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	Stone-walling by Diocese Weakens Its Demurals By Tracey O'Shaughnessy Waterbury Republican-American October 31, 2009 http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/10/31/lifestyle/family/446596.txt How about a conciliatory gesture between Christians? A homecoming gift, if you like. Now that the Vatican has extended an invitation to Anglicans to join its flock, it may want to sweeten the pot with a little candor. I am referring, of course, to the 12,000 pages of sexual abuse documents the Bridgeport Diocese insists are just too secret to share with the rest of us. Now that the Roman Catholic Church, of which I am a part, wants to open its doors to disaffected Anglicans, perhaps the church will open those dusty old files, too. It would be a refreshing — if improbable — gesture of frankness. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider hearing the diocese's case, which seems unlikely given that the court has already refused to block the documents' release. The Connecticut Supreme Court has twice upheld a ruling that the documents were subject to a presumption of public access. For the last seven years, the Bridgeport Diocese, which settled 23 lawsuits that alleged sexual misconduct by eight of its diocesan priests, has resisted having government officials pawing through its papyrus. It asserts that it has a First Amendment right to keep its personnel documents to itself — even if those documents reveal how the church dealt with priests in its employ who allegedly committed vile crimes against children. Though it would be refreshing if the diocese would come to its senses and recognize that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to lose, public relations has never been the church's strong suit. After the Supreme Court rejected the court-ordered release documents, the current Bridgeport bishop, William E. Lori, said, "The right of the church to determine the suitability of its own ministers has been compromised by this decision." To read the complete story see Friday's Republican-American or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com.
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