Should I write about Joe Biden being denied communion in a Catholic church or do I ignore that touchy subject and pen a happy Halloween piece instead? 

I wrestled with that question yesterday. But I can’t resist a sensitive subject.

Find Your Halloween merriment somewhere else. We’re talking religion today.

The Biden campaign refuses to confirm or deny the incident, but a Florence, S.C. priest, Fr. Robert E. Morey of St. Anthony Catholic Church, says he denied communion to the former vice president - a life-long Catholic - who visited his church last weekend.

“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that,” Morey said.. “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”

“As a priest, it is my responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to my care, and I must do so even in the most difficult situations,” Morey added. “I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers.”

Whether Morey warned Biden ahead of time not to approach the altar, or turned him away, is unclear. I hope it was the former. Public shaming is ugly.

As I perused what others said about the incident, I noticed many - non-catholics, I presume - scolding church leaders for being fossils.

Those who want anything-goes churches can find them. They’re everywhere. That’s not the Roman Catholic church, which modernizes some things - mass being offered in the vernacular rather than Latin, for instance - but holds tight to certain tenets. Like abortion.

In this case, it seems the parish priest had no choice but to turn Biden away.

According to the Catholic News Agency, the Dioceses of Charleston, Atlanta and Charlotte adopted a policy in 2004 that essentially excommunicates politicians who support abortion:

“Catholic public officials who consistently support abortion on demand are cooperating with evil in a public manner. By supporting pro-abortion legislation they participate in manifest grave sin, a condition which excludes them from admission to Holy Communion as long as they persist in the pro-abortion stance.”

Biden has always insisted he is personally opposed to abortion.

There was a time when politicians in both parties had some latitude on this topic. There were a number of pro-abortion Republicans and anti-abortion Democrats. No more. With few exceptions, politicians now conform to party orthodoxy.

Yet the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for abortions except in extreme cases, has enjoyed some bipartisan support, including Biden’s. But as his party lurched leftward, Biden did too, announcing in June that he suddenly opposed that law.

How Biden has changed in 40 years.

“When it comes to issues like abortion, amnesty, and acid, I’m about as liberal as your grandmother,” Biden said in 1974. “I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

That was Joe Biden then. 

This is Joe Biden now: “If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code,” he said in June.

If more bishops decide to shun Catholic politicians who support broad abortion rights, people like Joe Biden will have a problem on Sundays.

Thing is, I believe the former vice president when he says he’s personally opposed to abortion.

He’s not in the wrong church. He’s in the wrong party.