Since there is no longer a difference between church and state:
WEST PALM BEACH -- An employee of the Diocese of Palm Beach said Thursday that Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, a Catholic, should be denied communion for allowing a 13-year-old foster child to have an abortion.
Diocese employee says judge in abortion case should be denied communion
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 06, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH -- An employee of the Diocese of Palm Beach said Thursday that Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, a Catholic, should be denied communion for allowing a 13-year-old foster child to have an abortion.
Don Kazimir, who works for the diocese's Respect Life Office, which opposes abortion and the death penalty, called Alvarez's office Wednesday to ask which church the judge attends. Kazimir said he wanted to speak with Alvarez's priest, who he said might have a problem with a Catholic judge agreeing to an abortion.
Alvarez was angry about the call. It is wrong, he said, for the church to try to intimidate a judge into putting his faith above the law.
"This isn't a religious state yet," he said.
Kazimir was disappointed by Alvarez's decision in the case of L.G., the 13-year-old who became pregnant after running away while under state care. Although officials from the Florida Department of Children and Families objected to an abortion, Alvarez ruled this week that the girl had a right to choose.
L.G. subsequently ended her pregnancy.
The original message relayed to Alvarez by his assistant said Kazimir was investigating the issue for the diocese. But Kazimir said Thursday he was speaking only for himself and did not talk to supervisors before calling the judge.
Bishop Gerald Barbarito said Thursday night he did not know about the phone call but would look into what happened. The bishop has never said he would deny communion to anyone, diocese spokesman Jim Brosemer said.
Alvarez said he thought Kazimir's call set a dangerous precedent. He said it was unfair for any judge who takes an oath to uphold the laws of a state or the country to feel pressured to follow the doctrine of his church, synagogue or mosque.
