Warwick are attending church each Sunday.

And Saturday.

"We are going to make sure that none of the churches are missed,'' said PLP Sen. Alex Scott, a candidate in Warwick East.

The campaign strategy in hotly-contested Warwick has drawn criticism from the United Bermuda Party and some clergy.

On Saturday, Sen. Scott and his running mate Mr. Calvin Smith got up and spoke at the Seventh Day Adventist service in Warwick.

In recent weeks, they have also attended AME and Anglican services and the Seventh Day Adventist church in neighbouring Southampton.

"We've visited businesses, we've visited homes, we've visited old folks homes -- why should churches be left out?'' asked Sen. Scott, who stressed that he was only introducing himself, not making political speeches.

"Our aides call ahead and ask basically what the pastor or the church and the elders would be comfortable with,'' he said. "If they say ... we'd love to have you, but we don't see our service having any room for anyone to stand up and say anything, then we don't.'' The strategy, which could be a first on the Island, has also been adopted in Warwick West, where Dr. Ewart Brown and Mr. George Scott are running for the PLP, he said.

PLP candidates might have attended the St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Warwick, but they neither spoke nor were acknowledged, Bermuda's Roman Catholic Bishop said. It was "not the proper place,'' the Most Rev. Brian Hennessy said.

"We don't touch that with a ten foot pole. If they come to church, they come the same as anybody else.

"Coming into a church they don't even belong to just doesn't make sense to us,'' but "Warwick is the only place they've tried,'' he said.

UBP candidates in Warwick will not be following the PLP's lead.

"I don't subscribe to that,'' said Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon.

Irving Pearman. He represents Warwick East, a marginal constituency where the PLP hopes to defeat both he and Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons.

"If I'm invited to a church, that's one thing,'' Mr. Pearman said. "I would not ask to be invited to be able to stand up and say a few words.

"I think it would be imposing myself on something that is there for possibly a different purpose.'' Church ministers said they were careful not to mix religion and politics.

"Candidates seek to be seen, and one of their best ways of doing it is going to churches,'' said Pastor Frank Sarault of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Warwick.

When the candidates stood up on Saturday, "I think everybody perhaps was on the edge of their seats,'' wondering whether they would hear political speeches, Pastor Sarault said. But, "I believe they were gracious.

"We need to give our politicians the benefit of the doubt that they are seeking the betterment of Bermuda.'' Sen. Scott, who is also the PLP campaign co-chairman, defended the approach.

"The religious community provides both moral and spiritual guidance to not only Warwick, but in general to the community,'' he said. "We should take the religious institutions into consideration when we are getting to know the community.''