Catholic for Kerry booted by bishops' conference.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Until March 9, Ono Ekeh was the program coordinator for the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops' Secretariat for African American Catholics. He also was, and remains, an ardent supporter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. He even started a Yahoo! discussion group called "Catholics for Kerry."

According to the National Catholic Reporter, Ekeh says that he kept his political activity separate from his job at the USCCB, moderating the discussion group in his personal time. However, he says he made no secret of his support for Kerry around the office.

But Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine, took issue with Ekeh's dual roles, and his weekly e-letter "outed" Ekeh as the website moderator, asking how a USCCB employee could "publicly support a politician who has said repeatedly he will approve only pro-abortion judges for the Supreme Court? "Calls started coming in to the USCCB.

Ekeh's superiors met with him to discuss his Web activity and subsequently asked him to resign. The father of two accepted a severance package. He says he will use his new free time to focus on a doctorate in theology he is pursuing.