He reminded a group of Catholic students, "The church says abortion is a foundational issue," and added - mindful of Roe. Vs. Wade - "Supreme Court cases can be overturned, right?"

The Catholic-critical Times - whose fallen-away Catholic editor, Bill Keller, in a May 4, 2002 column described his former church as "something very like the old Communist Party," implied that the bishops opposed to the election of the vehemently pro-abortion Massachusetts Senator are acting on their own in concert with the Bush administration.

The Times ignored the Vatican's instructions on how anti-life politicians and those who vote for them are to be treated.

In a letter to America's Catholic bishops, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was clear: no communion for consistently pro-abortion politicians, i.e., John F. Kerry.

Reflecting that, the Times reports Archbishop Chaput told them that voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research would be a sin requiring confession.

"If you vote this way, are you cooperating in evil?" he asked. "And if you know you are cooperating in evil, should you go to confession? The answer is yes."

And this is not the first time the bishops have lashed out at pro-abortion Catholic politicians, having "publicly clashed with Catholic Democrats like former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York and Geraldine A. Ferraro, the former representative and vice-presidential candidate," the Times recalled.

But that is not the real reason for the bishops' activities, the Times suggests, but instead is a political alliance with the Bush administration.

"The efforts of Archbishop Chaput and his allies are converging with a concerted drive for conservative Catholic voters by the Bush campaign," the Times concludes.

It notes the Bush campaign "has spent four years cultivating Catholic leaders, organizing more than 50,000 volunteers and hiring a corps of paid staff members to increase Catholic turnout.

"The campaign is pushing to break the traditional allegiance of Catholic voters to the Democratic Party, an affiliation that began to crumble with Ronald Reagan 24 years ago."

Also active in the opposition to Kerry and other Catholic politicians are Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis, Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, all of whom have recently declared that the obligation to oppose abortion outweighs any other political issue.

The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life of Staten Island, N.Y., told the Times that priests with his group are going from church to church in swing states like Florida, giving fellow priests sample homilies for each Sunday in October, inserts for church bulletins and voter guides.

The Times says liberal Catholics claim that the church has traditionally left weighing the issues to the individual conscience and have now begun to mount a counterattack.

"In diocesan newspapers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, they are buying advertisements with the slogan 'Life Does Not End at Birth,'" the Times said, adding that "Organizers of the campaign say it is supported by 200 Catholic organizations, among them orders of nuns and brothers."

"We are looking at a broader picture, a more global picture," said Bishop Gabino Zavala, an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and president of the liberal Pax Christi USA, which initiated the statement. "If you look at the totality of issues as a matter of conscience, someone could come to the decision to vote for either candidate."

Archbishop Chaput told the Times he has had no contact with either campaign or political party, adding that his sole contact with the White House has been his appointment to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The Rev. Andrew Kemberling, pastor of St. Thomas More Church, said he agreed with the archbishop, but he acknowledged that parishioners sometimes accused him of telling them how to vote. He said his reply was: "We are not telling them how to vote. We are telling them how to take Communion in good conscience."