E-Mail This Article to a Friend Access denied Parsing the Boston archdiocese’s swipe at Mike Capuano. Also, Howard Dean closes in on the DNC chair, and an anti-NRA is born. BY ADAM REILLY

Compared with last year’s furor over John Kerry’s taking Communion, the recent decision by Boston archbishop Seán O’Malley to bar Congressman Mike Capuano from North Cambridge Catholic High School may seem insignificant. But it isn’t. In fact, the Capuano affair may portend a whole new level of pressure for Catholic politicians who defy Church teachings.

Last month, Capuano — who represents Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, and Somerville — planned two constituent meetings in properties controlled by the Boston archdiocese: one at North Cambridge Catholic, and the other at St. Joseph–St. Lazarus Church, in East Boston. A few days before the North Cambridge meeting, however, a Capuano aide learned the archdiocese now refused to make the school available. Worried the church meeting would be next, Capuano pre-emptively canceled at St. Joseph–St. Lazarus and rushed (successfully) to find two new, secular locations.

The obvious explanation is that the congressman — who is Catholic yet consistently votes for abortion rights and supports gay marriage — was punished for deviating from official Church doctrine on these issues. But the people who know aren’t talking. Sister Ellen Powers, president of North Cambridge Catholic, referred inquiries to the archdiocese, which did not respond to a request for comment. Furthermore, Capuano — who’s usually regarded as blunt and combative — opted not to press the archdiocese for an explanation. "Sure, I thought about it," he says. "But let’s put it this way: based on what’s happened to other politicians, both in the region and in the country, in terms of religion-slash-politics, I just made a decision on a personal basis that I’m not interested in confronting my own church on these issues. I respect the fact that it’s their property, and they’re entitled to make their decision, but I wish they’d be a little more open about it. But then again, I don’t run the Church."

The congressman also may have been targeted for publicly challenging the Church’s push for doctrinal compliance among Catholic politicians. In May 2004, Capuano and 47 other Catholic members of Congress wrote to Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, DC — the head of a task force examining the relationship between the Church and Catholic politicians — to argue against denying Communion to pro-choice politicians. Steve Lynch, who opposes abortion, signed on; so did Ed Markey, Marty Meehan, William Delahunt, and Jim McGovern, all of whom are pro-choice. (In 2001, McGovern was barred from delivering a eulogy at former congressman Joe Moakley’s funeral, presumably because of his stand on abortion rights.) But only Capuano told the Boston Herald that withholding Communion "strikes me as almost un-Christian. Jesus himself would never have denied Communion to anyone, even Mary Magdalene." Capuano also observed that politicians haven’t been threatened with denial of Communion for supporting the war in Iraq, condom use, stem-cell research, or the death penalty — all positions that conflict with Church teaching. In short, instead of asking for a dialogue, Capuano dared to tell certain Church leaders they were flat-out wrong.

Capuano’s blunt talk may have made him an obvious target, but he also seems to have fallen victim to an ongoing shift in the archdiocese and the broader Catholic Church. Pro-choice Catholic politicians have traditionally rebutted conservative critics by arguing that it’s shortsighted to obsess on abortion and gay marriage: Catholic politicians can be truest to their faith, they claim, by diligently defending the most vulnerable members of society (see "The Catholic War Against Gay Marriage," News and Features, March 26, 2004). But when McCarrick’s Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians issued its formal report on November 17, 2004, it established a hierarchy of concerns that seems designed to counter this argument. "As Catholics, we all have a pre-eminent obligation [emphasis added] to protect the lives of unborn children, to oppose euthanasia, and to defend marriage," the report stated. "Our tradition also clearly calls us to stand up for those who are poor and to promote justice and peace." In other words, poverty, injustice, and war are less dangerous than abortion, euthanasia, and gay marriage.

The McCarrick report punted on the question of which Catholic politicians should be denied Communion. But it did endorse specific strategies for reining in the wayward, including improving instruction in Church doctrine; intensifying efforts to guarantee doctrinal adherence; and — somewhat paradoxically — both "maintain[ing] communication with public officials" and "not honor[ing] those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles." Barring Capuano from North Cambridge Catholic does all of the above.

It’s also noteworthy that Capuano was sanctioned not by a school principal or parish priest, but by O’Malley himself. Last November, when pro-choice state representative Barbara L’Italien was asked to resign as a cantor at St. Augustine in Andover, an archdiocesan statement indicated that the sanctioning of Catholic politicians would be left to individual priests. Judging from O’Malley’s involvement here, however, a more centralized, top-down approach is in the works. If so, Catholic elected officials who enjoy a good rapport with their parish priests may want to avoid getting too comfortable — because with O’Malley calling the shots, L’Italien’s experience could be writ large.

There’s one more twist to the Capuano affair. Tom O’Neill, the former lieutenant governor and a high-powered Democratic lobbyist, chairs North Cambridge Catholic’s board of directors. As the Church’s sex-abuse scandal unfolded, O’Neill also was one of Bernard Cardinal Law’s earliest critics. Barring Capuano is a two-fer for O’Malley: he penalizes a Catholic congressman for ignoring Church doctrine and, in the process, reminds a prominent lay critic where the real power lies.

Given Capuano’s newfound reticence, O’Malley may seem to have won this particular battle. But if Capuano’s appetite for confronting the Church has diminished, his position on the issues seems unchanged. "I’m not the most proactive Catholic, but I consider myself a religious person, if you want to know the truth," he says. "I’m very comfortable with my own religious beliefs. What I do is between me and God and nobody else — and that applies to any church, including the Catholic Church."