(This was written as we were driving to Akron. I am, of course, not spending time on the web right now. Because I’m studying. Really.)

I said several months ago, that the idea of Nativism was strange to me, and that anti-Catholicism was a foreign concept that seemed part of another time. I found it hard to believe that people feared Catholics and the Roman influence of the pope.

I believe that I spoke too soon.

Regardless of how one feels about his stance on abortion, it is profoundly disturbing that the Catholic church–or at least some individuals of the Catholic hierarchy–are attempting to influence Catholic politicians by saying that they should be denied Communion if they don’t tow the Catholic line.

Not only is it disturbing that a religious body is attempting to dictate American political policy, it is also, as was mentioned elsewhere, profoundly hypocritical. There has been no backlash against Catholic politicians who support the death penalty. There has been no backlash again Catholic politicians who have voted against Universal Health Care.

As I said earlier, and others have said more eloquently, the political stance of “right-to-life” groups makes no sense, as it provides no solutions or support for women’s health, or for the health and well-being of children.

The Catholic Church is right to ask its members to support life–and to support life from birth to death–but it crosses the line when it attempts to dictate political policy in the United States. We have a constitutional separation of Church and State, and American Catholics, just like most other Americans, have a highly individual streak.

I have heard for years that if the Vatican has taken stances that are driving away American Catholics, and could even lead to a split within the American Catholic church. I’ve always taken such pronouncements with a grain of salt; after all despite the split with the Orthodox church a thousand years ago, and then the Protestant reformation, it has always seemed to me as if those splits were far in the past, and the continuing splits have occurred within Protestant branches of Christianity. But then I don’t know the rate at which Catholics leave the Catholic church for other denominations. Perhaps this is something that has been occurring for years and I’ve just not paid attention. Perhaps Catholics who become disaffected with the church will simply leave for Anglican or Orthodox churches, or any other denomination that they find compatible, or perhaps there finally will be a major division within the American Catholic church. Regardless, I don’t see it as a good thing that Rome seems to be attempting to place American Catholics under greater control.

But I don’t really know. As I’ve said before, as a disaffected Catholic, I am hardly one to make pronouncements upon what the Catholic church should be doing. After all, if I really cared I’d be doing it from inside the Church.