PORTLAND – The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is urging church members to be guided by moral principles when they go to the polls in November, and to pay heed to the tax-cap referendum.

Bishop Richard Malone, the spiritual leader for Maine’s 234,000 Roman Catholics, sent a letter to pastors to remind parishioners that voting is not only a civic duty, but also a Christian responsibility.

In his letter, Malone included a list of 10 principles he hopes people will use to develop an “ethical and moral framework” to decide on the tax-cap referendum, which proposes capping taxes at 1 percent of a property’s 1996-97 assessed value.

Supporters say the tax cap is needed so property owners aren’t forced out of their homes because they can’t afford to pay high taxes. But critics say it will gut municipal and school budgets and decimate local services.

Malone wrote that Catholics are called upon to place the needs of the less fortunate above a person’s own selfish interest.

While saying it is not his place to tell parishioners how to vote, he said it is his responsibility as bishop to guide them to the moral and ethical principles, which are the foundation of the Catholic faith.

“These principles can and should be your benchmarks in evaluating the merits of an issue at hand, or a particular candidate,” he wrote.

Priests may choose to read Malone’s letter from the pulpit or make it available to parishioners through church bulletins, diocesan spokeswoman Sue Bernard said Tuesday. The letter was released to the media late Monday afternoon via e-mail.

Malone urged Maine Catholics to ask themselves the following questions based on a “Catholic perspective on the role of government:”

. Will the tax-cap proposal redress taxation inequalities in such a way that the common good will be better met or will it lead to further inequalities?

. Will the tax cap seriously hinder government’s duty and obligation to provide adequate and necessary services such as education, public safety, and safety net social services?

. Will the needs of the poor, the marginalized, the elderly, those least able to carry the burden of taxation, be better served through the tax cap?

In answer to those questions, Malone cited the church’s belief that Catholics are called to place the needs of others above their own, that government has an obligation to assure fundamental services to all of society, and that the needs of the poor and most disadvantaged be put first, not last.

“What is most important, and what our faith asks of us,” Malone concluded in his letter, “is to make our judgments based on solid principles. The rest, my brothers and sisters, is in God’s hands.”

The previous head of the Maine church, Bishop Joseph J. Gerry, had issued similar letters urging parishioners to vote on referendums about abortion and physician-assisted suicide.