There is a legal and judicial war taking place against the Catholic Church and Christian values in America, and the latest front is the Connecticut General Assembly. On March 5, the bill S.B. No. 1098 was introduced. It seeks to mitigate the independence and authority of pastors and Bishops over Parishes, instead giving authority to a board of “lay members.”
Its stated purpose is:
“To revise the corporate governance provisions applicable to the Roman Catholic Church and provide for the investigation of the misappropriation of funds by religious corporations.”
And in the text of this anti-Catholic Connecticut Bill, it states:
“The corporation shall have a board of directors consisting of not less than seven nor more than thirteen lay members. The archbishop or bishop of the diocese or his designee shall serve as an ex-officio member of the board of directors without the right to vote.”
Notice that Bishops do not have “the right to vote.” What faithful Catholic would not want a successor to the apostles to have authority in his own diocese?
We also see that the Pastor of a Parish is subordinate to the board when it comes to administrative and financial matters:
“The general administrative and financial powers of the corporation shall be exercised by or under the authority of the board of directors…The pastor of the congregation shall report to the board of directors with respect to administrative and financial matters.”
And then we see where this is all going. The state wants to establish rules of how the Catholic Church is run, and when that is violated, the state can then take action:
“Any person having reason to believe that monetary contributions to a corporation organized under chapter 598 of the general statutes are being misappropriated and not being used for the purpose for which they were given may report that belief to the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall, pursuant to his authority under section 3-125 of the general statutes to represent the public interest in the protection of any gifts, legacies or devises intended for public or charitable purposes, investigate such report and take such action as he deems necessary.”
And so then you have the judicial arm of the state investigating the Catholic Church…This humble blogger is not a lawyer nor a legal expert. So it’s possible I may be overstating the reach of this bill. But other Catholics are concerned as well. Why, in the final analysis is the state interested in regulating a religious organization’s financial and administrative structure?
Right now we don’t know who sponsored this bill. The Catholic Key Blog notes that the dissident Catholic Group “Voice of the Faithful” has often promoted the idea of “trusteeism” or lay members hiring and firing pastors. But, to be fair, we don’t have evidence they are behind this legislation.
Fr. Z on his fabulous blog “What does the Prayer Really Say?” has a note about the Connecticut bill attacking the Catholic Church. I would urge Connecticut residents to contact their Connecticut Assembly members and voice their opposition. There is also a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 11.
UPDATE…Catholic public pressure forced the Judiciary Committee to cancel the March 11 hearing…Instead of a hearing, Catholics attended a public rally. Here is a Twitter account of the Connecticut Catholic public protests.
Update: The Danbury News Times has more information on ct bill s.b. 1098.
Contact the Chairmen of the Judiciary Committee to state your opposition:
Senator Andrew McDonald:
Capitol phone: (800) 842-1420
E-mail: McDonald@senatedems.ct.gov
Representative Michael Lawlor:
Capitol phone: (800) 842-8267
E-mail: MLawlor99@juno.com
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear that the Bishops are the successors of the apostles, and therefore have the ordinary and local authority over their dioceses:
862 “‘Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops.’ Hence the Church teaches that ‘the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.’”
If you want to see Michael Lawlor (who introduced the bill in CT) in action against Brian Brown of the Ct Family Institute now at National Organization for Marriage see this video It shows how desperate he is in trying to silence the religious objection to Gay Marriage. Is this his motive for introducing this crazy bill?
Ave Maria!
Can anyone see the parallels with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1791) in the course of the French Revolution.
Stand firm and fight the good fight. We can’t win in the legislature, but that doesn’t mean we have to roll over and play lap dog.
Our priest said this reminds him (in a historical perspective) of the ‘No Nothing Movement’ 150 years ago – strong anti-catholicism play. Time to voice our objections!
David R. Pia
933 Hope Street
Stamford, CT 06907
dpia@associatedappliances.com
March 8, 2009
Letters to the editor
Via e-mail
To the editor;
Recently, Thursday March, 5, 2009, Connecticut State Senators Andrew McDonald and Michael Lawlor, who chair our state Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill, (#1098) to impede the functions of The Roman Catholic Church. (Public hearing is in Hartford, Wednesday, March 11, 2009).
