Bishop William Lori: 'This is the Constitution State?'

'This new action cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to muzzle the Church and subject our right of free speech to government review and regulation.'

BRIDGEPORT (Catholic Online) - Bishop William Lori is a champion of life and a Bishop of great courage. He is also the Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus. We present a recent column written by this servant of the Lord for our readers throughout the world.

The Bishop needs our prayer and our vocal and active support. The actions being taken against him and the Diocese of Bridgeport are egregious and unconstitutional. They also represent a great threat to the whole Church. This column can be found on the website of the Diocese of bridgeport, in the Bishops Blog. http://www.bridgeportdiocese.com/welcome.shtml

This is the "Constitution State"??

"It is with a great degree of shock and dismay that I must share with you a recent action that the State of Connecticut - the so-called "Constitution State" - has initiated with respect to our Diocese.

"As you will recall, following the surprise introduction of Bill 1098, which singled out Catholic parishes and would have forced them to reorganize contrary to Church law and the First Amendment, our Diocese responded in the most natural, spontaneous, and, frankly, American, of ways:

"We alerted our membership - in person and through our website; We encouraged them to exercise their free speech by contacting their elected representatives; and
We organized a rally at the State Capitol in Hartford.
As a result, we helped highlight the unconstitutional nature of this proposal such that the bill was withdrawn even before its first scheduled public hearing. It was an outstanding demonstration of democracy-in-action and a great civics lesson for our children. Our Founding Fathers would have been proud.

Examiner's Conclusion

"Last week, however, we were informed that, in the view of an examiner at the Connecticut Office of State Ethics, this was not a textbook case of citizen democracy and free speech - it actually constituted "lobbying"!

"Accordingly, the examiner alleges that we failed to register as a lobbyist, a process that would subject the Diocese to intrusive oversight and regulation by the State. As such, the Diocese supposedly violated State law and is potentially subject to civil penalties.

"Once again, we should be outraged.

"Lobbying"? Exhortations from the pulpit, information posted to the world wide web, a rally in the middle of the day on the State's most public piece of property? This cannot possibly be what our Legislature had in mind when it enacted lobbying laws to bring more transparency and oversight to a legislative process that has been corrupted by special interests and backroom deals.

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First Amendment Response

"Let's be clear: we violated no law. We acted in response to an outrageous proposal that was imminently pending review and threatened to impose dramatic and blatantly unconstitutional requirements on our Church.

"Unfortunately, this new action cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to muzzle the Church and subject our right of free speech to government review and regulation. This government action tramples on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and should shock the conscience of all citizens of the Constitution State.

"We have now been left with no choice but to file a civil rights lawsuit in Federal Court against State of Connecticut officials seeking relief from this shocking government action. A copy of the lawsuit and more information is posted now on our website.

"As a Bishop, I will take every measure possible to defend our faith and our Church from attempts to silence us - and our individual parishes could be targeted next."

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