So Cardinal Mahony calls a news conference on Dec. 1 to announce he’s settled $65 million on 40 victims of the priest-malefactors in his Archdiocese of Los Angeles – while 485 other victims are waiting in the wings for their share. Shocking. But the most shocking thing is this: There is no evidence that the cardinal consulted with any of the Catholics in Los Angeles about this, except perhaps his blue chip law firm and his rubber-stamp finance committee, acting as if this is his money he is handing out, not ours. This is one more proof that even our best bishops (as Cardinal Mahony often is) see themselves as some kind of royalty, the kind of men who can do whatever, wherever, whenever, without any consultation with the people of God who have, over the years, given Mahony enough funds to fill his deep pockets.

According to California state law, of course, Mahony has absolute legal power to dispose of what he purportedly “owns.” In the records of the LA County Recorders Office, Mahony is “the Archdiocese of Los Angeles corporation sole.” If the term rings strange in our ears, no wonder. Only the Roman Catholic Church in America enjoys this peculiar status before the law. And as far as we know, no one has ever made the case in any state court that the people of God (i.e., the Church as defined by Vatican II) ought to own the churches that they or their forbears built and continue to maintain – and the schools, too, plus all the other Church institutions that were founded to serve the people, and all the commercial and residential real estate that has been willed to the diocese by rich Catholic widows from Rolling Hills, and Beverly Hills and San Marino. Some might ask why we don’t go to the courts to seek redress. Seems like a matter of simple justice. That’s what courts are for – to mete out justice. But which courts? And who would have standing to sue? This is not so simple. Nevertheless, we believe it is only a matter of time before a group of Catholics (maybe the members of a parish) claim the standing to bring a class-action lawsuit in a state court on behalf of all the members of their parish, and/or all the parishes in a given diocese. If this doesn’t happen soon, then we’d like to make it happen, by promoting legal challenges that assert our rights in what is, after all, our Church. How long can state courts resist? For decades, the courts told lawyers their smoker-clients with cancer couldn’t sue the tobacco companies. But the stubborn lawyers continued to argue their case, and eventually, the courts changed their minds, and the lawyers who were thinking outside the box made legal history. We can make legal history, too, if we follow our firm conviction that our bishops’ absolute rule is built on the shakiest historical and legal foundations. In their recent “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes,” Thomas Doyle and Richard Sipe say no one can really say who “owns the Church.” Ownership will vary in various jurisdictions, and, in any event, a bishop doesn’t really own Church property; he just isn’t supposed to dispose of large chunks of it without Rome’s permission. We’d have to do a lot of legal research in varying jurisdictions before we could figure out a bishop’s “ownership” according to the laws of his state. And different states do have different takes on this question. Morally, of course, the people should “own” their own churches, schools, etc. Historically? Well, we will leave it to good Church historians to tell us just exactly how the bishops seized the power they claim. We know they didn’t always have it. And we feel it is time we take it away from them. “Take it away?” Well, not exactly. We’re not going to lynch our bishops. But…leaning on the Gospel message as it was handed down – that all authority in the Church is for service, not domination – we’d just like to have servant bishops, not lord bishops. There’s an easy way to make that power shift. Armed with court orders, we the people of God can set up elected boards and commissions with real decision power over every aspect of Church governance, and, while we’re at it, over every piece of Church property as well. Right now, our bishops aren’t even telling us about that. See Marci Hamilton’s piece on how certain bishops get away with the financial equivalent of murder by playing fast and loose with their retirement funds. According to Hamilton, civil authorities (and even Congress) tend to give religious institutions a free pass, turning a blind eye to scams of all kinds, simply because the bishop (and his minions) can act in secret and unaccountably. Some have suggested we can force accountability on our bishops by withholding our weak, weekly contributions. But that’s chump change and, anyway, some have tried this kind of collection basket-boycott, and it hasn’t worked. We will only gain real leverage by going after our bishops’ asserted ownership of every piece of Church property in every U.S. diocese. In the case of Los Angeles, this amounts to at least five billion dollars. This is not chump change. This is what we mean when we say we want to take back our Church. To do this, we need to mount a real, American-style political campaign. This means committeepersons in every state, and loads of volunteers. This means a solid, big- name national board. This means a first-class web site, and regular news bulletins reporting on the progress of our campaign. We need to find law firms to mount simultaneous legal challenges to the bishops’ “ownership” over our stuff in every state. To do all this, we need a staff of organizers. How big a staff? Who knows? The size of our effort will depend on how much money and how much enthusiasm we can raise, and/or how many volunteers we can find. You can help right now, by volunteering – your time or your money. Or both. Needless to say, we also welcome your ideas. This will be a people project. Tell us what you think. Above all, tell us about the good, godly people (preferably rich, good, godly people) you know who might want to help us TakeBackOurChurch. And so, we’d like you (and your rich friends) to consider making a contribution of whatever you can afford to TakeBackOurChurch. Write your checks to: Take Back Our Church #186, 8103 E Southern Ave Mesa AZ 85029 Thank you. Robert Blair Kaiser Robert W. Miller