Bringing the Church to Heel

Robert Araujo's misgivings about the legislative effort in Massachusetts to require financial disclosure by all nonprofit organizations, including churches, are underscored by the public hearing held yesterday on the issue.  The Boston archdiocese was widely criticized for not participating in the hearing, which seemed to function (judging by the news report) as a pep rally for efforts to assert greater lay control over the Church.  The sponsoring state senator explained that "[f]inancial transparency can better ensure moral transparency."  Little comfort is offered by Governor Romney, who has suggested that such legislation can allow the public "to make sure the money is being properly spent." 

Massachusetts legislators should try to remember that churches -- even the Catholic Church -- are at their most vital when they are given the space to carve out an identity distinct from the majority-driven norms reflected in the government.  I'm not sure why the "moral transparency" of a church or the propriety of its spending are proper objects of legislative concern.  If a church is going to function as a mediating structure, increased accountability to its members must come from within, not from the top-down imposition of norms by the very collective power against which the church is supposedly empowered to stand as a bulwark.  If a church is unresponsive to reform efforts from within, I'd rather members withhold their financial contributions than invoke state power to ensure that they are spent "properly."

Rob