Communion for pro-abortion politicians has been an especially contentious issue within the American Catholic Church. In 2004 the issue arose over whether Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, should receive Communion. The question was never really resolved, although some bishops did announce Kerry would be denied Communion within their dioceses.

It was Giuliani at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that really fueled the latest controversy. After all, not only was Giuliani in favor of legalized abortion, he is (very publicly) twice-divorced and in his third marriage. New York’s Cardinal Egan was compelled to answer the question why Giuliani was allowed to receive Communion.

The Cardinal told LifeSiteNews.com, "I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became archbishop of New York and he was serving as mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the papal visit here in New York and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."

The controversy takes a different form in the current presidential race. In Pennsylvania, Sen. Bob Casey, a pro-life Democrat, promised Sen. Barack Obama he would deliver the Catholic vote. Casey failed and Obama lost Pennsylvania. As Obama moves from the primaries into the general election, he’s going to need to court that Catholic working-class voter who has so far eluded him.

Liberal writer Nat Hentoff, nonreligious but pro-life, concedes that until recently he was an admirer of Senator Obama. "But on abortion, Obama is an extremist. He has opposed the Supreme Court decision that finally upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act against that form of infanticide. Most startlingly, for a professed humanist, Obama - in the Illinois Senate - also voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. I have reported on several of those cases when, before the abortion was completed, an alive infant was suddenly in the room. It was disposed of as a horrified nurse who was not necessarily pro-life followed the doctors’ orders to put the baby in a pail or otherwise get rid of the child."

Hentoff adds that Obama is opposed to notification of at least one parent when a minor seeks an abortion. And Hentoff recoils at Obama’s comments on teaching contraception:

"I’ve got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals.

"But if they make a mistake," Obama continued, "I don’t want them punished with a baby."

Hentoff wonders at the extremism of a politician who would see a child as a "punishment."

Leading us back to our Catholic voters: longtime Washington, D.C., columnist Robert Novak reminded his readers of Pope Benedict XVI’s strong stand on Communion and abortion. In Brazil last year, the pope said, "The killing of an innocent human child is incompatible with going into Communion in the body of Christ."

While we would note that the Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain, has not been in sync with the pro-life movement when it comes to embryonic stem cell research, it really was not surprising when Wisconsin Right to Life endorsed him. The alternative candidates were too horrible to contemplate.

As it stands now, Obama’s extreme position on abortion presents a question of conscience to the Democratic Catholic voter. Given the strong position of the Catholic Church on abortion and the church’s role in the political debate concerning abortion, we’re left to ask if the Catholic vote may be enough to put Wisconsin in play for McCain.