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	Republican Lawmakers Question Origins of Church Finance Bill By Keith M. Phaneuf Journal Inquirer March 11, 2009 http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/03/11/connecticut/doc49b7ced741327564570803.txt HARTFORD — Top Republican lawmakers are questioning how and why a proposal to block the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy from voting on parish finance decisions was crafted, following one advocate's claim that the measure was more restrictive than he'd requested. House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero of Norwalk and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney of Fairfield said the measure — which Republicans in both chambers oppose — didn't appear at all related to church matters when the bill was raised as a concept on Jan. 23. Also Tuesday, Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Sen. Andrew J. McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairmen of the Democrat-controlled Judiciary Committee, announced the bill would be tabled for the 2009 legislative session. They said the committee would seek to work with church leaders, laity, and others to find a compromise next year. And while Lawlor and McDonald also canceled a public hearing that had been set for today, Cafero and McKinney planned a forum in its place, set for noon in the Legislative Office Building. The two argued that thousands of Connecticut Catholics had been unnerved by the proposal and needed a chance to speak about it. "What is most concerning to me is how this happened," Cafero said Tuesday. Shortly before Democratic lawmakers — who hold big majorities in both the House and the Senate — scrapped the bill, two private individuals, who reportedly requested the legislation in response to embezzlement cases at parishes in Darien and Greenwich, indicated the bill "goes too far." Thomas Gallagher, a parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Church in Greenwich, and Paul Lakeland, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, confirmed they had asked committee leaders late Monday to postpone Wednesday's public hearing on the bill. "My little idea was to simply add a few more lay trustees" to parish finance boards by amending the state's Religious Corporation Act, Gallagher said. The measure prepared by committee leaders expanded lay representation on such boards, but also excluded pastors, bishops, and other clergy from being voting members. "It goes too far, and has never been a part of my vision of possible changes," Gallagher added. "We lay Catholics want a closer, co-fiduciary relationship with our pastors and bishops with respect to the temporal affairs of our parishes." Both Lakeland — a former priest who left the priesthood to marry — and Gallagher also said they're asking Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to review the Religious Corporation Act to determine whether existing state requirements for parish financial boards are constitutional. Connecticut has had rules since the mid-19th century for the finance boards of churches that seek to incorporate under state law. McKinney said he believes those measures were drafted only to codify church rules and to protect lay volunteers from being held personally liable should the parish face legal action. Clear as mud? Cafero said that if the composition of the most recent bill is confusing, so is the title originally placed on it. Legislative committees routinely raise "concept bills" at the start of the legislative session, assigning a formal number to a bill title that indicates the subject matter to be addressed. No details or bill language is ready to go with that title. Cafero said the concept bill raised by the Judiciary Committee on Jan. 23, titled "An Act Modifying Corporate Forms," offered no hint that it would address the controversial topic of church finances and oversight. "We've heard from hundreds and hundreds of people we represent," McKinney said, adding that they all charged the bill "is simply government getting into and changing an individual religion." Lawlor and McDonald received thousands of e-mails of protest this week from Catholics, many of whom heard the bill discussed at Mass last weekend. Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, Norwich Bishop Michael R. Cote, and Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori issued a statement saying the proposal "directly attacks the Roman Catholic Church and our faith." The Catholic League, a Roman Catholic advocacy group, had called for McDonald and Lawlor to be kicked out of the General Assembly. The league argued the two were "ethically unfit" to continue as lawmakers. The committee co-chairmen issued a statement Tuesday, saying: "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. 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." They added, "A lot of misinformation has been spread about this proposal, and we ourselves are still learning exactly what its impact would be. We are keeping an open mind to what these parishioners have to say about their church, and we respectfully ask that others give the courtesy of listening to their proposed changes."
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