FIC Blog

The Enfield Board of Education has rescinded a previous vote and will now appeal Judge Hall’s ruling barring graduations from being held at First Cathedral. FIC applauds last night’s vote and hopes that the BOE’s erratic behavior will not damage Enfield’s chances of winning the lawsuit. First Key Vote: April 13th BOE Member Judith Apruzzese-Desroches—who […]

(Below is the text of today’s FIC email alert. Two additional points: 1) This lawsuit is actually not over; Enfield’s vote was only to not appeal the judge’s ruling. 2) I will discuss what this means on the Dan Lovallo program today at 5 pm. – PW) Twenty-one years ago today a young man stood […]

U.S. District Judge Janet Hall has granted the ACLU’s motion to block Enfield’s June 23rd-24th graduation ceremonies from taking place at First Cathedral, saying it would violate the First Amendment. Enfield’s attorneys will seek an expedited appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. Judge Hall wrote that […]

So I’m just back from St. Joseph’s Cathedral but without the pleasure of having heard one of Msgr. Liptak’s amazing Wednesday homilies–or of attending Mass at all. The reason is that I ran smack into the middle of a protest against the Archdiocese in front of the building, full media entourage present  and no Church spokesman–at […]

The Enfield Board of Education (BOE) voted 6-3 Tuesday night to return graduation ceremonies to First Cathedral. This is a victory for religious liberty and common sense—and it would not have happened without the Family Institute of Connecticut (FIC)! The BOE had previously voted to NOT hold graduations at First Cathedral. Enfield residents—including FIC members—persuaded […]

“Evangelical churches target New England” is the scary-sounding headline of an AP story that appeared in yesterday’s papers. Readers of FIC Blog are by now familiar with the decline in religious faith nationally as well as in New England. How did our region go from the cradle of Christianity in the U.S. to the least churched region […]

Yesterday’s Waterbury Republican-American had a front page story (subscriber only) quoting the “Connecticut six” on why state Anglicans will likely remain Anglican and not become Catholic, despite Rome’s recent outreach to them. Given the coalition of like-minded Christians of various denominations that FIC has assembled over the years, it was this quote that warmed my heart: [The […]

Give The Courant some credit. When it comes to reporting on religion, their rolodex has finally expanded beyond the usual left-of-center voices: Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut and a Catholic, said that perhaps the question isn’t why women are more religious, but rather why men are less likely to identify with […]

Twenty-five years ago in The Naked Public Square Richard John Neuhaus argued that an aggressive secularism was pushing religiously-grounded reasoning out of public discussion. In New Haven, it seems, police have been cracking down on the very expression of religion on public property. But the city of New Haven has just agreed to a court order, […]

So the Courant writes this story saying that FIC made DCF remove website links to “churches that welcome gays” and you can guess what happened next. Colin McEnroe’s already out of the gate with his usual combination of debating points (does Faithworks violate the First Amendment?) and smarminess (FIC’s the “Washington Nationals” of political activism, even though […]