Ross Douthat has an insightful op-ed in The New York Times comparing Ted Kennedy with his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The two died just 13 days apart, and they shared many other traits. Both were devout Roman Catholics and political liberals. But they differed on one significant point-abortion.

The op-ed shows how Eunice’s faith led her to value all human life. This fueled her care for the mentally retarded and the founding of the Special Olympics. It also led her to fight with the Democratic Party as it moved full-speed toward abortion rights.

In contrast, Douthat traces Ted Kennedy’s movement away from a pro-life position toward the staunch defender of choice he became:

In 1971, in a letter to a voter that abortion opponents would have many opportunities to quote, [Ted Kennedy] declared that “wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.” But like many other Catholic liberals, from Joseph Biden to Dennis Kucinich, he moved leftward with his party, becoming a down-the-line supporter of abortion rights, with a voting record that brooked no compromise on the issue.

For abortion opponents, cruel ironies abounded in this sibling disagreement. Because of Eunice Shriver’s work with the developmentally disabled, a group of Americans who had once been marginalized and hidden away - or lobotomized, like her sister Rosemary - was ushered closer to full participation in ordinary human life. But because of laws that her brother unstintingly supported, that same group was ushered out again: the abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome, for instance, is estimated to be as high as 90 percent.

Other than an insightful Kennedy family history lesson, Douthat’s op-ed allows us to see how Eunice’s liberal perspective is exactly what led her to defend the lives of the unborn and marginalized. In our increasingly politicized culture it’s becoming harder and harder to imagine a pro-life Democrat, let alone a pro-faith liberal. In Eunice Kennedy Shriver we find a remarkable example of both.

I recommend reading the article and thinking more about how both the Dems and the GOP have come to find themselves defending positions at odds with Christian values. And I’d love to hear examples of others like Eunice who would rather be defined by their faith than by their party’s planks.