PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman’s support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal’s Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation’s most famous Roman Catholic family.

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy told the paper in an interview conducted Friday.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. (More….)

What choice do you have? Be a bad Catholic or be a bad American? Last I checked, it was a sin to get an abortion, not a sin to NOT work to make them harder to get. And last I checked, Congress[wo]men were elected to be representatives of American citizens, not representatives of their churches. No matter what you think of Kennedy and no matter what you think of abortion rights, the Catholic Church and this particular bishop, you have to admit that Kennedy was not elected to be a Good Catholic Representative and to legislate his Catholic faith.  Not all of the citizens he represents are Catholic, right?

Am I calling politicians that put their faith over the office they were elected to bad Americans?