In Chicago Sunday — Pentacost — ten homosexual members of the Rainbow Sash Movement demanded to receive the Holy Eucharist. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago had circulated a memo about these Sash folks, saying that the sashes were a symbol of opposition to the church’s teachings on homosexuality and an attempt to exploit the communion as a political tool.

Remember, to Catholics, what is given in the Eucharist is, through a process they call transubstantiation, the “physical body, blood, and divinity” of Jesus Christ. There is nothing political about this to them.

The Sash folks were given communion in St. Paul, Minnesota, however, with the priest in that city accusing both sides of using the Eucharist as a political tool.

A Vatican doctrinal decree last year directed at Catholic politicians said a well-formed conscience forbids support for any law that contradicts “fundamental” morality, with abortion listed first among relevant issues. A second Vatican statement said it is “gravely immoral” not to oppose legalization of same-sex unions.

Before its Daily Mass program, cable network EWTN runs an explanation read by Father Angelus Shaughnessy, a Capuchin Franciscan, which stipulates that no one “in a state of grave sin” may participate in the Eucharist without first undergoing a sacramental confession. This was added in recent weeks, possibly to explain the gravity of the Eucharist to viewers.

As a Catholic, JF Kerry should know better and respect the teachings of his church.