Voting as Catholic: Some Perspectives

I'm not too worried that suddenly Catholics will be shunned in the Communion line because the priest suspects how they feel on abortion and gay rights. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado made the news today because he said Catholics who vote for politicians who support abortion rights and gay marriage will be banned from Communion. See story.

I see Sheridan's stance as one more example of the heiracrchy trying to squeeze tight on a church in which the laity is getting too powerful. It's threatening. So they try some old tactics. This time, they won't work easily. Here are two reasons why:

The majority of priests and bishops won't buy into this nonsense. It goes against our right to vote as citizens in a private way. And many Eucharistic ministers are lay people due to the priest shortage. I would find it highly improbable that a Eucharistic minister would ever refuse someone Communion based on what they guess would be their voting record.

And besides, Catholics make up a huge bloc of voters and can't easily be categorized. So it would be difficult for a priest to even predict how a parishioner might vote. See article.