Catholic lay ministers who disagree with the Church's teachings should not be allowed to assist in distributing Communion, according to a letter reportedly sent by Cardinal Francis George to pastors in his archdiocese.
"If a minister should manifest his/her disagreement with Church teaching, he/she should not continue in active ministry until such time that the minister is reconciled to the Church's teaching," wrote Cardinal George, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Though this has been the policy of the archdiocese all along, Cardinal George said earlier this month he was writing in response to questions posed to the Church and in the media recently, the newspaper said.
In Arizona, meanwhile, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix said that Catholic politicians who unambiguously support abortion "rights" should not receive Communion, the Arizona Republic reported today.
But he declined to say he would deny Communion to politicians who do not follow Church teaching on abortion, the newspaper said.
Asked what he would do if John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president who is a Catholic and pro-abortion, came to him for Communion, the leader of the Phoenix Diocese told the newspaper: "If he asked about it, I would tell him he should not receive Communion."