A wildly outrageous anti-Catholic bill which was due to go to a hearing tomorrow in Connecticut, has been tabled, but word is that the issue is not going away.
The Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature, crafted a bill that specifically names only the Catholic Church, and forces it to form lay committees to govern parishes. These lay committees would be "elected from among the lay members of the congregation at an annual meeting." Under the legislation, the bishop and priests would have had no vote at all. This is a blatant attempt to derail the Church's consistent opposition to many things currently happening in today's society.
Due to the outcry against the legislation on grounds of religious freedom, separation of church and state, and constitutionality, the bill has been pulled, but the planned rally in Hartford, CT will still occur on Wednesday.
Keep watch over our rights to freedom of religion in this country. They are being slowly (and in some cases, rather quickly) eroded away.
8 comments:
I read about this bill this morning and thought how awful. I will be praying for the people in CT.
This just doesn't make sense to me.
I just left a long comment on Dymphna's Road blog with background and foreground on this bill. I am from CT and have followed this from the beginning.
Ostensibly it was raised because of the two priests here who stole money from their parishes. Actually it was raised because of our church's stand against gay marriage, abortion, and homsexuality.
Please read my full post on Dymphna's Road.
Thanks, Patrice. That's what I heard as well. Its amazing (or maybe not) how blatant anti-Catholicism is now.
What is really interesting is that replacing the priests and bishops with laity will not solve the problem of embezzlement. It will only change WHO can do the embezzling.
This is why I am in favor of using the existing criminal laws to go after any kind of thievery. You don't solve a criminal problem with a civil law.
This bill is against the first amendment to the Constitution--I think it attacks the "free exercise" part of the amendment, which it tells us how to govern our church body. Others think it attacks the "establishment" clause.
It is also against the Fourteenth amendment, which prohibits discrimination.
The Constitution is under severe attack.
You are right Patrice--this goes against both the first and 14th amendments. The Constitution is, indeed, under attack.
keeping people in CT in my prayers!
Thanks, Marilena!
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