"A Roman Catholic priest in Modesto, Calif., has told parishioners that they should confess if they voted for Barack Obama because the president-elect supports abortion.

The Rev. Joseph Illo said his parishioners at St. Joseph's Catholic Church shouldn't risk losing their "state of grace" by receiving communion sacrilegiously. He delivered the message in a Nov. 21 letter and during Mass.

In an interview last week with the Modesto Bee, Illo said he sent the letter because Catholic teaching requires that people go to confession when they commit a mortal sin.

During the presidential campaign, many bishops told Catholic politicians and voters that abortion should be the most important consideration in deciding which candidate to back."

I would not respect a religion whose leaders don't enforce its tenets, but this surprised me. I can see their point, because if people are going to say they belong to a certain religion, they shouldn't pick and choose what practices they are going to observe as if it was a cafeteria, but I wonder if the ability to have mortal sins absolved through confession makes it easier to sin.

I'm a pro-choice Obama supporter myself, and not Catholic in case you wondered.