SOME POLITICIANS, INCLUDING AL GORE, ARE GETTING THE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SANCTITY OF LIFE

A Roman Catholic archbishop barred Vice President Al Gore from campaigning at a church hospital earlier this month, forcing the candidate to shuffle his schedule and promote his health-care proposal at a different site.

Shortly before Gore arrived in Scranton, Pa. Bishop James C. Timlin sent word that Gore was no longer invited to that town's Mercy Hospital. "The Mercy Hospital has decided not to give Vice President Al Gore a platform, lest there be any misunderstanding about the hospital's Catholic identity and its commitment to the sanctity of life," said Timlin. The local newspaper headline read "No Mercy for Gore."

Nor is Gore alone in this treatment at the hands of Catholic officials. In the same commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Republican Gov. Tom Ridge has been treated similarly by the bishop of Erie. While not as extreme as the Clinton-Gore policy of support for partial-birth abortion, Governor Ridge is pro-choice on the abortion issue.

In a free society, this is all to the good. Private institutions must be free to discriminate in this manner, and if the time ever comes when they aren't, then we will be far less free.

In the meantime, the bishop made a vital statement about the sanctity of life. No one should be surprised that leaders of the Catholic church will make such statements. One party in our country defending this horrific form of infanticide is quite enough. Evidently our Catholic bishops are serious about driving home the seriousness of the life issue. We salute them for this principled stand and encourage them to keep it up.