Unauthorized voting material left at churches

Pamphlets telling Catholics they should vote against any candidate who supports abortion or four other “non-negotiable” issues were placed on windshields in two church parking lots Sunday morning.

But the unknown person or group that distributed the pamphlet, Voters Guide for Serious Catholics, didn’t have permission, officials at the two parishes and the Spokane Catholic Diocese said.

The Rev. Joe Bell, pastor of St. Peter’s Church, said he had no idea who distributed the pamphlets.

“No one asked, and I wouldn’t have given permission,” he said.

Pamphlets were also stuck on windshields in the parking lot at Sacred Heart Church during early Mass on Sunday.

The Rev. Steven Dublinski, vicar general of the diocese, said groups are not allowed to distribute political information in the churches or their parking lots unless it has been approved by the group that represents the state’s three Catholic bishops. The Washington State Catholic Conference has its own Election Guide, and it doesn’t agree with the pamphlet, published by a San Diego-based organization calling itself Catholic Answers 2004.

For example, the Serious Catholics guide says five issues are “always morally wrong and must never be promoted by the law.” Those so-called non-negotiable issues are abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell research, human cloning and homosexual marriage.

Even candidates for local office should be asked about their stands on those issues, the pamphlet contends. “Eliminate from consideration candidates who are wrong on any of the non-negotiable issues,” it advises.

The election guide endorsed by the bishops says church leaders “do not tell its members how to vote.” While it stresses that Catholics should protect life from conception to natural death, that guide says it’s possible to have different opinions on the best policies to protect life and promote the common good.

“Voters must consider the totality of a politician’s record and views to make an informed decision on which candidate will most completely advance respect for life and the common good,” it says.

Neither names candidates who are considered acceptable or unacceptable.

The five non-negotiable issues are the same mentioned in an ad in Sunday’s Spokesman-Review, “An open letter to my fellow Catholics and all others of goodwill,” which was purchased by Spokane businessman Martin Howser. A Web site in that ad connects to the Serious Catholics guide.

Howser said he wasn’t involved in distributing the pamphlets Sunday and doesn’t know who was. But they’re relatively inexpensive and popular in other areas of the country where priests or bishops sometimes buy and distribute them, he added.

Bell said he’s been a priest for 30 years and this is the first time he can recall anyone putting political leaflets on cars during Mass. A group calling itself Catholics for Kerry had put some bumper stickers on cars that were in the church lot earlier in the week for other functions. They didn’t ask permission, either.

“You have a captive audience,” Bell said of a church lot. “I’d rather they’d ask for permission, but why ask for permission you’re not going to get?”