Cardinal Timothy Egan of New York is the latest Bishop to weigh in with an impassioned election eve appeal to Catholics about abortion. “Look at the photograph again,” he wrote about the image of a 20-week-old fetus. “Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of “legalized” abortion continues to erode the honor of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.”

David Gibson has been following the concerted push by the Catholic bishops to persuade Catholic voters to make abortion their number one issue. The Bishops have been just as forceful on this point as last election, if not more so, though Gibson points out that Egan slightly undercut his argument by honoring Obama and McCain (who supports stem cell research) at the Al Smith dinner.