As outlined in a statement from the Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport; “This bill violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; it forces radical reorganization of the legal, financial and administrative structure of our parishes…”
The Catholic “claim to fame” is our lineage of Popes dating back to our first Pope, St. Peter, who was given his authority direct from Jesus Christ when Christ said; “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). How do you, as Connecticut state legislators, feel that you are empowered to override what has been handed down as Tradition, withstanding over 2000 years, from Jesus Christ?
I DOUBT that you are looking out for the best interest of our parishioners, however,
if you are portraying that you are… quite simply, thanks, but no thanks!
As is the case with any large organization or corporation, the Catholic Church has had its “bad apples” but has addressed its issues and concerns. We have taken action necessary and been responsive and responsible. The Bishop of my Diocese, Bishop Lori, Diocese of Bridgeport, has been prudent, professional and incisive, leading us with gentle concern for our souls but adamant control over our finances and the moral fiber in which The Church is represented.
Religious of many denominations, especially Catholics, have “turned the other cheek” repeatedly in areas that would never been suggested to many other religions, ethnic groups or cults. Jesus taught us to “turn the other cheek, not seven times, but seventy times seven times”, although it was clear to not be literal in mathematics, Senators, this bill is slap number 491 and the straw that broke the camels back.
Simply put, we don’t need or want your intrusion into our Church, actually we resent it. You obviously don’t share in our beliefs or our faith and have no legal, moral or ethical right to impose your agenda on us. Please focus your intelligence in areas of current grave concern; the recession/depression, homelessness, hunger…. Why don’t you call AIG they can use some good help, while The Catholic Church is living within its means AND helping numerous charities (who’s public funding is being cut), those guys over at AIG are losing almost $470,000.00 a MINUTE!
I am proud to be a Roman Catholic, and proud of the leaders of our Church, from the Pope to the Bishops to the Priests in our many parishes. I am proud to be a member of St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church in Trumbull, CT and still in close bond with the Mother Church of Stamford, CT, St. John’s Roman Catholic Church.
David Pia
Stamford & Trumbull, CT
When I was growing up in the 50’s I asked about communism and why it was so bad. My parents said the state controled everything and religion was forbidden. This situation hasn’t been mentioned in the Boston papers (which lavished praise when the know-nothings burned down a convent in the city) . It’s not “news”. Your elected President’s has no problem with the Church going away. Your state is only following his example.
Give me Liberty or give me death….give me religious freedom..what is going wrong with this state and country..
I just heard about this on Fox News (Glen Beck).
To all my brothers and sisters in CT.: Know that we support you in this fight against our God given Constitutional right. The state is strictly forbidden from this kind of action.
I grantee this bill will return. If I recall, last year a local California Government tried to actually ban the Catholic Church by calling it a “foreign government.” The legislation was appealed. So the fact that the legislation was proposed, and then passed, and then had to go through the court system to be removed in incredible.
Now this.
It’ll happen again on a larger scale.
Thanks for following the story.
I live in Kansas. I am witnessing repeats of historical persecution of our Church. Really the chinks in the armour of our Constitution started 150 years ago, more recently with the New Deal and government intervention on nearly every level of citizen activities to bring us up to date. Remember why Europeans sailed to America. They came here to escape exactly what is happening to all of us now. We are slowly becoming enslaved by an all too powerful government. Does anyone think that the choices in our capatlistic world cannot be revoked as they currently are without our religious freedoms being fish netted in with those other freedoms as well? We can’t even pick out the kind of bathroom commode or light bulb we want for our homes anymore since government regulations ran amuck. How can we assume our religious freedom is being protected after things like Bill 1098 were concieved in the minds of government officials. Talk to your children. Vote them out. Use every method available to oppose these zealots. Talk to your nieghbors, friends, relatives. Priorities have changed. We can’t just raise our families, work, play and trust the government to have our best interests at heart any more. We have to devote time to learn about history and to learn who our representatives are. We may even have to start to run for political offices on city and state levels or support those whose principles and beliefs protect us from the assaults of an all to powerful government. Read Liberty and Tyrany by Mark Levin. An excellent history lesson and exercise in understanding how we are seeing Statist controll emerge before our eyes and how it all happened….and what we can do to stop it.