GOP officials want parish directories

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has asked Roman Catholics who back President Bush to provide copies of parish directories to help register Catholics to vote in the November election.

In a story posted Thursday on its Web site, the National Catholic Reporter, based in Kansas City, said a GOP official, Martin J. Gillespie, had urged people who attended a Catholic outreach event in January to provide directories and membership lists.

The committee is using the information from parish directories only for its nonpartisan voter registration drive, committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson said Thursday.

Rebecca Summers of the office of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said: “I'm not certain under any scenario that we would encourage someone responding to that appeal — for any purpose, whether it would be an environmental cause or any purpose other than what the people volunteered the information for."