Communion and politics a hot potato

To give communion or to withhold it?

Political junkies know the current debate over whether Catholic politicians who vote in favor of abortion rights should be able to take communion — while fairly quiet at present — has the potential to not only sway congressional votes but to possibly change the roster on Capitol Hill.

Currently, 143 members of Congress — 27 percent — are Catholic. Yet many of them don't reflect their church's teachings in the way they vote on what church leaders consider moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage. If church sanctions were imposed based on one's political voting record, voters would likely take that into consideration when deciding whether to re-elect an incumbent or vote for a newcomer.

While Catholic bishops have long looked the other way when it comes to how Catholic politicians vote, Pope John Paul II has renewed calls for accountability among those who partake of the body and blood of Christ, particularly when they are involved in public policy-making. This week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is considering whether to impose sanctions — including denying communion — on those who vote contrary to the church's official stand, which opposes abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia.

While bishops have long urged the nation's political parties to take their concerns into consideration, the current question over who should be allowed to take communion ignited after Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's open support of abortion rights rubbed some the wrong way. The archbishop of St. Louis said in January he would deny Kerry communion.

A bishop in Colorado expanded the scope of the question in May, saying any Catholic politician who supports not only abortion but same-sex marriage, euthanasia or stem-cell research should not receive communion.

In a pastoral letter to the 125,000 parishioners in Colorado Springs, Bishop Michael Sheridan said such politicians also "jeopardize their salvation," adding Catholics who vote for such candidates "suffer the same fateful consequences."

And in Chicago, priests were told by Cardinal Francis George to deny communion to anyone who came to Mass wearing a rainbow sash, openly declaring themselves to be homosexual.