The trouble with making the criminalization  of abortion (not just opposition to abortion) the absolute priority is that such a stance requires political organizing and rhetoric. A bloc of activists and voters must be assembled to come within striking distance of a majority. With no other moral priority standing in the way, that bloc can consist of some unsavory characters...and it does.

Chaput is completely sincere in his unambiguous denunciation of racism, and he is to be lauded for that sincerity. He may be blind, however, to the people he has perhaps unwittingly courted on his way to getting Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and other efforts to overturn all or parts of Roe v. Wade. This is why Chaput effectively stumped for Trump.

Before church leaders embark on a political venture, however pure they might think it is, they must take into account unintended consequences of putting all other moral considerations in the back seat.