I’m not sure how I feel about the USCCB‘s official comment on the Communion controversy. It seems a bit wishy-washy at points, but it might be the right response. It sounds like a much softer version of what one of the bishops (can’t recall who) said on his own a while ago. Paraphrased, he said, “No Catholic would dare bring his/herself to communion while supporting abortion.” He sidestepped election-year issues by not singling out particular politicians, but he still made his point clear.

Pro-Abortion Politicians Can Be Denied Communion, Says Episcopate
U.S. Bishops Warns Catholics of “Cooperating in Evil”

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 20, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. bishops’ conference issued a rebuke to Catholic politicians who support abortion, and said that the decision to deny them Communion is up to individual bishops.

Priests Thank U.S. Bishops for Statement
Sat Jun 19,12:27 PM ET
Contact: Jerry Horn of Priests for Life, 540-785-4733

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., June 19 /U.S. Newswire/ — In a statement released on Saturday, June 19, Fr. Frank Pavone expressed the gratitude of the Priests for Life association, of which he serves as national director, for the June 18 statement of the U.S. Bishops, “Catholics in Political Life.”

On a related note:

U.S. Bishops’ Panel Urges New Kind of Politics
Calls for Focus on the Common Good, Not Demands of Special Interests

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 18, 2004 (Zenit.org).- In testimony submitted to the Democratic and Republican party platform committees, U.S. bishops have called for “a new kind of politics — focused on moral principles not on the latest polls.”