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"We have to be cautious about this. These fears are most plausible when it comes to things like denying Catholic politicians Communion. That's a religious sanction. It's one thing to say we think Senator Kerry is wrong. But it's quite another to deny the means of grace because of a political position."

This is moronic. The Catholic Church has a set of beliefs. Abortion is one of them. If he chooses to defy the Church's teachings, he is free to do so. But the Church is then also free to act accordingly and deny him Communion. This clown is speaking as though Kerry has a "right" to have Communion.

The Latin Mass, A Cultural Counterattack

Just for the fun of it... Here is a short list of Catholic teaching. See how many of you are real Catholics. If your are not a real Catholic, you should leave the church That way we won't have a priest shortage. Do you ever engaged in sex without the goal of creating children? Do you favor the legal sale of birth control devices? Ever been divorced? (Any friends or family that have divorced?--it is up to you to tell them that they are no longer welcome.) Do you favor Latin mass, or favor undoing any of the other Vatican II changes?—you can not be a real Catholic and oppose the pope on this. Do you support the Iraq war? The pope has ruled this to be an unjust war. You can not believe that the pope is right on some issues and wrong on other issues and be a real Catholic. Same goes for not supporting all the bishops--they are appointed by the pope and as such are direct representatives of God...to speak ill of a bishop is to go against the pope, so you should leave the church.

Kidding aside, there are very few issues that you will find complete agreement with in any church. In the 4th century the Council of Nice tried to come up with a set of common beliefs. About all they could come up with is the Nicene Creed that is read each Sunday in Catholic churches and many Protestant churches. And there was far from total agreement by the writers even for this short document of faith.

The way to change peoples minds is by quiet persuasion. Papal decrees have a nasty habit of backfiring—remember that German fellow named Luther that no one had ever heard of. What is tragic is that public opinion is slowly but steadily moving towards some restrictions on abortion. My fear is that this grandstanding by a few bishops will do more to reverse this progress than anything a few pro-choice politicians can do.