The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Monday they are considering whether to recommend sanctions for Catholic politicians who favor policies contrary to church teaching on abortion and other issues.
A task force of bishops will take up the idea of a church punishment as it develops guidelines on how prelates should respond to Catholic lawmakers who do not uphold church values in their work.
Bishop Joseph Galante, a task force member, said some dioceses already ban from church property elected officials who support abortion rights.
Asked what other sanctions may be available, he said it was an issue canon law experts and theologians would have to research.
For example, he said that under church law, Catholics who have a direct role in an abortion can be excommunicated.
Moral theologians would have to decide whether a Catholic politician who votes for abortion rights facilitated the procedure and should therefore be excommunicated, said Galante, coadjutor of Dallas.
The Vatican and U.S. bishops have for years urged Catholic legislators to consider their faith when they vote. No date has been set for the American guidelines to be completed.
"I'm tired of hearing Catholic politicians saying `I'm personally opposed to abortion, but I don't want to impose my moral judgments on anyone else,'" Galante said. "Politicians make moral judgments all the time. That's a weaseling out of something."