  The coupling between Chern-Simons theories and matter sources defined by
branes of different dimensionalities is examined. It is shown that the standard
coupling to membranes, such as the one found in supergravity or in string
theory, does not operate in the same way for CS theories; the only p-branes
that naturally couple seem to be those with p=2n; these p-branes break the
gauge symmetry (and supersymmetry) in a controlled and sensible manner.
