Translated from the Italian original

L’Osservatore Romano
March 12, 2009

Freedom of Connecticut Parishes is Safe
The bill which entrusted financial management to the lay has been withdrawn

The attempt to assign the management of the Catholic parishes of Connecticut to a board made up of only laymen has failed:  the two Democratic legislators of said State who had endorsed the project, Senator Andrew McDonald from Stamford County and Representative Michael Lawlor from East Haven, have decided to withdraw the proposal before it was submitted to the opinion of the Judiciary Committee.

“Following the request of the proposers who sponsor this amendment,” announced McDonald and Lawlor, “we have decided to canceled the public session where it would have been discussed, to suspend any other action for the duration of this legislative session and ask the Attorney General for his opinion on the constitutionality of the present laws.”

From the bishops of Connecticut, who in the past days have opposed valid reasons to the legislative project which threatened the liberty of administration of the parishes by Catholic clergy, there still has not been a comment on the cancellation of the public session of the Judiciary Committee.

Lawrence Cook, spokesman for the Democratic Senators of Connecticut, mentioned that the initiative for the new legislative proposal started from a group of Catholic laymen following the sentence of a priest who was accused of embezzlement of parish funds.

If the project had not been withdrawn, it could have overturned current legislation which considers the Catholic Church and religious congregations as non-profit organizations run by a board of directors composed of three religious and two lay members. According to the two Democrat’s project, the board of directors of parishes should be made up of a number which varies from seven to thirteen laymen, directly elected by the congregation; the parish would have no right to veto; even the bishop would be considered an external member without decision-making powers.  “This is contrary to the apostolic nature of the Church,” declared, repeatedly in the last few years, Archbishop of Hartford, Monsignor Henry Joseph Mansell, who was involved because the group of Catholic lay who first advanced the legislative proposal belong to one of the territories under his archdiocese.

Democratic Representative Lawlor, along with Senator McDonald had requested a public session of the Judiciary Committee to discuss the legislative proposal, it would be necessary to review the entire regulations on religious corporations which dates back to 1955.  In the proposal presented by him with McDonald, every parish could elect its own board of directors and the laymen would have the power to decide and approve the budget and control all financial income and expenditures.  According to the project, the bishop and priests could continue to have competence exclusively on pertinent to religious issues.

Attorney Philip Lacovara, who belongs to San Aloysius parish in New Canaan, declared a few days ago that the bill proposed by the two Democrats was clearly unconstitutional and had invited the members of the Judiciary Committee to reject it if it were presented.

Instead, according to other opinions, the legislative proposal would not have interfered with the sacerdotal ministry since it safeguarded bishop’s decisional power concerning doctrinal issues.

Following the renunciation of the public session of the Judiciary Committee to discuss the proposal, the Democratic legislators McDonald and Lawlor announced their intention to create a forum in order to discuss the constitutionality of current legislation.  According to the two political representatives, “It’s not right” that current regulations treat diverse religious denominations in a non-equal way.  However, it current legislation would result unconstitutional also every modification should then be considered unconstitutional.

Both McDonald and Lawlor agreed that this is not the right moment to conduct a legislative proposal and that it is better to postpone any initiative until the current legislative cycle of the State of Connecticut has expired.
Both Democratic representatives have declared to agree to require and respect the opinion of the Attorney General.

The previous days, Bishop of Bridgeport, William Edward Lori, as President of the of the Committee for the Doctrine of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference in the United States, had manifested his disapproval for the legislative proposal.
According to Monsignor Lori, the problem of the management of funds of parishes had been provoked to distract the faithful from issues which are really important not only to the Church but also the entire society in the United States.
Among the issues of interest, Monsignor Lori had mentioned the issue of same sex marriage which could undermine the foundation of the family and of the entire society.
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