Information requested: A priest, a Democrat, and a Congressperson walk into an election.

[TheWraith]

Yeah, I figured that title would get some attention.

Short version, keeping this anonymous for privacy reasons: A person I know is a local Democratic official. He's also a member of a local Catholic church. Recently he received a letter from the priest explicitly objecting to the official having campaigned for our Democratic congressperson, particularly having appeared on local TV, on the grounds that the Congresscritter is pro-choice. The priest also explicitly demanded that the official not publicly campaign for the Congresscritter's reelection this year, or the priest would exclude the official from communion.

The priest's letter is in very explicitly political terms, including mentioning "confrontation" between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Obama administration, and telling the official that the priest "cannot allow" the official to "condone [the congressperson's] politics."

Now, here's what I'm looking for: for people to correct me if I'm mistaken. My assumption, based on my own knowledge and research, is that this is unfortunately not illegal in any really actionable way. Specifically, that while it definitely crosses the theoretical line of a church explicitly advocating the election or defeat of a given candidate, I don't believe it's egregious enough to be able to threaten this church with a loss of tax-exempt status. My belief is that at best, it could be escalated to the local diocese, where depending on the people in charge the priest might be reprimanded.

So that's my question: am I correct in my assumptions, or is there some other way to deal with this?

[TlalocW]

1. Tell the person that received the letter to ignore it

Because the Catholic Church has long since abandoned any right to any moral high ground once they made kid-fucking part of their official theology.

TlalocW

[monmouth]

2. + a gazillion...n/t

[Scuba]

4. Nailed it.

[rock]

5. You had me at "kid-fucking"

[Coexist]

6. aaaaah - meeeeeeeeeen.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Turn the letter over to the IRS since the priest is actively tell this person

who they can and cannot support politically.

[Coexist]

7. here you go:

http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu31.htm

Q. 2. Under what circumstances can a Catholic priest deny someone the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist?

A. It can be denied under the following circumstances:
1. The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist cannot be administered to members of other religions, and
2. The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist cannot be administered to those who voluntarily continue to live in grave sin.

[1-Old-Man]

8. Send a copy of the letter to the IRS with a cover letter and send a copy of both to the Diocese

Just so the Bishop knows that the IRS had been alerted about the behavior of one of his Priests. Then you can let the Bishop decide how valuable that tax exemption is to the church in comparison to keeping that particular Priest on the job.

PS: Shoot a copy to the local News Paper too.

[1-Old-Man]

9. :Second Answer: and someone should tell that Priest to go fuck himself.