A news release posted on the website of Fairfield University offers three different reactions of faculty members to the now-tabled Connecticut house bill 1098. Dr. Paul F. Lakeland, a Fairfield University Professor of Catholic Studies who has written books on promoting a greater role for the laity in the Catholic Church, supported the legislation that proposed to strip administrative authority from Catholic priests and bishops in Connecticut. Lakeland argued that, “Bishops and parochial clergy are among the busiest of people with enormous pastoral responsibilities, and the burden of fiduciary responsibility is not one they need, nor indeed one which corresponds to any sound theological assessment of what pertain to the traditional roles of teaching, sanctifying and governing.”

Opposing house bill 1098 was Fr. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., Fairfield’s Center for Faith and Public Life Director. He said, “As any religious leader will tell you, a church budget is a moral document; it is a religious document because it indicates the social, religious and moral priorities of the church, choosing and administering those funding priorities are essential elements of a pastor and bishop's religious leadership.”

Fairfield University President Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J. supported Bishop Lori’s opposition to the bill, while acknowledging that “the Church must always be, and especially since Vatican II has shown itself to be, open to reform in the non-essentials of its governance and administration.” President von Arx continued, “But these are internal Church matters to be worked out within the community of the faithful. In the polity of a liberal, non-sectarian state there is no more justification for the state to interfere with the internal governance of a denomination than there would be for the state to enact legislation that favors one denomination over another.” Source: Fairfield University