Catholics Shouldn't Blame McDonald, Lawlor For Accountability Effort Hartford Courant
State Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor were not trying to drive Roman Catholics back to the catacombs, pull a "fascist stunt" (as one critic said) or muzzle the church on gay marriage or birth control.
They actually were trying to help rank-and-file Catholics.But the way they went about it was ill-advised.
They are wisely choosing another tack.
Mr. McDonald and Mr. Lawlor, co-chairmen of the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee, recently introduced a bill that would take administrative and fiscal power away from priests and bishops and give it to parishioners.
They said they offered the bill at the request of constituents who were upset by cases of financial impropriety at Fairfield County churches......
Fiscal oversight is clearly a concern at some Catholic churches. A priest began serving a three-year prison sentence last fall for stealing $1.3 million from a Darien parish to bankroll a Florida condo and other lavish amenities.
A pastor in Greenwich resigned in 2007 after an audit could not account for $400,000 in parish funds.
A survey by researchers at Villanova University released in 2007 found that 85 percent of Roman Catholic dioceses that responded had discovered embezzlement of church money in the past five years, with 11 percent reporting that more than $500,000 had been stolen.
But to what level is this a problem for the state? Christ told his followers to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. But is there an obligation to open the books, too?.....
.....Trying to have such a dialogue in the current contentious atmosphere, however, is unlikely. Many Catholics, including some clerics, have been less than charitable in their responses to what was at least a well-intended idea from Mr. McDonald and Mr. Lawlor......
PLEASE SEE:
Does Bishop Lori Really Think That Jesus Wants Him To Be Secretive With The Lords Money?
All Too Often Bishop Lori Has Allowed Funds
That Should Be Helping The Poor
Go To Providing Priests With
Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous?
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