SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Archbishop John Vlazny is criticizing Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Catholic, for playing host to an abortion rights fundraiser Friday night in Portland.
     
Vlazny, head of the Archdiocese of Portland, said it's an embarrassment and a scandal for Catholics that Kulongoski is hosting the event two days before the church conducts its annual "Respect Life" mass in Portland to show opposition to abortion.
     
"For a Catholic governor to host an event of this sort seems a deliberate dissent from the teachings of the church," Vlazny said in a statement Tuesday.
     
Kulongoski is a longtime supporter of a woman's right to choose an abortion.
     
"The archbishop is the governor's pastor, and he has only respect and admiration for the archbishop," Kulongoski spokeswoman Anna Richter Taylor said. "They obviously disagree on the issue of choice."
     
Kulongoski and his wife, Mary Oberst, are the honorary hosts of Friday night's fundraising dinner for NARAL Pro Choice Oregon. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is among those scheduled to speak. The event is to be held at a Portland hotel.
     
Richter Taylor said Kulongoski has attended various fundraising events for the group over the years.
     
Vlazny, calling abortion a "grave evil," urged Catholics to contact Kulongoski's office "to remind him of the demands of personal integrity as a member of our faith community in the exercise of his office."
     
The governor's office hadn't gotten any phone calls as of mid-day Tuesday, Richter Taylor said.
     
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)