The politics of parish closings

According to this article in the Boston Herald, "[c]ity councilors Jerry P. McDermott, James M. Kelly and Paul Scapicchio want the Nov. 8 ballot to include a nonbinding question asking voters whether they agree that the archdiocese has failed to work with the city's neighborhoods to mitigate the impact of Catholic parish and school closings."  William Donohue, of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, responds:  ``[This] not only smacks of total disrespect for the principle of separation of church and state, it smacks of bias,'' he said. ``If the goal is accountability . . . why focus exclusively on the Catholic Church? This is sheer, unadulterated demagoguery.''

Rick