You may remember the fiery letter that reportedly was sent by Sen. Sam Brownback, questioning the authentic Catholicity of some members of Congress.

Now there are doubts being raised about how authentic the letter itself was.

From Politico:

A mystery is brewing over the appearance of Sen. Sam Brownback’s John Hancock on an inflammatory letter questioning the religious bona fides of prominent pro-abortion-rights Catholic Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

The missive — signed on official- looking letterhead that reads “United States Senator Sam Brownback (Republican-Kansas)” — takes issue with Catholic Dems who support the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade.

“Real Catholics need a new voice — not the likes of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi who have campaigned as Catholics while voting to undermine the values we hold most dear,” Brownback (apparently) wrote in a fundraising appeal on behalf of the conservative Catholic Advocate newspaper.

“The same can be said for the five ‘Catholic’ senators sponsoring the Freedom of Choice Act, namely John Kerry (D-Mass.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). … You can’t be both Catholic and pro-abortion!”

Brownback spokesman Brian Hart told the National Catholic Reporter, “Our chief of staff … had never seen, heard of or approved it,” suggesting the letter was entirely unauthorized.

Hart, who didn’t return our requests for comment, told the magazine that Brownback’s Senate staff has “reached out to both the organization responsible and the mail house [responsible for printing and distributing the letter] and directed them not to use Sam Brownback’s name, signature, likeness or representation in any way moving forward and expressed that we are not pleased with the content of the letter.”

But Brownback’s chief of staff, Glen Chambers, painted a slightly different version of events in an e-mail to Catholic Advocate founder Deal Hudson, who provided it to POLITICO.

“As I mentioned to you on the phone, I think we’ve gotten to the bottom of the confusion over the mail piece,” Chambers wrote. “Neither the senator nor I had seen the letter or were aware of it. I figured out that you did get permission to use his name on the piece from a former campaign staffer in February of last year.”

None of this sat well with the targets of the original letter.

“At a time when the whole cloth of Catholic teachings demands we work together to find answers for so many who are suffering in this world, it’s disappointing to see incendiary political fundraising rather than good-faith efforts to promote the common good and work together to reduce the number of abortions,” Kerry spokeswoman Whitney Smith wrote in an e-mail.

But wait. There’s more. A watchdog group has now filed a complaint:

The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Wednesday filed a Senate ethics complaint against Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) over an antiabortion fundraising letter that a conservative Roman Catholic group sent using a fake Senate letterhead from Brownback’s office, The Politico reports (Thrush, The Politico, 2/26).

According to the AP/MSNBC.com, Catholic Advocate in the letter — which bears Brownback’s name and title — criticizes Democratic lawmakers who are Catholic and support abortion rights. CREW argues that the letter violates a Senate rule that prohibits members from using their letterhead for fundraising purposes (AP/MSNBC.com, 2/26). CREW’s complaint said, “By deliberately attempting to mislead recipients of Catholic Advocate’s fundraising appeal into believing they have received a letter from Sen. Brownback in his official capacity, Sen. Brownback has engaged in improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate”

You can find more details at the links above.