Denver, Colo., Oct 12, 2004 / 22:00 pm
An October 12 New York Times story featuring an interview with Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput that presents the archbishop as saying that Catholics must vote for Bush and against Kerry in this election, has been shown by the original transcripts, released by the Archdiocese of Denver this afternoon, to be misleading.
The New York Times article, penned by David Kirkpatrick, opens by saying that “For Archbishop Charles J. Chaput…there is only one way for a faithful Catholic to vote in this presidential election, for President Bush and against Senator John Kerry.”
“Archbishop Chaput,” writes Kirkpatrick, “said a vote for a candidate like Mr. Kerry who supports abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research would be a sin that must be confessed before receiving Communion.”
However, the original transcript of the interview, recorded by Denver archdiocesan staff, reveal the New York Times report to be heavily truncated and thus slanted to present Archbishop Chaput as a Bush or Republican partisan.