FIC Blog

The Fairfield County Catholic is reporting that Nancy Matthews will retire this week after nine years as chancellor of the Diocese of Bridgeport:

The chancellor earned a place in diocesan history when working beside Bishop Lori, she helped to lead opposition to the now infamous Senate Bill 1098. Proposed by the judiciary committee of the state legislature in 2009, it sought to reorganize and regulate the Catholic Church in Connecticut.

 Unconstitutional on its face, the proposed bill was met with strong opposition when callers blew out the capital switchboard and more than 5,000 people rallied at the State Capitol in Hartford to protest. Shortly after that event, the Office of State Ethics tried unsuccessfully to put arbitrary limits on the Church’s right to defend religious liberty at the rally. With the chancellor’s leadership, the diocese successfully filed suit under the Federal Civil Rights Statute and the investigations promptly ground to a halt.

“Bishop Lori understood the implications immediately. He taught us that we can take neither freedom of speech nor freedom of religion for granted,” says Matthews. The story was reported around the U.S. and helped to crystallize the Church’s response to the growing threats to religious liberty.

“Personnel is policy” goes the old saying and so it was with Chancellor Matthews. Among the lay employees that work for the Catholic Church in our state and advise Connecticut’s bishops, she was one of the fiercest defenders of religious liberty we have ever seen. Her intervention at key moments helped buttress the Church’s witness in defense of its own rights in Connecticut–and of the rights of all believers of whatever faith or denomination.

How fortunate Connecticut is to have the continuing leadership of Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori, a John Paul II-style bishop with an apostolic soul and a penchant for hiring people like himself. We are grateful for Chancellor Matthews’ service to our state and we look forward to working with her successor.