Below is the text from the press release forwarded to me by my state representative:
Statement of Judiciary Committee Co-Chairmen Senator Andrew J. McDonald (D-Stamford) and Representative Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven) regarding the request by proponents to cancel Wednesday’s public hearing:
“For reasons that are unclear, Connecticut has had generations-old laws on the books singling out particular religions and treating them differently from other religions in our statutes. That doesn't seem right. In fact, many of our existing corporate laws dealing with particular religious groups appear to us to be unconstitutional under the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If that is correct, any changes to that law would likely also be unconstitutional.
“With that in mind, it would serve no useful purpose to have a conversation about changing the laws that govern existing Roman Catholic corporations until we know if any of these existing laws are constitutional. At the request of the proponents who are advocating this legislation, we have decided to cancel the public hearing for tomorrow, table any further consideration of this bill for the duration of this session, and ask the Attorney General his opinion regarding the constitutionality of the existing law that sets different rules for five named separate religions.
“We think it would be more appropriate to invite representatives from all religious denominations around the state together with legal scholars on this topic to participate in a forum regarding the current law. Such a conversation would be more appropriate to have when the legislature is not in session and other more important issues, such as the current fiscal crisis, are resolved. We intend to do that once we
have the benefit of the Attorney General's opinion.
“In the meantime, we think it would be most beneficial if the proponents who requested these changes and church officials meet together privately to see if they can come to a resolution on their own. Open and honest communication between these two groups could only help. For our part, we intend to reach out to representatives of the Catholic Conference and continue the discussion that began in 2008 on this issue. We hope they will agree to meet with us.”
Frankly, this is far from over. Not realizing the immediate backlash they would get, they tried to sneak this through. Now that the spotlight is on this bill, with thousands of Catholics from all over the state ready to flood the capitol for this hearing, the cowards have decided to come back to the matter after the Attorney General has had a chance to review the constitutionality of the existing framework. (Mind you, this is the pro-abortion, pro- gay marriage, pro- Plan B contraception, pro-embryonic stem cell research, anti- conscience clause for pro-life health care providers Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.)
I wonder if it wasn't the intention all along to play up the "unfair" uniqueness of the structure of the Catholic Church? I'll keep you posted.
4 comments:
"I wonder if it wasn't the intention all along to play up the "unfair" uniqueness of the structure of the Catholic Church?"
Perhaps the thinking wasn't that sophisticated. But I'd believe the thinking was definetly along the, "Lets throw something at the Catholicism wall and see what sticks."
You can bet there'll be some negative spin directed at the Church from this. Look at the letters to the editor of the local paper, I'll bet not all of them will be sympathetic to the Church over this.
And if your local paper is The Day, my condolences. I lived in that area for over twenty years.
Ha! Your condolences accepted.
What boat were you on?
Maybe it wasn't that sophisticated, but as Bishop Lori said, it was clear that they were working on this for a long time. In all that, they didn't think to ask if it was unconstitutional?
BTW, I average 1-2 letters to the Day a month. You bet they'll be hearing from me on this one.
Mike - I linked to this at my site. Keep up the great work!
VOTF has their dissenting fingers dug deep into this pie. CNA has a good article with a lot of details showing their involvement since the beginning. Bp. Lori ought to excommunicate every member immediately, no questions asked.
Thanks for the link Larry.
I'll check out the CNA article and I also commented on the VOTF on your site. Their agenda predates the sex-abuse scandal, so their attempts to justify their re-forming of the Church doesn't hold up to any scrutiny.
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