Father Jay Scott Newman has generated national discussion of the issue of voting for Barack Obama and receiving Communion.

Father Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Greenville, S.C., said in his parish’s Nov. 9 bulletin that Catholics who voted for Obama, despite being aware of his pro-abortion platform, needed to repent and go to Confession before receiving Communion again.

Msgr. Martin Laughlin, administrator of the Diocese of Charleston within which Father Newman’s parish lies, repudiated Father Newman’s remarks in a Nov. 14 statement.

Check out this CNN video for a report on how Father Newman’s parishioners responded to his comments.

Father Newman elaborated here in his parish’s Nov. 16 bulletin about his earlier remarks.

This Daily Blog entry won’t analyze the pastoral and canonical complexities involved in judging whether the act of voting for a pro-abortion politician, even one as extreme on the issue as Barack Obama, should warrant a trip to the confessional prior to receiving Communion.

But the importance of guiding lay Catholics to act in accordance with their beliefs in the public square is a matter that was recently confirmed at the very highest level of the Church.

Meeting members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity Nov. 15, Pope Benedict XVI said,  “In a special way, I reaffirm the necessity and urgency of the evangelical formation and pastoral accompaniment of a new generation of Catholics involved in politics, that they would be coherent with their professed faith.”

Watch for a more detailed discussion of the issue of voting for pro-abortion politicians and the reception of Communion in an upcoming issue of the Register.

— Tom McFeely