Flynn letter scolds Kerry on abortion

BAL HARBOUR, Fla. -- Raymond L. Flynn, the former mayor of Boston and US ambassador to the Vatican, injected himself into the presidential race yesterday with a pointed letter to John F. Kerry, his home-state senator and fellow Democrat.

Flynn, in an ad spreading across nearly an entire page of The New York Times, chided Kerry for insisting that, if elected president, he would appoint only people who support abortion rights to be justices on the Supreme Court.

''Removing political correctness from that statement, Senator Kerry, you have announced that you will only support people to the federal judiciary who support killing unborn children," Flynn wrote in an open letter funded by an organization of lay Catholics he heads, Liberty, Life and Family Inc. of Washington. The group, which bills itself as a nonpartisan entity, says its primary concern is preserving the civil rights of unborn children.

''This letter is not on behalf of or in opposition to your candidacy, but I am asking you to announce today that you will not impose any abortion litmus test on candidates for the federal judiciary -- especially those who are faithful Catholics," Flynn wrote to Kerry, listing Harvard Law School Professor Mary Ann Glendon as the type of potential jurist who would be excluded under Kerry's standard.

Kerry has denied that his standard amounts to a litmus test, only an assurance that any prospective justice would support a constitutionally protected right of privacy. Flynn's letter came two days after Kerry aides conceded the Democratic presidential nominee struggled when asked, during his debate Friday with President Bush, whether he would ban spending federal funds on abortion.

Kerry said that as a practicing Catholic, he personally opposes abortion, but as a political figure, ''I can't take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn't share that article of faith, whether they be agnostic, atheist, Jew, Protestant, whatever." Bush shot back, ''I'm trying to decipher that. My answer is, we're not going to spend taxpayers' money on abortion."

Kerry and Flynn have been political allies. Kerry helped Flynn get elected mayor in November 1983, and Flynn helped Kerry win his first race for the US Senate a year later. In one sign of the enduring relationship, the senator personally insisted that his staff invite Flynn and his family to be his guests at the Democratic National Convention last July in Boston.

Since serving as mayor from 1984 to 1993, and then as the president's emissary to the pope and Roman Catholic Church from 1993 to 1997, Flynn has not held public office and instead spent time as a radio host and media commentator, almost exclusively focusing on his faith-based opposition to abortion and commitment to helping the poor.

In recent months, Flynn has been traveling around the state and the country urging Catholics to support political policies that are consistent with church teaching on matters such as abortion and same-sex marriage. He announced in August that a group he has formed, Catholic Citizenship, would bring this message to the Catholic voting bloc and support voter registration drives. He also has appeared at antiabortion events, including a Massachusetts Citizens for Life rally in Boston earlier this month.

Flynn did not return calls to his home and Washington office yesterday seeking comment.

A Kerry spokesman, David Wade, said in a statement: ''John Kerry and Ray Flynn are longtime friends who disagree about the right to choose. . . . John Kerry is a Catholic whose faith guides his life, and he'll be a president, like John Kennedy, who represents the rights of all Americans."

Lawrence DiCara, a former Boston city councilor, said of Flynn: ''At this point in his life, this is what is at the very top of his agenda, and he puts everything else far behind it." Recalling a picture in his office of Flynn, Kerry, and himself after Kerry was elected senator in 1984, DiCara said he was surprised Flynn would challenge Kerry at such a delicate political time, but understood the action, given Flynn's commitment to his cause.

Politically, DiCara believes the ad would have had more impact if it were printed in local papers in such battlegrounds as Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, rather than in a national newspaper with a readership he believes has largely made up its mind about the presidential race.

''If I were John Kerry, I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. It may hurt because of the personal relationship, but I don't think it will have a big political impact nationally," he said.

The ad appeared the same day Kerry attended a pair of church services in South Florida, in part because of his personal faith, in part because of his campaign's aggressive effort to spur turnout in the African-American and immigrant communities in the state with the fourth-most Electoral College votes. Early voting starts in Florida on Oct. 18.

First, at St. James Catholic Church in North Miami, Kerry listened as the Rev. Jean Pierre, a native Haitian who heads missions to the Caribbean region on behalf of the Miami Archdiocese, chastised unnamed political leaders for largely ignoring the poverty of people living in the region.

Noting that President Kennedy had his Alliance for Progress and President Reagan had a Caribbean Basin Initiative, Pierre said he saw nothing similar at present and hoped ''our leaders become a little bit more imaginative, a little bit more creative, so that we can realize as a nation our responsibility as a nation vis-a-vis our neighbors."

After the service, Kerry was mobbed by the congregation, who jostled to take pictures of him and, at one point, chanted ''Kerry, Kerry." Before entering his armored sport utility vehicle, Kerry was overhead telling Pierre, ''We are going to help -- huge."

The senator then traveled about 20 minutes away, to the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, where he participated in a politically charged service featuring speeches by him, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Another speaker, Carrie Meeks, the district's former congresswoman, invoked the 2000 dispute about Florida's presidential election as she implored the congregation to vote this fall.

''I'm a victim of the last election, and I don't plan to let it pass. You better not let it pass," she said.

Sharpton not only praised Kerry but offered a public apology to Jackson, a rival civil rights leader whom he has previously accused of recklessness and personal ambition. ''I'm standing here today because a man named Jesse Jackson taught me I could dream big," Sharpton said.

Jackson declared, ''Nobody has a right to cut line and impose their agenda on us," as he criticized Bush for proposing a constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage while the congregation -- through a show of hands -- said it was facing an array of problems with low wages, high prescription drug costs, and overcrowded schools.

''Nov. 2, the power is in your hands, hands that once picked cotton. Nov. 2, you can pick a president," Jackson said.

Afterward, Kerry taped a series of television commercials at his oceanfront hotel before flying to Sante Fe, N.M., to prepare for his third and final debate with Bush on Wednesday in Tempe, Az. Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton, will assist Kerry, aides said, because of his familiarity with domestic issues -- the focus of the debate -- and his ability to speak about them in memorable ways.

Bush stayed out of public view yesterday, preparing for the debate at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He is scheduled to make campaign stops in New Mexico and Colorado today before arriving in Arizona tomorrow.

Rick Klein of the Globe staff contributed to this story from Crawford, Texas. He can be reached at rklein@globe.com. Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.