"From now on I am sending to you all the letters which assault my office because of communications which you have made," Flynn wrote. "I must remind you that I am the archbishop and choose to influence in a different manner than you and many of the people who would write to me. I think it is totally unfair of you to engage others in these letter writing, e-mail campaigns. So, since it is you who have contacted these people, you are the one who will receive all of their responses." On the group's Web page, Perfect wrote to members that the archbishop's letter "truly shocked and very deeply saddened" her. Perfect said all the letters sent to the archdiocese and then forwarded to her by the archbishop were "very polite and respectful of the archbishop," except for one.

Flynn's letter was in response to the group's most recent e-mail campaign, which complained about a series of forums organized by a group called Inclusive Catholics that discusses conscience, tradition and sexual morality.

Julie Madden, coordinator of peace and justice programs at St. Joan of Arc, said the series is designed to discuss the role of scripture in the modern church, but also to explore how to make the church more accepting of others, including gays and lesbians. She said the archbishop was aware of the series.

But Perfect, in her letter to Flynn, wrote that Inclusive Catholics is "blatantly promoting teachings contrary to our Catholic Catechism." Madden said Inclusive Catholics was formed after Catholic Parents Online (CPO) published a list of churches "accepting of gays and lesbians" that some saw as a "hit list" of liberal churches. "We saw that and said, 'Hey, we should have gotten together sooner,' " she said.

In an e-mail to the Star Tribune about the matter, Perfect said: "Archbishop Flynn did chastise me. I accept the archbishop's authority and will obey him by honoring his request" not to contact him. But Perfect also wrote to the archbishop that "with all due respect, as faithful laity, we won't go away and we will not be silent."

In a phone interview, Perfect said the letter did not specifically tell the members not to write, and she's not sure whether they will. The group says it has successfully battled more liberal elements of the Catholic Church in at least two instances.

In April, it urged Flynn to stop a homily at St. Joan of Arc, a south Minneapolis parish, by a gay activist minister. The homily was cancelled, but the archdiocese said the decision was made independently. In May, the archdiocese rescinded an award of excellence that was to be given to religious educator Kathy Itzin at St. Joan's after CPO alerted Flynn's office that the educator was a lesbian. The archdiocese said it made the decision after consulting with its Catholic Formation and Education Ministries.

Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the archdiocese, said he was unaware of Flynn's letter to CPO until notified by the newspaper. "I think the intent was to say, 'enough is enough,' " he said. "This has been an ongoing, orchestrated campaign for a long time on a number of issues," he said. "At some point there is an issue of deference to the archbishop. [Perfect] does not run the archdiocese. He does."