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TechnoratiChaput, one of the nation's most outspoken bishops on Catholic political responsibility, said Catholics who disagree with the church on "serious, sanctity of life issues" separate themselves from communion with the church and should not present themselves for the Eucharist.
Biden "has admirable qualities to his public service," Chaput said in his statement. "But his record of support for so-called abortion 'rights,' while mixed at times, is seriously wrong. I certainly presume his good will and integrity — and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false 'right' to abortion."
Chaput added that he looks forward to speaking with Biden privately.
Other Catholics were even more forceful in their criticism. The Catholic advocacy group Fidelis called the choice of Biden a "slap in the face" to Catholic voters and predicted the Communion question will hover over Biden at each campaign stop.
George Weigel, a Pope John Paul II biographer and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said: "I don't think it's a happy day for Catholics when a man who is literally dead wrong on what the Catholic leadership of the United States has said for over three decades is the most important issue of social justice in our country is named to a national ticket and attempts to present himself as an intellectually serious and coherent Catholic."
Biden is well suited to fight back, said Mara Vanderslice, Kerry's former director of religious outreach. Biden made that clear in 2005 when, quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer, he said: "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."
"He's this scrappy Irish Catholic and he has a long and powerful record of speaking his mind," said Vanderslice, who now heads a political action committee that has aired pro-Obama ads on Christian radio. "I don't think he's going to take any attacks sitting down."
At the same time, abortion has failed to register on voters' radar screens compared with the economy and energy. A Pew poll released last week showed 39 percent of Americans said abortion was "very important" to their vote, second to last among a dozen issues. The numbers didn't even budge much among weekly Catholic Mass attenders, who tend to be more conservative: 44 percent said abortion was very important.
The Obama-Biden ticket also may benefit from support from a handful of fledgling Democrat-friendly Catholic advocacy groups emphasizing a range of Catholic teaching beyond abortion.
One such group, Catholics United, praised Biden's advocacy on issues such as genocide, universal health care and education and expressed hope that "operatives on the far right" will not use Biden's faith and Catholic teachings as "political weapons."
Steven Waldman, editor of the faith-themed Web site Beliefnet.com, said Biden was probably Obama's best vice presidential choice in terms of religious politics because he's a cultural match with working-class Catholics and more centrist on abortion than most Democrats.
With Biden on the ticket, a Catholic Democrat's choices are again under scrutiny, just as they were four years ago with Kerry and nearly 50 years ago when John F. Kennedy assured voters he wouldn't take orders from Rome.
"We are once again going to have a debate," Waldman said, "about what it means to be a good or bad Catholic as a politician."
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