Kerry, our erring brother: the need for quality control.

What is all the fuss about Catholic bishops refusing Communion to prochoice politicians? Controlling access to Jesus Christ has been a security nightmare since the day he first announced his mission on Earth. No one should blame the bishops for trying to do their job. Even the apostles--the original bishops--weren't very good at it. After all, the man was crazy--welcoming anyone and everyone, at any time of the day or night--it was all the bishops could do to keep him in one piece.

They were always thinking only of him and his comfort. Keep the children back, they snapped at the mothers pushing their babies toward him, hoping for a special blessing. Jesus is tired. He needs rest. And what did the guy say? "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Well, OK. Kids are pretty harmless. Cute for photographs, too. But lepers? Epileptics? Prostitutes? Weeping women--known sinners!--washing his feet with their tears? Who could fault the bishops for getting exasperated? The problem with the founders of movements is sentimentality: there he goes again, clinging to the original concept, insisting on being available twenty-four/seven, not getting the point.

The point was, and is, quality control. Consistency. If the church (the voice of Jesus, after all) takes a position, then it has to have a united front where that issue is concerned. People will get confused if the bishops are seen to say one thing and do another.

The Catholic position on abortion is well known and unequivocal: babies have the right to life from the moment of conception. Even the most vocal prochoicer would have a hard time imagining Jesus operating a suction machine. So why should openly prochoice politicians get to receive Jesus in the sacrament of Holy Communion? It doesn't make sense.

You have to pity the bishops. Jesus didn't make it easy for them. He claimed to be the Good Shepherd, but he would happily rush off in search of the one lost sheep, leaving the ninety-nine who stayed where they belonged to find their own way home. He preached about the evil of adultery, but when faced with a woman who admitted to having done it, saved her from the crowd that had gathered to stone her. Even in the last hours before his death, when Peter--the first pope!--tried to prevent his arrest by slicing the ear of one of the soldiers apprehending him, Jesus stood in his way and healed the man on the spot.

But still. Abortion is abortion. John Kerry and others like him cannot expect to publicly reject the Catholic position on this issue and still get to receive Communion.

For what it's worth, Jesus left some fairly strict instructions about how to deal with an erring brother like Kerry: "If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is necessary to sustain any charge. If he still refuses to listen, report it to the community." But then, as he did so often, Jesus spoiled it all with his last line: "And if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector."

Since tax collectors and pagans were his special favorites, people he would go out of his way to meet and have dinner with, it's better to forget his advice altogether. These are dangerous times, and public figures like John Kerry should have no trouble understanding this. He has his security force, Jesus has his. It's just the way it is.