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The Nation's Pulse
Clerical Errors
Last week I wrote about the bold incursion against the Catholic Church launched by Connecticut lawmakers who sought to wrest parish financial control from the hands of its bishops and pastors. Thankfully, this crisis was averted, as thousands of Catholics and others lovers of the U.S. Constitution marched on our state capital to rally in support of religious freedom and to protest any governmental interference with same.
Those who advanced this legislation, state officials like Senator Andrew McDonald, who is homosexual, were no doubt spurred on by the Church's feisty opposition to gay marriage, and probably more than a bit perturbed that the Knights of Columbus, "the strong right arm of the Church," whose headquarters are in New Haven, donated $1 million in support of California's Proposition 8. The Church in Connecticut has also run afoul of abortion supporters and those who seek to permit assisted suicide in our state.
The backers of Bill 1098 would have you believe that they sought to protect parishioners from crooked pastors who would rob church funds. Yet, just as all Catholic clergy are made to pay for the sexual sins of a very few, a total of two priests out of nearly 900 in the state have been convicted of financial malfeasance. Would that our congressman had such a percentage! And so it becomes clearer that the target of this legislation is not financial accountability, but the emasculation and eventual elimination of those who buck the liberal agenda of sexual promiscuity and the culture of death.
It is a sign of the sad times we live in that such a rally even had to take place. As is so often the case in modern America, it seems that those rights most clearly spelled out in our founding documents -- such as the right to own firearms or practice one's religion freely -- are those most often in need of protection. You'd think that the great lovers of constitutional freedom like the ACLU, who are so quick to extend First Amendment protection even to enemy combatants, would have been lining up shoulder to shoulder with those who rallied in Hartford last week.
We who try to live out our faith in our daily lives are often told that we must check our beliefs at the church door; that we cannot impose our deeply held convictions on broader society, even though our nation was founded on such concepts, like that of Natural Law. On the other hand, when gays -- who differ from the vast majority of their countrymen only in their sexual preferences -- seek to force their will on the rest of the nation under the guise of "equal" rights, we are told that it is impossible for them to do otherwise because their homosexuality is "part of who they are," their very identity. How much more does this apply to people of faith who believe the stakes are much, much higher?
One of the definitions of "religion" in my dictionary reads: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. There are those in this country who worship at the altar of many such causes; be they global warming, feminism, environmentalism or socialism. And for far too long, they have imposed their minority views on the majority; often cloaking their message in sugary platitudes and even Bliblical quotes like, "I am my brother's keeper." Sorry, but I don't need the Nanny State keeping watch over me, and as for my brothers; I don't think that the forced redistribution of wealth by the government is what Our Lord had in mind when he told us to love our neighbor.
Last year, Catholics across the land were rightly dismayed and embarrassed that so many of their brethren could vote for a pro-abortion candidate, and their spirits as Americans were at an all-time low. That is, until the geniuses in Connecticut decided to light a firecracker and put it in their hands. They awoke a sleeping giant and unwittingly gave all believers a chance to prove that they could take to the streets with a zeal equal to or greater than any other "community organizers."
Yet the chuckleheads up in Hartford just don't know when to quit. Two days after withdrawing Bill 1098, Andrew McDonald and friends introduced Bill 1138; "An Act Concerning Death with Dignity," which immediately became the target of Connecticut Catholic bishops, still fresh from victory. Amazingly, the bill was withdrawn after just two days, due to what an official called, "a clerical error."
The real clerical error may lie in that liberals have underestimated this nation's priests and bishops, who seem newly emboldened to exercise their pastoral duty to inform the consciences of their flocks in matters of truth and morals. And maybe Nancy Pelosi and friends may soon discover just how many regiments the Pope really has.
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Stuart Koehl| 3.18.09 @ 7:08AM
An interesting unintended consequence, had this bill been passed and found constitutional, would be the dismantling of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Already, in Virginia, we have seen upwards of a dozen parishes, including several large, rich and historic ones, separate from the Diocese of Virginia over theological differences, to seek pastoral protection from a group of African bishops. The Diocese sued the breakaway parishes to reclaim all their property, since it is understood that the bishop is "corporation sole" and all ecclesiastical property belongs to him for the duration of his tenure. However, a Civil War era Virginia statute gives control of the properties to the parish council. The dispute is still in litigation.
