia yesterday were striped across the nation's newspapers this morning. The GOP and some in the press were quick to label the results a rebuke to Obama.

Late-breaking results of a special Congressional election in upstate New York that went to the Dems has clouded the picture, though.

Patrick Kennedy and the Catholic Church got in an ugly spat over health care reform last week. And the diocese has invited Kennedy in to meet. From the Congressman's office, a letter back to the church. An olive branch? Sort of:

Thank you for your letter requesting a meeting with me to discuss the church’s position on comprehensive health care reform.

Liberal group Media Matters has an interesting response to the Washington Post piece by David Waters that I mentioned this morning on Congressman Patrick Kennedy's war of words with the Catholic Church over health care reform and abortion.

The backstory, in a nutshell: some Catholic bishops support universal health care, but say they'll oppose health insurance reform legislation that doesn't bar any government funds from being used to pay for abortions.

Interesting piece on the Washington Post blog, Under God, which considers the intersection of religion, government and politics. The authors suggest that Congressman Patrick Kennedy's critique of the Catholic Church's position on health care is misguided. As you may recall, Kennedy blasted the church for opposing any health reform package that does not include an explicit ban on federal funding for abortion:

Bishop Tobin of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has lashed back at Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who decried the church's opposition to any health care reform package that does not include an explicit ban on federal funding for abortion.

“Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s statement about the Catholic Church’s position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts.

Patrick Kennedy, in an interview with conservative news outlet CNS News, takes the Catholic Church to task for plans to oppose the final health care bill if it does not include an explicit ban on federal funding for abortion.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) told CNSNews.com that the Catholic Church is doing nothing but fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by taking the position that it will oppose the health-care reform bill under consideration in Congress unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit funding of abortion.

Patrick Kennedy will give the first annual Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to the parents of Matthew Shepard, tortured and killed near Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 because he was gay.

Kennedy will bestow the award at the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner. President Obama will give the keynote address - just the second sitting president, after Bill Clinton, to appear before the gay rights group.

This week I've got a cover story on Patrick Kennedy, also running in the Boston Phoenix, which looks at a Congressman trying to make his own small mark in the large shadow of Camelot.

The piece notes that Kennedy has been able to rack up big victories against Republicans, even at his most vulnerable. That means an uphill battle for Republican State Representative John J.

Rumors that Patrick Kennedy might leave Congress to take over the Peace Corps, mentioned on Buddy Cianci's talk show today, are not true, according to the Congressman's spokeswoman, Kerrie Bennett. Kennedy, she said, will run for re-election.

Indeed, Kennedy seems comfortable in the House of Representatives, where he is slowly clmbing the ladder on the powerful Appropriations Committee.