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Having returned to these fair shores after an overseas trip, the end of which culminated in a total of 13 hours of flight time, it was with a general sense of relief and peace that I betook myself a seat in my favorite pew in my local parish for Mass last Sunday. But, as has too often happened in the past few months, examples of our Lord's predictions of persecution and calumny against those who believe in him came true once again as our learned pastor took to the pulpit to address us.

It seems that our Diocese of Bridgeport--which in March was forced to marshal the faithful to defend itself from unconstitutional government interference --was notified by the Connecticut Office of State Ethics that it is under investigation for possible violations of the state's lobbying laws. This of course is nothing less than the vindictive retribution by an entity whose leadership has become as anti-religious a nest of vipers as our Lord ever encountered. But our courageous bishop, William E. Lori, is not taking this lying down and has filed an injunction in Federal Court to end this harassment. In a letter to the faithful, he laid out the facts:

Following the surprise introduction of Bill 1098, a proposal that singled out Catholic parishes and would have forced them to reorganize contrary to Church law and the First Amendment, our Diocese responded in the most natural, spontaneous, and frankly, American, of ways: we alerted our membership ñ in person and through our website; we encouraged them to exercise their free speech by contacting their elected representatives; and, we organized a rally at the State Capitol. How can this possibly be called lobbying?

He then delivered the kind of rebuke that should warm the hearts of freedom-lovers everywhere: ìThis cannot possibly be what our Legislature had in mind when it sought to bring more transparency and oversight to a legislative process that has been corrupted by special interests and back-room deals. If it is, then it should shock the conscience of all citizens of the Constitution State."

The State of Connecticut, like so many other American governmental bodies who deliberately obscure their statutes with lawyerly twaddle, basically defines lobbying as those who spend over $2,000 in any year to: 'communicate directly or solicit others to communicate with any official or his staff in the legislative or executive branch of government or in a quasi-public agency, for the purpose of influencing any legislative or administrative action...' There are, of course exceptions; one of which is unsurprisingly granted to members of the media.

So in other words, if you, dear taxpayer, were to have the audacity to be offended at the next usurpation of your constitutionally-guaranteed liberties by your betters in government, and decided to organize your fellow ungrateful citizens into a letter-writing campaign, and if the cost of this exceeded two grand, you too might be the subject of government retribution. Welcome to the Constitution State!

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