Flynn's church-state balancing act

RAYMOND L. Flynn, the former Boston mayor and former ambassador to the Vatican, is walking a fine line between church and state and the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and George W. Bush.

Flynn is traveling around the country telling Roman Catholics they have a moral obligation to vote -- and a moral obligation to support candidates whose views reflect church teachings on abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic research, among other things.

He recently launched Catholic Citizenship, an arm of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which bills itself as a "nonpartisan, public policy education campaign." He recently met with priests from the Worcester Diocese to discuss how priests can play a role in the November election through voter registration and, as Bishop Robert J. McManus put it in a Sept. 1 letter to priests, by emphasizing "the moral obligation of Catholics to vote for elected officials who support legislation and public policy that uphold fundamental moral teachings of the church."

Flynn also spent a recent week in Ohio, a critical battleground state, bringing his message to Catholics there. One of Flynn's favorite lines, according to Larry Cirignano, executive director of Catholic Citizenship, is that "when you get to the pearly gates, it is more important to be a good Catholic than a good Democrat or a good Republican."

Can a voter do that and support a candidate with a prochoice voting record? "No," says Cirignano.

Still, Cirignano insists that Catholic Citizenship is "absolutely not" anti-Kerry. He says Flynn goes "where he is invited," and his visits outside Massachusetts are "not orchestrated" or planned with any regard to the campaign. Cirignano also said that Catholic Citizenship has no connection to or relationship with Catholics Against Kerry, a group whose home Web page showcases a picture of Kerry with Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America; encourages website visitors to "vote Catholic, not Kerry"; and displays what it calls "John Kerry's Catholic photo-ops."

Flynn did not return several telephone calls seeking comment. A recent press release announcing a new Raymond Flynn website describes him as a "leading Catholic lay voice in the United States . . . passionately committed to the interests of working families in urban America." In public appearances, Flynn also talks about church teachings on poverty and social justice and war, expressing concern over GOP positions on such issues.

But abortion is the real wedge issue. America's 65 million Roman Catholics, representing about 25 percent of the voting population, are a hotly pursued demographic in presidential politics. But nailing down the Catholic vote is becoming another election-year challenge for Kerry, a lifelong Catholic.

Various bishops have challenged his right to receive Communion because of his votes in the Senate in favor of abortion rights. Recent polling done by Zogby International shows some Catholic voter shift toward Bush in such states as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. In a story distributed recently by Catholic News Service, Zogby political writer Fritz Wenzel offered this analysis: "In this political atmosphere, there are two key issues for Catholics. Concern about the legitimacy of war in Iraq is being overridden by ongoing discomfort with Kerry's stand on abortion." In 2000 Flynn endorsed Bush. He has not endorsed a candidate in 2004. He has a long history with Kerry, which becomes more complicated in the context of presidential politics. Impressed by Kerry's Vietnam service, Flynn supported Kerry's bid for lieutenant governor in 1982. He supported Kerry when he ran for Senate two years later, campaigning "out of loyalty," against the wishes of labor unions and House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., Flynn told Time magazine last summer.

During the recent Democratic National Convention, Flynn complained that prolife Democrats were not allowed to address the convention. Later, when Kerry said he supports abortion rights but personally believes life begins at conception, Flynn called the Democrat's position "absurd."

The night Kerry spoke to delegates in Boston, Flynn was listed by the Kerry campaign as Kerry's personal guest.

The thought was nice. It did not change Flynn's balancing act.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.