Bishop: No Communion for Pro-abortion Voters

Those Catholic bishops who actually follow the church's teachings are now targeting more than just pro-abortion politicians such as John Kerry. Bishop Michael Sheridan says that "Catholics" who vote for politicians in favor of abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia or same-sex marriage may not receive Communion until they recant and repent in the confessional.

"The bishop's order applies only to his Colorado Springs diocese of 125,000. But it is the strongest statement yet from a U.S. bishop in a debate over how Catholics should apply their faith in this election year," the Denver Post reported today.

Sheridan made his remarks in a May 1 pastoral letter published in the diocese's newspaper but only now receiving national attention.

He cited abortion wrongs and the other three issues because they are "intrinsically evil," he said Thursday.

Sheridan on Wednesday "urged Roman Catholics to vote against candidates who defied many of the church's teachings on the sanctity of life as well as same-sex marriage," the Baltimore Sun reported today.

He wrote in this month's Catholic Herald, "Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem-cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the church and so jeopardize their salvation."

Not 'Choosing What Suits Them'

Sheridan, the Post noted, "is part of a younger generation of bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II who are urging Catholics to follow church teachings rather than picking and choosing what suits them."

Peter Howard, a spokesman for the diocese, said that Communion "is more than the belief that you are accepting the body and blood of Christ. Communion is also the communion of accepting the entirety of Catholic teaching. For someone to knowingly reject that puts themselves, logically, out of communion with the church."

Catholic bishops are split on observing Catholic doctrine. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis and Bishop John Smith of Trenton, N.J., are among those who support the Vatican. New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny quit the church because Newark Archbishop John J. Myers dared to be Catholic.

However, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington has said he is not "comfortable in denying the Eucharist" to pro-abortion politicians.

Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston has finally said pro-abortion politicians may not receive Communion, but Kerry, and pro-Kerry bastions such as Boston's Paulist Center, continue to violate this order.

Gonzales Snubbed

"Mount St. Mary's College has withdrawn an offer of an honorary degree to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales after a campus protest over his support for the death penalty," the Sun reported today.

Mount St. Mary's President Thomas H. Powell acknowledged that a mere 61 students and faculty had urged that Gonzales, a potential candidate for the Supreme Court, be snubbed, but he insisted that the honor was yanked because he hadn't sought approval from the board of trustees.

Gonzales is still scheduled to speak at graduation, Powell said.

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