Communion wars.

Last April we reported in this space how Bishop William Weigand of Sacramento publicly challenged Catholic politicians who supported legalized abortion, even preaching that then-governor Gray Davis needed to "abstain from receiving Holy Communion until he has a change of heart." With Davis now out, the issue has cooled a bit in California. Not so in Wisconsin where some Catholic politicians--and some priests--are facing the situation even more directly.

In January Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse made public a notice he signed last November that says Catholic legislators of the diocese "who continue to support procured abortion or euthanasia may not present themselves to receive Holy Communion. They are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, should they present themselves, until such time as they publicly renounce their support of these most unjust practices."

Burke's chief of staff, Father Richard Gilles, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "That is a direct statement to the priests. They have an obligation to not give [such politicians] Holy Communion. But I think any pastor who has any sensitivity or common sense would sit down in private with these people and talk to them and ask them not to come to Holy Communion."

Burke, who was installed as archbishop of St. Louis January 26, had sent letters earlier to three of Wisconsin's Catholic elected officials, warning them that their positions on certain life issues risked their spiritual wellbeing, the Journal Sentinel reported.

New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes delivered a similar message in January in his weekly column in the archdiocesan Clarion Herald, although he stopped short of forbidding priests from giving Communion to such politicians. Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston has individually told Catholic officials of his archdiocese who favor abortion rights--including presidential hopeful John Kerry--that they should refrain from taking Communion, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

But Boston archdiocesan spokesman Father Christopher Coyne said its policy is not to refuse Communion unless a person is clearly deranged or speaking against the church at that moment. "A priest or a eucharistic minister is not a police[officer]," he said. "The proper place for a conversation [about church doctrine] is not in the Communion line, but before or after."