The Kennedys Mini-Series

 
The Kennedys (ReelzChannel, presently streaming on Netflix)  

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This past winter and spring there was a great deal of noise made about a TV miniseries about the Kennedy family that was purported to be less than flattering.  It had a solid cast, including Greg Kinnear as JFK, Barry Pepper as RFK and Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, but because it focused on the scandalous aspects of the story the Kennedys wanted it buried, or so the story went.  It was supposed to air on the History Channel, but was dropped and after much hand wringing ended up on the ReelzChannel (I never heard of it before either).  The eight episode series is now streaming on Netflix for anyone interested in actually checking it out.  Let's just say the fuss was less than a tempest in a tea pot, considering that the final product is pretty sympathetic toward our titular heroes.  Are the main characters all squeaky clean?  Well, no they aren't.  And I want someone to tell me what historical figure is treated like a saint by film makers today?  We live in a post-modern, historically critical world where we are told to reject myth or hagiography for truth, even if, and especially if, the truth shatters our false illusions.  If The Kennedys was denied airtime on a top cable channel it shouldn't have been because it defamed anybody, but because it is shockingly sub-par television.  No one should have felt threatened by it, and considering that some people may have points to an apparent belief in some corners of the popular press that nothing less than a warts free, airbrushed portrayal of the 35th president should be presented to the public.


The eight episodes are constructed as a series of flashbacks and forwards, more or less covering the years that Joseph Kennedy, Sr. (Tom Wilkinson) was the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James before World War II, to his death in 1969.  Joe Kennedy is really the central character for most of the series, the great emphasis in the early episodes being the elder Kennedy's living out of his own failed political ambitions through his children.   Is there womanizing by Joe Sr. and Jack?  Yes, but it doesn't dominate the story in any way.  Are there depictions of JFK's health problems? Yes.  Do we see him taking a potpourri of different prescription medicines and getting injected with pain killers by "Dr. Feelgood" in the White House?  Yeah, we do.  But all this is public record by now, and only the most strident hero worshiper would claim it had no effect on his ability to govern. 


But JFK is always presented as a likable, if flawed man, whose heart is always in the right place.  He is shown as a champion of civil rights and a leader who learned from the mistakes of the Bay of Pigs Invasion to stare down the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Even Joe Sr. for all his conniving and cruelty is, in the end, presented as a loving father who wanted the best for his children.  After his stroke, early during his son's administration, Joe gets less airtime but his specter still looms large.

Again, are there depictions of Joe Sr. dealing with the Mafia?  Yes, but done in a way that diverts blame and make the whole thing look like a misunderstanding.  If anything the estate of Frank Sinatra should be more upset than the Kennedys.  Do we see the questionable handling of their daughter Rosemary's emotional problems? Yes, but again its a matter of record that she was lobotomized, the wisdom of which was questionable even by the standards of the day. In spite of these depictions The Kennedys is far from the "hatchet job" some have claimed.  We know too much today to be fooled by the tightly controlled myth making that passed for biographies and biopics in the two decades following JFK's untimely death. I don't think we should go out of our way to focus on the negative aspects of the Kennedy story, but neither should we pretend that it was all Camelot. 


If The Kennedys fails it's because it's simply not very good.  There is little complexity given to the characters; Rose Kennedy is presented as an unstable religious fanatic,  Robert Kennedy is practically sainted,  Jackie is uptight as opposed to the free spirited Ethel.  And Katie Holmes plays the former First Lady with this strange accent that seems to sway between Brooklyn and Brookline.  This is a good cast, but the script gives them little to run with, and the entire production never rises above an average made for TV movie. 

JFK is still a mythic figure in our history partly because he was our first, and so far only, Catholic president and his murder in 1963 is seen by many as the end of an innocent time in American history.  The social scene in the United States would grow increasingly turbulent over the next five years, culminating in the assassinations of Martin Luther King in April and RFK in June of 1968 (The sequence depicting the younger Kennedy's death are the only truly moving and affective scenes in the entire series).  As I'm pretty sure I've written before, getting our history from movies or TV is foolish, and I'm not defending The Kennedy's as good history.  But I am criticizing the mentality that brackets those three years as some sort of charmed time when knighthood was in flower, and that the troubles that followed would have necessarily been avoided had JFK lived.  Life is too complex for that, and we are too knowing today, or at least should be. 

