(RNS) A controversial Connecticut bill that would have restructured the Catholic Church and given parishioners more control of financial decisions has been shelved after an uproar from Catholic officials and church-state separationists.
A committee in Connecticut’s General Assembly on Tuesday (March 10) withdrew the bill, which was inspired by high-profile parish thefts by Catholic priests, including one who was convicted in 2007 of stealing $1.3 million from his Darien parish.
Joint Judiciary Committee co-chairman Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Mike Lawlor, both Democrats, said current Connecticut laws, which have separate provisions for various denominations, “appear to us to be unconstitutional.”
“If that is correct, any changes to that law would likely also be unconstitutional,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
McDonald and Lawlor called on Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to review whether current laws are constitutional.
The scuttled bill would have removed financial control of local churches from diocesan bishops and empowered parish councils stocked with lay Catholics.
Several bishops, as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, castigated the bill on Wednesday (March 11).
“This bill is not even close to constitutional,” said Anthony Picarello, the USCCB’s general counsel. “It targets the Catholic Church explicitly and exclusively, and it inserts the state into theological controversies regarding how the Church should be structured and governed.”