The Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, Illinois warns his followers voting Democrat may send your soul to Hell. Speaking of the Democratic party's platfrom of support for reproductive rights and marriage equality, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki says:
“a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.” (Right Wing Watch)
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Newark has released a letter of counsel that Catholics who believe in civil marriage equality for gays and lesbians should refrain from communion.
I certainly have no quarrel with the Church on their right to sort their followers into the category of "worthy" and "unworthy."
I do find their priorities a little questionable.
Again, we see them prioritizing fighting reproductive rights and the gay menace over other (ostensible) matters of concern to the Church.
Last I checked the Catholic Church's respect for the sanctity of life compelled them to oppose wars and death penalty. Yet we see no threats that those who support war actions or capital punishment be barred from taking communion.
US casualities in Afghanistan recently hit the 2,000 mark and civilian deaths are cited at nearly 13,000 by the UK Guardian—surely a conservative number.
And you know, the proposition to end the death penalty in California is currently polling evenly between supporters and opponents. I guess that doesn't rate a YouTube video address, or the threat of being barred from communion.
Hey, the Church has important things on it's mind! Some homos may get to file a joint US tax return, or get their spouse health insurance coverage from the Federal government (who might also facilitate birth control pills!). And we can't have that!