Father Patrick Diver, S.D.B. (1943-2011)

Saturday we lost a great Salesian Priest, Fr. Pat Diver (pronounced like river).  He was my predecessor as pastor here at St. Anthony's, and was a tremendous help during the transition period last year.  More than that he was a brother in Don Bosco and he was loved by both his confreres and the parishioners here in Elizabeth.  He had a warm heart, but also a feisty spirit, who didn't suffer fools or, being from Boston, Yankee fans gladly.  But most of all it is that warm heart and dedicated spirit that people remember.  As I went about the difficult task of informing the people this weekend at the beginning of our Masses, you could see the sadness expressed in the tears that were shed upon receiving the news.  As I wrote, Fr. Pat had a feisty spirit, and bravely battled cancer for a number of years, never surrendering, always fighting to keep on serving the people of St. Anthony's who he loved so much.     

Here is the obituary prepared by Fr. Michael Mendl, S.D.B.

            After a long bout with cancer, Father Patrick Diver, S.D.B., died early in the morning of August 6, 2011, at Father Hudson House, a hospice in Elizabeth, N.J. He was 68.

            Father Diver was born in Boston on August 5, 1943, to Patrick and Mary Connolly Diver. Within the month he was baptized at St. Margaret’s Church in Dorchester, which remained the family’s parish.

            Following his graduation from Don Bosco Technical High School in Boston in 1961, Patrick enrolled in Don Bosco College Seminary in Newton, N.J., as a candidate for Salesian life. In August 1962 he entered the novitiate, also in Newton, and made his first profession of religious vows on August 16, 1963.

            Like all Salesian seminarians, Brother Diver majored in philosophy at Don Bosco College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in June 1967. He minored in classical languages.

            Having volunteered for the foreign missions, Brother Diver was sent to the Philippines, where he taught at Don Bosco Academy in Pampanga, the province’s high school seminary, from 1967 to 1970. The students greatly appreciated him as a teacher and friend. At the same time he undertook a master’s program in guidance and counseling at De La Salle College’s Graduate School of Education in Manila, completing his degree in May 1970. One of the papers that he presented for the degree was titled “The Counselor in the Salesian System of Education.”

            Brother Diver returned to the U.S. in 1970 to study theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio. He was ordained in Columbus on March 30, 1974, and awarded a master of arts in theology from the Josephinum in June of that year.

            Father Diver’s first priestly assignment as dean of students at Don Bosco College in Newton (1974-1976). Twenty-one years of high school apostolate followed, during which he ministered as a guidance counselor at St. Dominic Savio High School in East Boston (1976-1980), treasurer at Dom Savio (1980-1984), and director of the school (1989-1995); he was treasurer at Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa (1984-1988) and then principal there (1988-1989), and guidance counselor at Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson, N.J. (1995-1997). He later had another short stint as guidance counselor at Savio Prep in East Boston (2003-2004).

            Father Diver made a lasting impression on the young men at Savio. One alumnus, C. David Surface, writes: “He was the most honest and caring priest I have ever known. His influence helped to shape my life both professionally and from a family perspective…. I will never forget him and how he made my days at Savio truly special.”

            During his first assignment in East Boston he was certified as a school guidance counselor in Massachusetts (1978).

            Father Diver worked in parishes, too. He was pastor of Mary Help of Christians Church in Manhattan for a year (1997-1998), associate pastor at Nativity Church in Washington, D.C. (2002), acting pastor of St. Theresa’s Church in Leeds, Ala. (2003), and pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Elizabeth, N.J., and director of the Salesian community there (2004-2010).

            From 1998 to 2002 Father Diver was director of Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, coordinating a vast fundraising program in service to Salesian missionary activities all over the world.

            In 2007, while he was pastor in Elizabeth, Father Diver was found to have colon cancer and went through a long treatment and recovery.

            In the summer of 2010 Father Diver completed his pastorate and directorship in Elizabeth and was assigned once more to the formation of young Salesians as a very experienced and highly valued staff member at the Don Bosco Residence in Orange, N.J. Late in the spring of 2011 cancer returned in a very serious form. When treatment was unavailing, he entered hospice care.

            Brother Gustavo Ramirez, S.D.B., one of the young Salesians from Orange, said of him: “Father Pat Diver was a great example of perseverance and love for the young. I will always remember him as the vital man who loved the young to the last minute of his life.”

            Father Diver is survived by his sisters Kathleen Tubman and Maureen Fitzgerald, both of the Boston area, and by his Salesian confreres of the New Rochelle Province.

            The funeral arrangements for Father Diver are:

            Wake at Saint Anthony of Padua Church, 853 Third Avenue, Elizabeth, N.J., 07202, on Monday, August 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, August 9, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

            Mass of Christian Burial at Saint Anthony’s, August 9 at 7:30 p.m. Father Thomas Dunne, S.D.B., provincial, will preside, and Father Thomas Ruekert, S.D.B., will preach.

            Burial in the Diver family plot at Newton Cemetery, Newton, Mass., on Wednesday, August 10, at 1:00 p.m.