Six months after Archbishop Raymond L. Burke announced that he would deny communion to Roman Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, only a handful of bishops have said they agree and many more have made it clear that they think he went too far.
The discord among the bishops, a group that usually tries to speak with a unified voice, has provoked dismay from Vatican officials and even Pope John Paul II, according to transcripts and reports of recent Vatican meetings with American prelates.
Cardinal Joseph F. Ratzinger, a Vatican official, told a group of visiting American bishops last week that he wanted to meet with an American task force that is studying how to relate to Catholic politicians. And the pope, in an address on marriage last month to American bishops, made a general but pointed reference to "the formation of factions within the church" in the United States.
The bishops are scheduled to hash out the issue at a closed meeting starting June 14 in Englewood, Colo. It will be the first time since the contretemps began that the bishops who disagree with Archbishop Burke, who was bishop of La Crosse, Wis., and is now archbishop of St. Louis, will have a chance to debate.
"They're all waiting for the meeting in Denver when they can get behind closed doors and complain about this," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of America, a Catholic magazine.
"There's nothing the bishops dislike more than the appearance of being in disarray," Father Reese said. He added, "They need to have a national policy because when one person denies communion and gets headlines across the country, people wrongly assume he's speaking for all the bishops, and he's not."
The bishops' quandary has taken on a special urgency this election year because Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is a Roman Catholic and a consistent supporter of abortion rights.
Under church law, bishops who head the nation's 195 dioceses are entitled to decide how to apply church teaching in their own jurisdictions. Only about 15 bishops have said publicly that politicians who support abortion rights should not receive communion. And some of these bishops have clarified their stances, saying that such politicians should not present themselves for communion.
Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs went further than the others by saying in a pastoral letter that politicians and voters who support abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia or same-sex marriage should not receive communion.
Others, like Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh and Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, have said that for various reasons they do not favor using communion as a sanction.
Some of the church's most prominent prelates, including Cardinals Justin F. Rigali of Philadelphia and Edward M. Egan of New York, have remained silent.
The bishops are still reeling from the priest sexual abuse scandal, and divisions have recently surfaced over that as well.
At the Denver gathering, the bishops are also expected to discuss who should replace the members retiring from the National Review Board, a lay panel of prominent Catholics appointed at the height of the scandal to keep bishops accountable.
Before Mr. Kerry became the likely nominee, the bishops convened a task force on Catholics in public life. The task force was asked to adapt for the American situation a Vatican document on "Participation of Catholics in Political Life," approved in November 2002 by Cardinal Ratzinger's Vatican office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Bishop Kicanas of Tucson was among the American bishops who met with Cardinal Ratzinger and others in Rome last week. In an account posted on his diocese's Web site, Bishop Kicanas wrote: "The congregation indicated that their 2002 document did not suggest refusing communion to such politicians."
The controversy started last year with Archbishop Burke. His announcement that he would refuse communion to wayward politicians was applauded by conservative Catholic groups that have long urged such a move. Among the most outspoken was the American Life League. "These people are public figures," said that group's co-founder and president, Judie Brown, in an interview. "They're looked up to in many instances, and they're literally flaunting their anti-Catholic behavior in front of the church and then claiming they're still Catholics in good standing."
The American Life League has run newspaper advertisements berating Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, who heads the task force, for failing to follow Archbishop Burke's lead.
The task force is scheduled to give a progress report on its work to the bishops at their June meeting. The Rev. Mark Massa, a Jesuit who is a director of the Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University, said the bishops shared a sense of frustration at legislators who claim to be faithful Catholics while refusing to follow church teaching on abortion. What they do not agree on, he said, is whether it is wise to use communion as a weapon.
"The last thing you touch is communion," Father Massa said, "because you're severing the Catholic from the community."