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Catholic bishop threatens voters

DENVER - In stark and dramatic language, the Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has declared that anyone voting for a politician who supports same-sex marriage, abortion rights, stem cell research or euthanasia will be denied communion in the church.

The upcoming presidential election, Bishop Michael Sheridan said in a three-page letter to the diocese newspaper May 1, will be one of the most important in history - "critical in the battle to restore the right to life to all its citizens, especially the unborn and the elderly and infirm."

While other bishops across the nation have said pro-abortion rights politicians would be denied communion in their diocese, Sheridan is the first to threaten voters with the sanction.

"Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside of full communion with the church and so jeopardize their salvation," Sheridan wrote. "Any Catholics who vote for candidates that stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences."

The letter said nothing about capital punishment, but Sheridan in the past has said that the death penalty was not as weighty as the other issues.

WASHINGTON - Presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry on Friday collected the endorsement of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, a police union that backed President Bush in the 2000 election.

"After 31/2 years of disappointing leadership under George Bush, we need to change course in November and elect a president with a real record of supporting police officers and a lifetime of standing with law enforcement," IBPO president David Holway said in a statement provided by the Kerry campaign.

The union endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Kerry scheduled a roundtable discussion with members of the group on Friday to talk about law enforcement issues.

In a statement provided by the Bush campaign, a former New York City police commissioner said Bush has provided unprecedented support for first responders, including $13-billion to state and local governments to prepare for terrorism.

"The president has given law enforcement the tools to do their job in the Patriot Act, while John Kerry attacks the law on the campaign trail," former commissioner Bernard Kerik said.

Earlier Friday, Kerry laid two wreaths at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which honors 16,666 officers killed in the line of duty. One of the wreaths was for the national memorial but the other, in a Massachusetts section, honored a Middlesex County officer killed on this date in 1961. Kerry, a former Middlesex County prosecutor, chatted with officers and family members during the 15-minute visit.

In an unexpected visit Thursday night to the Capitol, Kerry viewed photographs depicting abuse of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody. He made a last-minute decision to travel to the Senate and then spent 45 minutes viewing the photographs in a secure location, spokesman David Wade said.

MEQUON, Wis. - President Bush received a standing ovation on Friday from nearly 500 graduates of Concordia University here when he told them in a highly religious commencement speech that the "failures of character" of U.S. soldiers who abused captives at the Abu Ghraib prison "cannot diminish the honor and achievement" of more than 200,000 troops who have served in Iraq.

"One person can do so much harm, or so much good," Bush said in the gymnasium of the nation's largest Lutheran university, where many graduates go on to become Lutheran ministers. "One person can show the compassion and character of a whole country in an hour of testing. Never doubt that you can make a difference, because the call that comes to you is yours alone."

Bush used his trip to Wisconsin, one of the most politically competitive states in the 2004 presidential election, to promote his "compassion" agenda of social service in a new speech that employed the language of Christianity and spirituality familiar to his audience. There were no protesters.

Bush wore a black gown to the speech, where he accepted an honorary doctoral degree.

"I kind of like the sound "Dr. Bush,' " he said. But he quickly added, "I don't think Laura's going to call me that."

Earlier in the day, Bush raised $2.2-million for the Republican Party at a lunch in Bridgeton, just outside St. Louis, that was held in a small car museum at the Hunter Engineering Co.