The FAGS want the Church now?

Bill would place state in charge of Catholic Church

Written by Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 3/10/2009

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill that would give the government the right to rule the Catholic Church.

Raised Bill 1098 would remove the authority of the bishop and pastor over individual parishes and put a board of laymen in their place. Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut says a committee hearing will be Wednesday. "The two co-chairs of the committee -- incredibly powerful men, Representative Mike Lawlor and Senator Andrew McDonald -- are the two openly gay legislative champions of same-sex 'marriage,'" he notes, "so this does feel like it's a sort of revenge, a payback against the church for leading the fight against same-sex marriage."

Wolfgang believes backers of the bill are angry with groups who helped advertise and support Proposition 8 to protect traditional marriage in California. Among those groups was the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization. "[T]heir international headquarters is here in Connecticut. They sent over a million dollars to California for the victory in Proposition 8, and so we do think that we sense some payback here against the church and maybe perhaps explicitly against the Knights of Columbus," he concludes. Wolfgang hopes the public will pack the chambers for the Wednesday committee hearing.

He is especially encouraging participation from non-Catholics, as he believes this bill is an attack on everyone's religious liberty.