As I was writing about the Catholic vote for NRO, it occurred to me that there is one type of Catholic from whom we did not hear much during the campaign controversies about Catholicism in politics: the type of Catholic who a) is pro-life, b) is liberal on most other issues, and c) believes that Catholic politicians who support abortion should not present themselves for communion. There are plenty of Catholics who meet criteria a and b. But very few pro-life liberals were willing to say that politicians who support legal abortion should be denied communion. I can’t think of one.

Among the small band of Catholic elites who are pro-life liberals, it may be that the felt imperative to maintain friendly terms with pro-abortion Catholic liberals sways people’s views on the communion question. It may also be that they believe a strong form of the “seamless garment” argument: They believe, that is, that their church’s teachings on war and poverty are just as practically definitive, and just as urgent, as its teachings on abortion. In either case, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that pro-life liberals in the Catholic church have let their liberalism compromise their pro-life stand.