LETTER FROM THE BISHOPS IN CONNECTICUT

The Roman Catholic bishops in Connecticut posted a "legislative alert" letter on the website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.

Dear Parishioners and Friends:

As the Bishops of the Catholic family of the State of Connecticut, we are requesting your immediate attention to House Bill 5473, which may be voted on in the General Assembly during the next week or two.

This bill would retroactively eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to allegations of child sexual abuse. Connecticut already has the longest retroactive statute in the United States – 30 years past the age of 18. Over the past several years in states that have even temporarily eliminated the statutes, it has caused the bankruptcy of at least seven dioceses. House Bill 5473 would make Connecticut the only State without a statute of limitations. This bill would put all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk.

The nature of bankruptcy litigation puts all assets at risk, even if your parish has had no past incidents, reports or allegations of child abuse. That is why it is important for you to join other Catholics across Connecticut in opposing this legislation.

If you think I'm persecuting the Roman Catholic Church, you should read Andrew Sullivan.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

First I'm going to New York City, and then I'll go by train to visit my friends in Connecticut. I'll wave good-bye to her husband before he leaves to drive down to Louisiana to do fall fishing with Grandpère and my son. My friend belongs to a choral group that is quite serious about practices, so she can't miss. Instead of traveling to Louisiana with her husband, she invited me to visit her in Connecticut. That sounded good to me. GP and I were in their wedding many years ago, but we moved and lost touch with each other for a long spell, and then I found them several years ago through the internet. We've kept in touch and visited back and forth since then.

In truth, I'd just as soon be out of the way of the testosterone-driven fish stories and expressions of dismay about the stock market. Plus, I hope to see fall color while I'm in Connecticut. I'll spend a few days with my friend, and then I'll head to beautiful midtown Manhattan and around and about in New York City for a few days.




I love New York, I do. Apparently Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture is all over the place. The New Orleans Museum of Art has a copy of it in the sculpture garden. According to Wiki, "The original Love outside sculpture, created in 1970 of cor-ten steel, stands in the sculpture garden at the Indianapolis Museum of Art."

I won't have a computer with me, so there will be little or no blogging while I'm gone. I'll turn off the comment function before I leave tomorrow.

See y'all when I get back.