Had the proposed Connecticut law been passed and upheld, it would knock the legs out from under the Episcopal Church, which would then see massive defections by conservative congregations presently held in place only by fear of losing parish properties and funds.
This is hardly the outcome the sponsors of the law had in mind, I think. Who is more gay friendly than the Episcopal Church?
Wicked Dickie--Virginia| 3.18.09 @ 8:32AM
It's appalling to see such blatant attacks upon the Constitution. However, such obvious hostility does appear to have done some good. Maybe, as you point out, the Bishops will now get some backbone and excommunicate such leading "catholic" lights as Bishop-without-portfolio Pelosi and that pair of creeps from Taxachusetts. I guess it takes martyrs to make a Church even today in our enlightened, 21st century world. I look for more back door (no pun intended) attacks. Even now, President Obama-ayers has used such to attack the 2nd amendment by banning the sale of used ammunition brass to manufacturers by the Defense Department.
iowavette| 3.18.09 @ 4:53PM
It is good indeed to see Christians, Catholics in particular, stand up to the godless few that tear at our institutions and traditions but have nothing to take their place. While not religious by disposition, one still must revere Christianity and the tenets that brought structure and meaning to human life and form the basis of our country's guiding principles from an intellectual perspective. At the same time, the liberal tradition of the church and the ultra-liberal outlook enjoyed by the male and female orders are destructive and have no stature with the far left or the media.
jr| 3.18.09 @ 7:37PM
The church may get a little huffy but it will not cut off the abortionists from communion no more that cast out all of the homos from its ranks.
James Pawlak| 3.19.09 @ 8:14PM
Yes, the bishops did give up much of their once great moral authority by sheltering abusers of children---And still are sheltering some of them.
Although the bishops will not say so, the Obama administration has declared war on Christianity (Catholic and others). War has its own rules and I am cleaning my guns.
Eugene Flanagan| 3.20.09 @ 1:07PM
As a loyal Catholic in Connecticut, I greatly appreciate Ms. Fabrizio's article. As a supplement, I note that there appeared to be only an handful of political activists behind this now-infamous piece of vile legislation.
In particular, Dr. Paul Lakeland, Chair of Fairfield University's "Center for Catholic Studies", was an outstanding proponent of the bill. He was prepared to testify before the Connecticut Legislature in its favor before it was properly crushed.
Fairfield University claims to be a "Jesuit, Catholic university." So, why is the head of its "Center for Catholic Studies" engaged in political activities for the purpose of destroying our Church?
Many prospective students and their parents will find Dr. Lakeland's actions deeply disturbing. They must ask themselves what this says about the Catholic nature of Fairfield University in general, and whether, in reality, Fairfield's theologians are, in the Baptist's words, a "brood of vipers" whose venom will wither and destroy their souls.
Now, Fairfield University has a choice to make: whether to dismiss Dr. Lakeland and thereby affirm its loyalty to the Catholic Church, or keep him on, thereby submitting to Satan who would destroy her.
Chuck| 3.22.09 @ 8:49AM
Funny the catholics talk about "fair" and "love" and "justice" when they are simultaneously paying millions of dollars each year for sex with underage boys. This country is founded on principles that allow each person to practice their faith unencumbered by the government yet the religious elite think they should govern any religion not alligned with their own. The catholic church espouses the "truth" as its perverted catechism sees it and this reporter's personal "dictionary" states it to be without ever looking at facts, such as that that proves, time and again, that legalized abortion does not mean higher abortion rates and abstinence-only teaching in public schools does not decrease them. But the facts are, instead, opposite what your "dictionary" says they are. catholics should spend less time spewing hatred for the "homos" and spend less time loving the way Jesus did and seeking out true justice. catholics don't love the constitution so much as they love their tax exempt status because of it.
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