St. Louis, Mo., Oct 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm
An abortion-rights group has asked the IRS to revoke the public charity status of yet another archdiocese. Catholics for a Free Choice claims that the Archdiocese of St. Louis has attempted to influence the Nov. 2 presidential election.
The Washington-based group filed a similar complaint against the Archdiocese of Denver earlier this week.
The second complaint, filed Oct. 26, cites an Oct. 1 pastoral letter by Archbishop Raymond Burke, who wrote that Catholics should vote for candidates whose positions are in line with Catholic Church teaching with regard to abortion, euthanasia, reproductive cloning, same-sex marriage and embryonic stem-cell research.
Public charities, says group president Frances Kissling, are prohibited by law from acting for or against political candidates.
"Public money should be used for charitable purposes, not for telling people who to vote for implicitly or explicitly," Kissling said.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis declined to comment.
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