You say Catholics own church property?

This is like Catholic News of the Weird. "All but about 280 of the nearly 400,000 Roman Catholic parishioners in Western Oregon are now part of a class-action lawsuit that will determine who owns parish churches, schools and cemeteries within the Archdiocese of Portland. The parishioners and parishes found themselves named in the rare defendant class action in July because of the archdiocese's argument that they -- not the archdiocese -- are the true owners of an estimated $500 million to $600 million in parish property." (Suit names thousands of parishioners , Daily Oregonian.)

Good grief. Does everyone realize that we now have a civil court deciding a matter of canon law? I admire the Church for the healthy suspicion its teachings maintain of governments. The Archdiocese of Portland threw that reserve out the window with this bizarre lawsuit. And never mind the power they're giving the state: what about the power they're--gasp--offering to lay Catholics if only they're willing to take it? Whatever the Oregon courts decide, the Portland archbishop is clearly willing to say that Portland Catholics own their parishes. What happens when they want to be seriously consulted about how these churches, schools and other resources are run?

All sorts of cliches present themselves, from making beds to airborne spit to ventilated--other excreta. Mostly it just makes me giggle. Here's hoping Portland Catholics see this moment as the call to growth and to ownership that it is, and hoping the courts of the great state of Oregon don't get too high an opinion of themselves. Bankkruptcy cases aside, it's not the secular courts' job to direct the Church--the bishops and the people are called to that responsibility.