Connecticut seeks to govern Church

The the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature, which is chaired by Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford and Rep. Michael Lawlor, introduced a bill on March 5th. The name of the bill is bland enough: "AN ACT MODIFYING CORPORATE LAWS RELATING TO CERTAIN RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS". You can read the bill in it's entirety here. (Thanks to Hotair for bringing this story to light)

Of course, by 'certain religious corporations', they only mean the Roman Catholic Church. What do they want to change? Nothing, really. (WARNING: Extreme sarcasm follows) I mean, it's no big deal. For instance, section 1B 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." (emphasis added)

See? They only want to remove the right of the Bishop to have any say in the governance of his own diocese.

It's not that bad though. This Board only has absolute authority in trivial matters, such as:

"(1) Establishing and approving budgets;
(2) Managing the financial affairs of the corporation;
(3) Providing for the auditing of the financial records of the corporation;
(4) Developing and implementing strategic plans and capital projects;
(5) Developing outreach programs and other services to be provided to the community"

And of course, "The pastor of the congregation shall report to the board of directors with respect to administrative and financial matters."

The Connecticut legislature does find it in their hearts to allow the bishop to be in charge of "matters pertaining exclusively to religious tenets and practices." Gee, thanks.

Rep. Lawlor has this to say about his bill: "SB 1098 is a proposal to make changes in that law, which was suggested by parishioners who were the victims of theft of their funds in several parishes, and these parishioners feel that the state's existing Roman Catholic Corporate laws prevented them from dealing with the misuse and theft of funds."

He's such a nice guy. Too bad Rep. Lawlor has apparently never read a little document he swore to protect and defend, the US Constitution. If he had, he might have stumbled across the 1st Amendment. Since it's such a little known, dusty bit of parchment, I'll quote it here:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. " (emphasis added)

This proposed law is so blatantly unconstitutional I don't even know where to begin. The fact of the matter is the Catholic Church has every right to govern itself any way it likes. If they want to elect a chimpanzee (though hopefully not these chimps) to wear that funny hat and be a Bishop, that's their right. If they want their budget process to be throwing darts at the wall and then writing checks based on the results (kind of like the Federal Government), more power to 'em. The Government has no right to stop them.

I understand people are apparently frustrated that the funds they have given the Church aren't being used to their liking. Thankfully, we live in America, and for the moment you still have the right NOT to go to that Church. You still have the right to NOT give money to that Church, if you don't feel they are doing God's will.

The Legislature should not interfere, because the Church doesn't steal people's money at gunpoint. That's the government's job.