In the July 7 "Your voice" column, Janet Kalven declared that there are two problems with the notion that politicians who are notoriously pro-choice should not be given communion.

Kalven posed the question, "If I approach the communion rail with a clear conscience, by what right can priest or bishop refuse me?" When a person has a clear conscience, it may be that he or she acts without blame. That does not mean that their actions are not wrong. A priest or bishop's refusal of communion to a person would reflect the gravity of the person's public behavior or persistence in sinful acts in spite of correction. A good intention does not guarantee the goodness of an act. As an evil act, sin has negative consequences, even on the soul of the sinner, regardless of that person's state of mind when committing the sin.

Regarding her second point, Kalven rightly points out that "politics is the art of the possible. As Thomas Aquinas teaches, the law cannot command all virtues or forbid all vices. The legislator must always consider all the consequences of enacting a law: Will it do more harm than good?"

Bearing that in mind, Pope Pius XI, and later Pius XII, ceased public denouncements of the Nazi regime in Germany following Nazi reprisals against Pius XI's "Mit Brennender Sorge." Bearing that in mind, Congress repealed Prohibition. In both of those instances the remedies proved counterproductive.

If reinstituting a legal ban against abortion would result in thousands of desperate women and girls dying unnecessarily at the hands of medical hacks, that it would result in churches being bombed by overly zealous members of militant pro-choice groups, that Canada would be the beneficiary of thousands of disgruntled emigrees, that it would result in a very unhappy atmosphere in American politics, etc., what should Congress and the nation do?

Consider what would be gained. Millions of innocent unborn babies would be saved. The connection between sex and pregnancy would slowly re-enter people's awareness, and some, like those impressed by the statistics on venereal diseases, would reform their thinking. Thinking of the ultimate dignity of every human life, people everywhere might change.

In the face of that, why wouldn't bishops make a point of it?

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Rev. Larry Gearhart is associate pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Westwood. He is a former systems engineer who was ordained to the priesthood of the Cincinnati Archdiocese in May 2003.

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