The Bugle Sounded: Catholics Defend the Church in Hartford

May the 'Battle of Bridgeport' signal the beginning of a new Catholic Action for America.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - So many of our readers have written concerning the efforts to take away the Constitutional rights of the Catholic Church through the passage of unconstitutional legislation in the State of Connecticut.

Here is just one message from the many who attended the Rally Wednesday on the steps of the State Capitol Building: "I was at the Rally today, and it was a great turnout. Capitol police said 4000 attended. We listened to Connecticut's Bishops speak, we sang, and we prayed. Even though the bill was shelved (for now) we made our feelings about it clear!"

They came because their Bishops stood strong. The bugle sounded a clear note. St Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8) Well, this time the Bugle sounded clearly and the Bishops can take the credit.

The Bill was withdrawn from active consideration by Tom Gallagher, one of its proponents earlier this week. He is backpedaling now, attempting to rewrite history and claim that he only meant the best in this effort to create a different Church through utilizing the power of the State. However, the facts speak for themselves. This legislation was clearly unconstitutional.

Some State leaders who opposed the legislation called for an informal hearing when they realized that the faithful were coming, en masse, to the Capitol, even after the measure was tabled. The Bishops asked the faithful to come and they climbed on busses and showed up over 4,000 strong. They were there to defend the Church.

The ranking Republican on the Judiciary committee, Sen. John Kissel of Enfield, explained: "The co-chairs decided for whatever reason to cancel everything ... but there are an awful lot of folks who feel very passionately about this issue...We don't have the authority to call a formal hearing. But we felt it would be good for those folks who wanted to come down here to express their views."

Among the many who spoke was Dean John Garvey of the Boston College School of Law. He put it bluntly, "It violates the First Amendment rule that the legislature cannot dictate the structure of church government."

Many Constitutional Lawyers, this writer among them, expressed the same in writing over the weekend when the story broke. This legislation violated the Establishment Clause, the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

However, the voices which moved the response of the faithful, more than any others, were the voices of the Bishops of Connecticut. Let us pray that what was begun in Connecticut spreads throughout the entire Church in the United States.

The two sponsors of the legislation are now awaiting a legal opinion from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. I have no doubt he will put this effort to an end, at least this time around, by acknowledging the glaring unconstitutionality of the legislation.

What is more important is the response this awful legislation elicited. It was wonderful. What I called the "Battle of Bridgeport" should become the beginning of a Catholic offensive against the growing efforts to silence the Church as she speaks with her Moral Voice to the major moral issues of our age.

This legislation is an example of poor scriveners overplaying their hand and drafting a bad piece of legislation. However, it became an opportunity for diligent Shepherds staying on the watch and defending the faithful from the wolves to step forward and sound the bugle, enlisting the lay faithful to a new form of Catholic action.

There are so many other fronts that this needs to spread to. The problem we face is two pronged. First there is an effort to cast all of the positions of the Church on moral issues as somehow "private religious doctrine" which does not have any place in the public discourse. The second prong is the effort to cast the moral voice of the Church on these issues as being "Political" and then seek to censor it by using the language of bigotry and disparagement. Worse yet, to then, as in this instance, try to back it up with the Police Power of the State.

Let's be honest. The Catholic Church is the greatest threat to those who support the intentional killing of children in the womb as a "right" and hope to undermine the primacy of authentic marriage. The positions of the Catholic Church on these issues are unequivocal and they are moral positions. The opponents of the Church style them as "political" and then use intimidation to prevent the leaders of the Church, clerical or lay, from speaking out.

May the Battle of Bridgeport signal the beginning of a new Catholic Action for America.

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