Archbishop: Kerry, others shouldn't receive Communion.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Lane County Catholics aren't of one mind when it comes to their archbishop's decree that any Catholic who publicly disagrees with core church teachings should refrain from taking Holy Communion.

Other bishops have said they would refuse offering the sacrament to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a Catholic who continues to receive Communion despite holding views on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues that contradict church doctrine.

But Archbishop John Vlazny, the leader of nearly 300,000 Roman Catholics in Western Oregon, is among the first such leaders to declare that any Catholic - not just those seeking public office - should avoid the sacrament if their views on certain political issues don't mesh with church dogma.

"The reception of Holy Communion is a sign that a person not only seeks union with God but also desires to live in communion with the church," Vlazny said in his weekly column in the Catholic Sentinel newspaper. "Such communion is clearly violated when one publicly opposes serious church teaching."

Catholics "who publicly ignore or oppose clear church teaching in serious matters fail the litmus test with respect to integrity," the archbishop said.

Vlazny didn't specify what constitutes "public" opposition to church doctrine.

Spokesman Bud Bunce said contradicting church teachings in public is worse than holding such views in private because doing so "adds to the burden of being scandalous when other Catholics see them coming up for Communion."

The issue is hardly incidental to Catholics, who believe that the bread and wine of Communion is transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus. The sacramental rite is the centerpiece of Mass.

Many Catholics welcome Vlazny's commentary as the proper response to some politicians who contradict church teachings, "especially on important issues of life that are so central to what we believe," said Tom Altenhofen, a deacon at St. Mary Catholic Church in downtown Eugene.

Altenhofen said he applauds Vlazny for pointing out that political choices are a matter of conscience for Catholic voters as well as for candidates. "If they're voting on something not in accord with our beliefs and morals, they have to be accountable on that end, too," he said.

But Lew Thorne, a longtime church and choir member at St. Jude Catholic Church in south Eugene, doesn't see things that way.

"The sacrament is a symbol of my relationship with God, not with the church," said Thorne, a former Protestant who converted to Catholicism more than 20 years ago. "I've never looked at Communion, whether given by a priest or minister, as belonging to them. They're simply sharing something that is not theirs."

While declining to be specific, Thorne said he holds views on some social issues that contradict those of his church. He said he "definitely" intends to continue receiving Communion, and would be loathe to leave a parish where he enjoys a strong sense of community, ritual and scripturally based teachings.

At St. Thomas Becket Catholic Church in Veneta, parishioner Marilyn Braunger said Vlazny's comments also disappointed her - but for reasons far different than Thorne's. The archbishop "should have come out a lot stronger" by ordering parish priests to refuse the sacrament to any Catholic publicly opposed to church teachings, she said.

"If you aren't going to follow the doctrines of the church, you don't belong here," said Braunger, whose traditional parish rejects many tenets of modern-day Catholicism. "If you deny one doctrine, you deny them all."

In his published letter, the 67-year-old Vlazny said Catholics must decide for themselves whether to refrain from Communion. Actively withholding Communion at a public Mass, however, would be unfair to priests administering the sacrament, Vlazny said.

"Public perception will inevitably weigh heavily in favor of the `victim' of the refusal rather than the church minister trying to be faithful to church policy," he said.

In his letter, Vlazny said he decided to address the issue in response to questions from church members. The matter has drawn national attention, with a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops task force expected to issue a report in November on the requirements of Catholics running for political office.

Vlazny, a Chicago native named the 10th archbishop of Portland in 1997, was unavailable for any additional comment, spokesman Bunce said.

Vlazny's letter, Bunce said, isn't ground-breaking so much as a simple reaffirmation of church teaching.

"What he's saying - `Evaluate your conscience and readiness and state of grace' - is the same thing we all learned as second-graders before our first Communion," Bunce said.

The letter addresses specific quandaries that can confront Catholic voters, such as when it's OK to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights.

It's permissible, Vlazny wrote, for a Catholic to support an abortion-rights candidate if, in the voter's judgment, "other candidates fail significantly in some matters of great importance, for example, war and peace, human rights and economic justice."

However, Catholics in such instances "must make it very clear to these politicians that their support is in no way based on (their) pro-choice advocacy."

Furthermore, any Catholic who votes for a candidate "precisely because they are pro-choice" should refrain from receiving Communion "because they are not in communion with the church on a serious matter," Vlazny advised.

At the St. Thomas More Newman Center near the University of Oregon campus, the Rev. Reginald Martin said he's grateful for such specifics because they address questions that "come up quite frequently among students, especially in an election year."

Vlazny "understands the issues that voters find themselves in," Martin said. "These are precisely the questions that need to be asked if faithful Catholics are going to participate in any way in the electoral process."

WHO SHOULDN'T RECEIVE COMMUNION?

Portland Archbishop John Vlazny provides these guidelines:

"Catholics who publicly disagree with serious church teaching on such matters as abortion or same-sex marriage"

"Catholics who are not in communion with the church (for example, divorced and remarried Catholics who have not received annulments for previous Catholic marriages)"

"Catholics in the state of mortal sin who are unrepentant" (mortal sin is a grave matter committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent)

Catholics who vote for a candidate "precisely because they are pro-choice"