The announcement by some in the Catholic Church that pro-choice politicians should not receive communion has generated some controversy. Pro-choice Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is fighting back by pointing out the selective nature of this stance. His staff have complied a Catholic scorecard which assesses senator’s voting records on two dozen issues which have been cited as priorities by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:
The survey’s findings: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, D-Mass., and Durbin topped the list of 24 Catholic senators as supporting the Catholic agenda more than 60 percent of the time. The survey prompted an angry conference call by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., a Catholic who stood with the U.S. Conference of Bishops’ issues listed in the survey just 40 percent of the time.
Critics point out that the survey weighs all issues equally, when some are more important to the church. But it does point out the inconsistency in making a single issue the litmus test for whether or not a politician is being a “good” Catholic.