Dimitri Cavalli in the WSJ about excommunication threats, past and present:

Rummel and Archbishop Joseph Ritter of St. Louis had previously used the threat of excommunication to suppress lay Catholic opposition to civil rights. In 1956, Rummel warned Catholic lawmakers in the state legislature that they would face excommunication if they voted to mandate the segregation of all private schools, including Catholic ones. In the same year, he forced the Association of Catholic Laymen, which was established to oppose his initial desegregation efforts, to disband by threatening its members with excommunication. In 1947, when "separate but equal" was still the law of the land, Ritter threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who took legal action to block his plan to desegregate Catholic schools in St. Louis.

How did liberals react to Rummel’s actions? "We salute the Catholic Archbishop," the New York Times editorialized. "He has set an example founded on religious principle and response to the social conscience of our times." An editorial in the Nation applauded Rummel’s initial excommunication threat and cited Ritter’s action in 1947 as a precedent. Certainly, it seems, liberals don’t really mind mixing religion with politics as long as it’s their political agenda being promoted.

Rep. DeLauro, Mr. Giuliani and other Catholic politicians may choose to see ecclesiastical punishments as blunt political weapons used to club them into submission on a controversial issue. For the bishops, however, such punishments are imposed as a last effort to be taken against those who, in their judgment, are publicly flouting the laws of the church.

Gerald has a translation of Franz Jaegerstaetter’s last letter to his wife and children:

More from the Catholic Peace Fellowship.

Then, moving Down Under, as you probably know, firestorms have followed hullabaloo as the New South Wales Parliament has taken up the question of therapeutic cloning, with Cardinal Pell warning of "consequences" for Catholic legislators who voted in favor of lifting the ban. The Lower House voted yesterday to lift the ban on it, and the Upper House will vote on it later – when I’m not sure. Rocco has a thorough summary

One Catholic lawmaker responded:

Catholic lawmakers in Australia said yesterday they will vote in favor of therapeutic cloning regardless of the directives or warnings issued by the archbishop of Sydney.

Tony Stewart of the ruling Labor Party in the New South Wales state parliament, said he would rather go to hell than take orders on how to vote from Cardinal George Pell. "Maybe I’ll go to hell, but if I go to hell I’m going to do so by saving a lot of lives, because that’s what this bill is about," Tony Stewart said in a radio interview.

Cardinal Pell said recently that cloning is unethical and “a serious moral matter”, which could see the creation of human and animal hybrids.

“Catholic politicians who vote for this legislation must realize that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the Church," he reportedly said.

Cardinal Pell was soon joined by Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth who also issued a similar warning. He said that Catholics who vote for cloning, "are acting against the teaching of the Church on a very serious matter and they should, in conscience, not vote that way; but if they do, in conscience they should not go to Communion."

The both prelates said they are considering refusing Holy Communion to Catholic lawmakers who vote in favor of the bill.

"We don’t need a religious leader telling members of parliament what should be done," Stewart said in a radio interview.

Lawmakers are being allowed a conscience vote on a bill to bring the country’s most populous state into line with the federal government, which overturned a ban on the so-called therapeutic cloning last year.

The new law would allow excess human embryos from in-vitro fertilization treatment to be used to create stem cells for research.

Both state premier Morris Iemma and his deputy, John Watkins, are Catholics who have said they intend to vote for the bill.

One prelate might be investigated:

The Western Australian parliament’s privileges committee is to examine comments by Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey for allegedly threatening Catholic politicians if they vote in favour of stem cell legislation.

The Australian reports that Archbishop Hickey can expect a formal reprimand but is unlikely to be dragged before a privileges committee for allegedly threatening Catholic politicians if they voted for new stem cell legislation.

West Australian Attorney-General Jim McGinty said it was "fundamental that you cannot threaten or intimidate a member of parliament as to the way in which they’ll vote on a particular issue".

"I don’t know whether His Grace intended it as a threat but to a Catholic, to be faced with the stated prospect of being denied the sacrament or excommunication is a very significant, heavy issue," Mr McGinty said.

Anglicans and Baptists side with Pell:

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, also expressed "profound regret", saying the destruction of human embryos and the cloning of human beings was a step too far.

Drawing on comments he made to a gathering of church leaders last week, Dr Jensen said he believed MPs were wrong to vote in favour of embryonic stem cell research.

But he adopted a less strident tone than Cardinal Pell, saying he could "honour" those MPs if their decision to support this research was made in good conscience.

Dr Jensen conceded his opposition to therapeutic cloning could ultimately be proved wrong and recognised that "in the end it is to God that we give account".

"For myself, I think that the politicians who vote in favour of embryonic stem cell research are wrong to do so," he told the church’s NSW Provincial Synod.

"Naturally, I am heartily in favour of stem cell research as such, and also, like everyone, long for the day when disease will be able to be treated successfully as a result of research.

"But, if I understand the technology correctly, embryonic stem-cell research involves both the destruction of embryos and the cloning of human beings.

"This is a step too far for us to take, even if the results were shown to be marvellous. I believe that I have the right to indicate this."

The president of the Baptist Union of NSW, John Taylor, said there would be a degree of disappointment in his church at the outcome of the lower house vote.

The bill was well-meaning, but immoral: "The opportunity is there to create a human embryo with one genetic parent or mixing the genetic material of three or more genetic parents."