The body had barely been laid to rest with a presidential eulogy plus all the pomp and circumstance fit for a king or a Kennedy, when politcos began buzzing:

"Another Sen. Kennedy in Massachusetts?" asked The Associated Press. What's the next episode of the long-running Kennedy saga in American politics?

The media was fascinated. Wall-to-wall coverage of Sen. Kennedy's death was record-breaking in recent times, according to a new Pew report. Kennedy coverage accounted for 27 percent of the news in the week of Aug. 24 to Aug 30.

"Kennedy's death indeed generated more coverage than that of any other political or celebrity figure since (the Project for Excellence in Journalism) began the News Coverage Index in January 2007. The next closest was pop star Michael Jackson, whose June 25 death accounted for 18 percent of that week's coverage," Pew reported.

Unfortunately, almost nobody was watching.

For example, a Ted Kennedy tribute "The Last Brother" on CBS got trounced by "Wipeout," a recap hour of "America's Got Talent" and a "Bones" rerun among 18- to 49-year-olds.

Are people getting tired of the Kennedy clan?

For Catholics of a certain generation, the Kennedy brothers represent a particular glory moment in history: The American Catholic community, after decades of persecution, emerged at last -- strong, united, vigorous, electing a new president to prove it.

Alas the strength and the unity and (perhaps) the vigor of that moment proved fleeting. Under the acid of the sexual revolution and the leftward jerk in American politics, the Catholic consensus faded. The years of the trouble began.

Father Mark Hession, Sen. Kennedy's parish priest, delivered a homily at the funeral Mass that epitomizes the problem American Catholic leadership faces today.

It's not so much that the good father came to praise Caesar. Even Kennedy's critics must realize that a funeral homily would not be the time to rake even a public figure over the coals for his public sins. Ted Kennedy is in the hands of God now. May his soul rest in peace.

So the man was lionized as a hero at the moment of parting. (If Michael Jackson, why not Ted Kenendy?)

But Father Hession in his homily took the next disturbing step: He came perilously close to pronouncing Ted Kennedy a saint for his public life.

Matthew's gospel, Father Hession reminds us Catholics, lays out "tests for entrance" into heaven.

"I was hungry, you gave me food; I was thirsty, you gave me drink. ...

"In this text on this day, our memories and our hopes converge. These works of the kingdom were daily concerns of the public life of Teddy Kennedy," Father Hession preached. "Our confident Christian hope is that the fruits of his work as a political and public figure have well prepared him for God's kingdom."

Ted Kennedy's politics will get him into heaven?

Here's my naive question for the good father, and for Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who watched him preach:

Can you be a good Catholic and vote for and advocate for the legal killing of the unborn? Is advocating for abortion really a pathway to heaven?

It's a good thing for the Catholic leadership that so few young adults were watching. Because after watching a Catholic priest from the pulpit preach the Gospel According to Ted Kennedy, what is the next generation supposed to think?