The Catholic Church of Rhode Island has its own lobbyist? A real, honest to God (what pun?) lobbyist? A person who lobbies State legislators for Church friendly legislation?
Holy crap, Batman! I thought there was supposed to be separation of Church and State, according to the First Amendment of the Constitution. And, isn't it the act of remaining separate from affairs of the State that enables the Church to retain their tax exempt status?
Then WTF is going on?!
According to Charles Pierce of Esquire, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island has had several high profile disagreements with Pope Francis, the current, very popular head of the Catholic Church. In his own article, Pierce uses the following quote from a Boston Globe article, by Globe Correspondent Mike Stanton, on Bishop Tobin's participation in a prayer vigil outside a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Providence:
"Our commitment to human life is important," he told them, as gas trucks rumbled by on Point Street. "Some have said that this commitment can be an obsession. If it's an obsession to protect unborn life, then it's a very important obsession." With his choice of words, Tobin seemed to be taking a direct swipe at Pope Francis, who sent tremors through the Roman Catholic Church in September when he said church leaders are too "obsessed" with abortion and other divisive social issues such as gay marriage.
And from the same Boston Globe article:
But the Rev. Bernard Healey, the Providence diocese's longtime State House lobbyist, praises Tobin's fearlessness in speaking out on issues important to Catholics.
Now, this is where Pierce, a Catholic, hammers the nail home in
his article:
Hold on a second. Find me a passage in the Gospels -- any passage in the Gospels -- that allows for a lobbyist, much less a "longtime" one.
And:
Is Healey a registered lobbyist? if he is, that's the ballgame. If the Church has lobbyists, then the Church pays taxes. Period. The pope can handle people like Tobin in his own way. We can handle them in ours.
Holy tax exempt status, Batman! I think I got myself a new hero!
Charles Pierce's full article, with a link to the Boston Globe article, can be found here: http://www.esquire.com/...