2009: On Fighting The Battle
March 16th, 2009 by Peter
We had a big victory at the state Capitol last week with the effective defeat of S.B 1098, the bill which would have removed the authority of Catholic bishops over their parishes. I’m just back from the Capitol, where it appears we may have had another major victory today–though I can’t say too much about it yet (watch for more info in your in-boxes tomorrow).
Many legislators–including several who are not normally known for supporting us–are approaching FIC to congratulate us on our success and to encourage us to keep it up. Their comments got me thinking about the strategies that helped bring us to this point. As we move to the next level of this battle (again, see tomorrow’s e-mail), it might be good to do a quick review.
Our adversaries have a certain idea of what a social conservative is and they desperately want to put us into that box. That is why The Fairfield Weekly–without making so much as a phone call to us first to check their facts–has falsely attributed to FIC a flyer that was distributed at last week’s rally. In fact, the flyer we did distribute that day was a bit more sedate.
That’s FIC’s style: tough but professional, assertive but civil, storming the bastions, yes, but in a spirit of truth speaking in love. That’s why even The Courant reported on my “steady voice and earnest, scholarly demeanor” (their words) in a 2007 front page article. That’s why we became the state’s leading voice for faith and family in the halls of government, the media and other elite institutions.
And that is what we must remember going forward. Rep. Lawlor and Sen. McDonald have repeatedly used their authority as co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee to put the Christian faith on trial. FIC members will work to hold them accountable for it in the same manner we always have: by being polite, courteous and civil–while confident in the truths we are defending.
The Fairfield Weekly’s shabby excuse for journalism is a reminder that the path we walk is not an easy one. Things said or done by others will be falsely attributed to us.
And even our willingness to take the high road will be used as a weapon against us. In a public hearing just last week, for instance, Rep. Gail Hamm (D-East Hampton) claimed she was “offended” by my “rude” refusal to play along with a particularly hostile line of questioning from Sen. McDonald and Rep. Lawlor.
The task before us is to speak the truth in love while not kowtowing to those opponents–like Rep. Hamm–who would have us believe that the only way to behave is to do as we’re told. (Hamm, ever the schoolmarm, even had this complaint about me: “I heard snickering!”)
Watch for more information about FIC’s next steps. And God bless you all for being neither what our adversaries pretend we are or what Gail Hamm would like to make us into.
