The bishop of Brooklyn is warning state lawmakers that he holds the Democratic speaker of the Assembly personally responsible for the Legislature’s rejection of tuition tax credits in this year’s budget.

In a strongly worded letter sent to lawmakers on Friday, Nicholas DiMarzio, the spiritual leader of the Diocese of Brooklyn, accused Sheldon Silver of weakening the Democratic process in the state by opposing tuition tax credits.

He also said Mr. Silver personally insulted him when the lawmaker suggested last week that part of the reason he opposes tuition tax credits is because he suspects that parochial schools will raise tuition to take advantage of the tax break to parents of schoolchildren.

“I write to express my profound disappointment in the decision of the Senate and the Assembly to not include Education Tax Credits in this year’s budget,” Bishop DiMarzio wrote in a letter addressed to all of the state’s Assembly members and senators.

Responding to an article in The New York Sun quoting Mr. Silver as saying that he doesn’t trust that religious schools would freeze their tuition if the state handed out tuition tax credits, Bishop DiMarzio wrote, “I take personal umbrage at Speaker Silver’s remarks. … The Speaker is well aware, from a meeting held on February 14 with Cardinal Egan and I, along with Jewish and Independent School leaders,” that they “pledged precisely not to raise tuition in our schools in response to passage of Education Tax Credits.”

Bishop DiMarzio’s letter articulates the Catholic Church’s position on the issue of tuition tax credits in much starker terms than previous public statements. After the Assembly last month put out its own proposal for an unrestricted tax credit, Cardinal Egan and Bishop DiMarzio refrained from making any critical comments about the plan.

In his letter, the bishop cites the support that the governor’s plan has received from the heads of the Brooklyn and Queens Democratic organizations and from Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other lawmakers. “How then is it possible that you will allow your leadership to undermine our democratic process?” he wrote.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Silver said the speaker had not seen the letter as of yesterday.

On Friday, the Legislature passed a budget that rejected Governor Pataki’s proposal to give parents of schoolchildren a tax credit of up to $500 to be used to help pay for private school tuition or tutoring. Under the governor’s plan, the tax credits, which reduce tax liability dollar for dollar, would be given to low- and middle-income parents who live in school districts with at least one school that is failing according to federal standards.

Instead of a tax credit linked to tuition, the Legislature is proposing to give parents a tax credit of $333 for every child age 4 to 16. Parents are not restricted in how they spend the credit. Mr. Pataki’s more targeted plan came under attack from the state’s teachers unions, which feared that the governor’s proposal would siphon money away from the public school system and away from teachers.

In the letter, the bishop argues instead that a tax plan that helps parents pay private school tuition would “recognize the many sacrifices of immigrant families that send their children to non-public schools in the hope for a safe and better future for their children.”

The bishop’s letter arrives on the desks of lawmakers during a critical point in the budget process. Mr. Pataki has indicated that he will demand from lawmakers that they change the Legislature’s tax credit plan so that it requires parents to use the money on educational expenses.

The letter puts additional pressure on both the Assembly and the Senate to address the governor’s concerns. The governor’s plan has support from New York City lawmakers in both houses, many of whom come from districts with a high percentage of Catholic, Jewish, and low-income voters.