Modesto Priest: Go to Confession If You Voted for Obama

A priest in Modesto is joining a number of other Catholic clerics who are claiming that Catholics who voted for Obama are placing their immortal souls in danger:

Parishioners of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto have been told they should consider going to confession if they voted for Barack Obama, because of the president-elect's position condoning abortion.

"If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don't risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously," the Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph's, wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21.

The letter was sent to more than 15,000 members of the St. Joseph's parish. It is one of 34 parishes in the Stockton Diocese, which has more than 200,000 members in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and four other counties.

Illo also delivered this message in a homily.

Though Obama's support of abortion rights angered many Catholics nationally during the campaign, Illo's letter is believed to be the first in Central California from a priest to his parishioners on the topic.

The Most Rev. Stephen Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese, disagrees with Illo. He said Catholics should not feel compelled to disclose how they voted to their priest.

Blaire said Catholics who carefully weighed many issues and settled on a candidate, such as Obama, who was supportive of abortion rights, were not in need of confession. He said confession would be necessary "only if someone voted for a pro-abortion or pro-choice candidate -- if that's the reason you voted for them."

That's a pretty fancy song-and-dance by the bishop. Either Catholic teachings mean something and should be followed by their faithful, or they mean nothing. The bishop seems to suggest that those teachings are pretty flexible, and I'm not sure the Pope would go along with that.

The reality is that Obama is not only "supportive" of abortion rights, but is probably the most ardently pro-abortion candidate in history. This is a guy who voted several times in the State Legislature to deny medical assistance to a baby born alive after a botched abortion.

I think there's some merit to Pastor Illo's admonition to his flock.