How far will the Catholic hierarchy go in silencing dissidents in the U.S.? We are familiar (as Frank Cocozzelli has reported) with the very public denial of communion to politicians who disagree with the Church on abortion. We know how Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit was forbidden from speaking out about the priest sex abuse scandals rocking the Church. And we know about the many times Catholic colleges and universities have barred from campus speakers who happen to disagree with the Church on abortion and other matters.

But this authoritarian trend may be broadening and deepening in ways that cannot be good for the health of democracy in America, let alone the church.

Most recently, the hierarchy in Minnesota ordered a local parish not to allow a professor from the University of Minnesota medical school speak to an adult education class about torture. According to Steven Miles, M.D., the hierarchy made their decision based on lobbying from the Minnesota affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee (an integral part of the Religious Right in the U.S.)