In an extraordinary pastoral letter issued earlier this month, Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori outlined the roots of religious freedom and issued a call to Catholics to "recoup and defend religious liberty.''
The 16-page letter, titled "Let Freedom Ring,'' directly addresses the role Catholic faithful should play in the political sphere. "It is our glory and our responsibility as citizens to conscientiously exercise our right to vote,'' Bishop Lori writes.
"Candidates for public office should be looked at not only on questions such as taxes, jobs, transportation, and the like - vital as these issues are - but also on their records and positions with regard to religious liberty.
"We need to ask our candidates where they stand on the issues discussed in this letter as well as other issues illumined by the Church's social teaching. And we need to challenge our public officials to respect and protect religious liberty and also to listen to the
wisdom which religious faith affords. The Church refrains from into partisan politics, that is, from supporting one political party or candidate over another. But the Church has every right to say where it stands on the issues of the day,'' he writes.
Bishop Lori's letter reviews a number of public policy issues that have come up in the legislature in recent years, including "the re-definition of marriage,'' a parental notification bill for minors seeking abortions, changes to the statute of limitations for civil claims of sexual abuse and a controversial bill that sought to restructure the Catholic church in Connecticut.
(Curiously, the letter does not mention last year's contentious debate over the death penalty, an issue that could very well dominate the 2011 legislative session.)