Springfield Bishop Bars Madigan, Cullerton From Communion

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(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Catholic bishop of Springfield said he is banning the state’s two top Democratic legislative leaders from receiving Holy Communion for pushing through an abortion-rights bill last week.Bishop Thomas Paprocki also said Catholic legislators who voted for the Reproductive Health Act should avoid going to Communion unless they first go to confession and change their positions.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton are guilty of a grievous sin by leading passage of the abortion rights bill, Paprocki said.

He said the two lawmakers have been "obstinate and persistent in promoting a very grievous sin, the sin of abortion.""The bottom line in all this is my hope for a change of heart. I don’t want to see either Senator Cullerton or Speaker Madigan permanently excluded from Holy Communion," the bishop told WBBM Newsradio Thursday.The ban is not likely produce a confrontation in the communion line in Springfield.

A spokesman for Cullerton said the Senate president does not go to Mass in Springfield. Bishop Paprocki said he doesn’t think Speaker Madigan attends church in Springfield, either.Bishop Paprocki says he tried to warn Madigan and Cullerton by phone, ahead of the legislation’s passage. The bishop says Madigan called him back.

"He was matter of fact about it. He thanked me for letting him know. He didn’t try to argue me out of it," Paprocki said.

Speaker Madigan defends his support of the abortion-rights bill, saying in a statement: “I believe it is more important to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, including women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.”