ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski has urged parishioners to consider abortion as the main moral issue when they vote in November but said they must also consider candidates’ positions on other issues such as race, immigration and the environment.

Rozanski’s letter to parishioners published Oct. 1 in the the archdiocese’s newspaper is similar to others written by Roman Catholic leaders across the country, following guidance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“If you don’t hold that abortion is the preeminent moral issue of our time, and if you don’t struggle to justify voting for a candidate whose record or policy would favor or even expand abortion, then you probably aren’t forming a Catholic conscience in preparation to vote,” Rozanski wrote.

But he said voters should not dismiss or ignore the church’s teaching on other important issues such as race, immigration and the environment, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Rozanski did not endorse any candidate or party.

The leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, Bishop James Johnston Jr., has been criticized for a similar letter in which he urged people to vote for candidates who oppose abortion, which some saw as an endorsement of Republican candidates.