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	Bill to Alter Catholic Church's Corporate Structure Questioned Blumenthal Says Proposal Could Be Unconstitutional By Ted Mann The Day March 10, 2009 http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=c5eec2d6-e198-4891-8930-8168516afbd2 Hartford - A controversial proposal to mandate changes in the corporate structure of Catholic parishes and church institutions could be unconstitutional, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Monday. But so too could the very law the leaders of the Catholic Church are lobbying vigorously to preserve, he said. In a brief interview Monday, Blumenthal said he doubted the legislative proposal - which would require any corporation formed by a Catholic parish or organization to create a board of directors made up of elected lay members to oversee basic operations like financial management and administrative oversight - would be permitted under the constitution's mandated separation of church and state. "My review of it so far indicates there would be potential serious constitutional issues with a proposal that intrudes into the structure and functioning and governance of any religious institution," Blumenthal said. "The First Amendment prohibits the entanglement of government in religious affairs and interference with the free exercise of religion." But the attorney general also has his doubts about the constitutional propriety of the existing "framework" of laws that the legislators - at the prodding of some Catholic parishioners - could consider amending. The legal provisions governing the incorporation of Catholic organizations date back at least to 1866, when the legislature approved a statute providing the bishop of Hartford and individual parishes the right to incorporate. The current iteration of the statutes was last amended in 1955. "If you look at the entire statutory framework that it's seeking to amend, there are a lot of provisions that affect internal governance of religious institutions," Blumenthal said, "so there are some constitutional issues. The questions raised as to the amendment may be equally applicable to the existing framework, because it applies to the structure or governance of religious institutions." At least one lawmaker disagreed with that assessment Monday, when the controversy over the proposal dominated conversation at the Capitol. "That bill is patently unconstitutional," said Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, who said the existing provisions for Catholic and other religious corporations in the state statutes are needed to protect parishioners from legal exposure in the event their church or parish organizations are sued in civil court. "I don't know any lawyer who would argue otherwise. But what is worse is it's a direct assault on religious freedoms." McKinney said the Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate planned to unanimously oppose the bill and would call on Democrats today to cancel Wednesday's scheduled public hearing before the Judiciary Committee. The leaders of that committee, Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said Monday in a statement that neither had intended to endorse the proposal but had instead acted on requests for reform from Catholic constituents who are upset about a series of incidents - including alleged embezzlement at parishes in Greenwich and Darien. "It has been incorrectly characterized that this legislation originated from the two of us as an attack on the church and freedom of religion," McDonald and Lawlor said in a joint statement. "That is not the truth, and the facts do not support such a claim. "In reality, this bill was proposed and written by a group of faithful Catholic parishioners from Fairfield County who asked the Judiciary Committee to consider giving the subject a public hearing," the statement said. "Especially considering the fact that one of the large-scale embezzlements which gave rise to this proposal originated from a parish corporation in Darien, a town that Senator McDonald represents, we decided to give these parishioners a chance to present to the Judiciary Committee a case for their proposed revisions to existing corporate law." Nonetheless, Catholic voters deluged lawmakers with phone calls and e-mail messages Monday after a prompting from the state's three bishops encouraging the faithful to get involved in opposing the bill. The bill "forces a radical reorganization of the legal, financial, and administrative structure of our parishes," Bishop Michael Cote warned in a statement read to parishioners on Sunday. Other public officials were even more blunt, with state Republican Chairman Chris Healy accusing the Democrats of waging "holy war," and William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, calling for Lawlor and McDonald to be expelled from the legislature. But despite those charges, some supporters of the reforms - Catholics themselves - said they are simply seeking a broader debate among the faithful about improving institutional protections after a series of embezzlements and scandals. Some lay Catholics have called repeatedly in recent years for the modernization of financial and other protocols. Those calls came in response to a series of incidents of embezzlement and fraud, including in parishes in Darien and Greenwich, and from church-operated institutions, like St. Bernard School in Montville. "I do believe it's time for reform in the church, however we get it," said John M. Lucarelli, a member of the Representative Town Meeting in Greenwich and a parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel, where an audit found last year that former pastor the Rev. Michael Moynihan had diverted as much as $400,000 in off-the-books expenditures to his own credit card bills and personal benefit. "The debate is healthy and it's long overdue," Lucarelli said. Lucarelli, who conceded that the Judiciary Committee proposal was imperfect, said he and other supporters of the effort were hoping to trigger a broader discussion about the management of the church's parishes and institutions. But the first response, from the offices of Connecticut's bishops down to the phone lines buzzing in the Legislative Office Building, has been anger, as church leaders signaled an intention to aggressively fight the proposed changes in a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday. "To say that people are outraged over this proposal to bar the Catholic Church from overseeing its own finances is being charitable," said House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, in a written statement. "This bill has provoked a lot of people." "The state of Connecticut is billions of dollars in debt and some Democratic lawmakers want to dictate to the Catholic Church how it manages its finances," Cafero said. "That does not make sense to a lot of people." A spokesman for the Norwich diocese similarly suggested the legislation was flawed - and beside the point with a budget deficit to solve. "I don't understand why," said Michael Stramiello, "and I don't understand why now."
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