Phil Brennan

Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com-April 1, 2004.

Sen. John Kerry= s defiance of his Catholic Church= s condemnation of abortion and his approval of gay marriage is not only a problem for him and Catholic bishops, but for individual Catholics as well, according to a leading Catholic layman and editor.

He says Catholic priests should refuse to give Holy Communion to Kerry even if their bishops have not specifically warned the senator that he is not to receive Communion.

That demand of excommunication for Kerry is made by Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine, the nation= s leading intellectual Catholic journal.

Hudson is a respected Catholic layman, and his views are often sought by national media and government officials, including the Bush White House.

Hudson said that the matter of individual bishops ordering Kerry to refrain from receiving the Eucharist when in their dioceses--in other words, excommunicating him--was between Kerry and America= s individual bishops, including his own.

A Its in the hands of his bishop and when his bishop has spoken and said that politicians should refrain from communion, he= s alluding to the fact that someone like Sen.