Panelists find much to discuss in Communion-politics controversy

Published: 2004-06-24

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Denying Communion to Catholic politicians because of their views on abortion is a bad idea both pastorally and politically, but it would not violate the constitutional separation of church and state, a priest-editor said June 23. Jesuit Father Thomas J. Reese, editor in chief of America magazine, made that assessment during a panel discussion in Washington on "The Body Politic and the Body of Christ: Candidates, Communion and the Catholic Church." The other panelist, George Weigel, director of the Catholic studies program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, said all Catholics -- whether involved in public office or not -- have a "positive moral obligation to work against laws that permit free access to abortion or the euthanizing of the elderly." He called Roe vs. Wade and Casey vs. Planned Parenthood -- the 1973 and 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decisions on abortion -- "the Dred Scott cases of our time," a reference to the 1857 Supreme Court decision affirming slavery. The discussion was sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Luis E. Lugo, director of the forum, said the Communion controversy was central to "the church's own understanding of its public witness."

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