Kerry and the Catholics.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is working on guidelines for the church in dealing with Catholics in public positions. A Vatican spokesman gave the conference wide latitude last Friday, saying that while a Catholic politician who supports legal abortion "is not fit" to receive communion, it's up to the American bishops to decide what to do about members such as John Kerry, whose support for abortion rights is in conflict with the church's position.

The bishops should take care not to stray onto dangerous ground. The United States is a republic, while the church is not. Each has its own imperatives, and insisting that they be perfectly reconciled could lead to friction that would damage both institutions.

Kerry, like many Americans and many Catholics, is personally opposed to abortion but defends women's legal right to choose abortion. Kerry's position led the Archbishop of St. Louis to say that he would deny the sacrament of communion to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Bishops elsewhere have not yet gone that far, but the Vatican spokesman's statement indicates that the archbishop's position has the tacit support of Rome.

The Catholic Church has a right - even a duty - to speak out when it believes government policies are wrong. But the church would go too far if it began excluding church members who fail to adhere to church doctrine in setting government policies. Catholic politicians must strive to be faithful not only to their church, but also to the Constitution, to the law, to their constituents and to the messy exigencies of political compromise. Forcing them to choose one over the other would force many good Catholics out of public service, and many good public servants out of the church.

Kerry is at the center of this debate because of his prominence, but he would not be the only one affected if the Catholic Church began excluding members whose political positions are at odds with church teachings. Judges who impose the death penalty and governors who allow executions to go forward are acting in ways that are contrary to the church's position, and might be judged unfit to receive communion. The list could be a long one as government, with its imperfections and limitations, departs from church teachings on sexuality, poverty, war and other matters.

Those Catholic public officials who succeeded in remaining in good standing with the church would be the objects of suspicions that have largely lain dormant since John Kennedy became the nation's first Catholic president. The voters believed Kennedy when he assured them that he did not speak for the church on public matters, and that the church did not speak for him. A more assertive role by the church to police its members' political positions would arouse questions about Catholic leaders' independence.

The bishops should strive to develop guidelines that draw people in rather than pushing them away, and that leave room for both religious faith and political practice.