by Judy Joyce

Created on: March 13, 2009

Is it Not OK for the state to remove control of parish finances from the Catholic diocese?

THE ROLE OF THE BISHOP

When S.B. 1098 was proposed in the Connecticut legislature, some compared it to the anti-Catholic mentality prevalent in the earlier history of the nation during the period of the Know-Nothing party. The current proposal is entitled "An Act Modifying Corporate Laws of Certain Religious Corporations". The change proposed for "certain religious corporations" states, among other things:

(b) 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.

AND

(e) The general administrative and financial powers of the corporation shall be exercised by or under the authority of the board of directors. Such powers shall include, but are not limited to: ( list enumerated at General Assembly Bill S.B. 1098 - LOC 4528, January Session 2009)

The effect of the passage of this legislation would surely be to strip the local bishop, in lay terms a bishop acts as the President and Chairman of the Board of a private non-profit organization - of the ability to act in any official capacity in the management of the parishes in his diocese. Also, for the uninitiated, a diocese is the structure by which Catholic parishes are organized to be responsible both in the practice of their faith and finances in a given geographical location. ( www.usccb.com.

This method of church governance is a Protestant model that can be found any Protestant denomination. There is no Hierarchy in Protestantism. Pastors for Protestant churches are hired by church members and dismissed accordingly.

State vs Church

While the government movement to codify it's own instructions directly into how a Christian faith is to be operated on a day-to-day basis is both shocking and surprising to those who uphold the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state, there is a far larger matter at issue here. Who are the sponsors of this legislation and do they reflect a resurgence of the Know-Nothing party or something even more insidious in an era when tolerance has become the an operative ideal in a global age?

The two sponsor's of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee Bill are the two sponsors of the bill and Judiciary Co-Chairs, Senator Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and Representative Michael Lawlor, D-East

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