The churches are not going to back down on this...
Posted on 04/11/2006 9:25:00 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Perhaps the Church ought to do more to help those people in their own countries. But it seems their MO hasn't changed. Keep them poor and keep them ignorant.
The forget "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
The forget "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
I can't wait to see Phony Mahony do the perp walk.
Jesus said "give unto Ceaser what is Ceasers" (or something along that line)
Now lets have a close look at that exemption from taxation for churches / religious sites ?
You know, we do have a deficit that needs attention.
Just what part of ILLEGAL is it that these people don't understand?
The laws now don't support Pedophiles. I assume the next logical step is to legitimize NAMBLA what is the difference in the law.
Whatever the laws are, they haven't been enforced by the federal or state governments. So, there are millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.
This isn't the doing of the Catholic Church. Let's face it, folks, this is the doing of the federal government and lots of state governments.
Nonetheless, there are now 10 or 12 million illegal immigrants here in the US, and some of them experience material distress. The Catholic Church provides free services to folks who are in need. The Catholic Church didn't read in the Gospel that we are only to provide food to the hungry WHO ARE LEGALS or drink to the thirsty WHO ARE LEGALS or clothing to the naked WHO ARE LEGALS.
If the federal government wants to enforce the law, great! Go do it! But don't recruit priests and volunteer workers whose mission it is to relieve immediate material suffering as your unpaid deputies. Do the job yourselves.
Oh wait. I forgot. The feds don't have the guts. The states don't have the guts. We know that the Minuteman Project proved that by increasing the surveillance of the border, we can dramatically reduce illegal immigration. It'd take a few billion bucks to hire enough Border Patrol folks to do the job. In a budget of $2.7 trillion, I'm sure they could come up with the cash.
But noooo!! Can't do THAT!! So, let's conscript every Catholic aid worker to do our job for us! says the government.
Well, screw them. It isn't the Catholic Church's job to do the federal and state governments' jobs of law enforcement.
Is the government next going to force the Catholic Church to turn in drug users when they come to Narcotics Anonymous meetings in our churches, or for rehabilitative services in our hospitals? Are we going to be required to inquire as to whether you have any unpaid parking tickets before we may provide services to you? Review your tax returns to see if your a tax cheat?
I won't defend everything every Catholic prelate is saying in this debate. But I will defend the right of the Church to offer material assistance to the destitute WITHOUT HAVING TO INQUIRE ABOUT THEIR IMMIGRATION STATUS.
Gerald Barnes is not following the Holy Word of G-d.b'shem Y'shuaHe is in rebellion against Y'shua
Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, andGerald Barnes needs to repent for his sin and seek the face of G-d.
with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.Ephesians 6:6 Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on
you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from
your heart.Ephesians 6:7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
Ephesians 6:8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for
whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.He is damning himself as he as a leader.
As he is leading others into rebellion against the Holy Word of G-d.
If Mahoney will break all manners of law to protect child molesters, of course, he'll advocate breaking the law to protect his family's slave market.
>> Perhaps the Church ought to do more to help those people in their own countries. But it seems their MO hasn't changed. Keep them poor and keep them ignorant.
<<
As angry as I am at Maphony for his stance, your comment is outrageous, baseless, and achieves primarily the same objective as those gag T-shirts that say, "I'm with dummy" and point to the wearer's head.
Catholic schools and universities are top-rate and offer massive subsidies to the poor. Catholic adult ESL progams probably serve more people than all other adult ESL programs combined. And Catholic charities stress education almost to a fault. I don't know of any religion which places a higher emphasis on education. If there's a flaw, it's that American Catholic educational organizations seem to stress education more than they stress worship.
By lumping in abortion and euthanasia with illegal immigration and the death penalty, Barnes proves himself to be not only a fool, but a destructive fool.
If the Holy Family could subject themselves to traveling for the census, illegal immigrants can be encouraged to return home and immigrate legally. Criminal behavior shouldn't be enabled by the Church.
The clergy should also be pressuring Fox and his government to get off the snide and improve their own economy thus affording their people more opportunities in their home of origin.
We are bound to God's Law of Love first, not the secular state or federal Government. When the two do not meet (such as in abortion), we are called to protest and refuse to allow such to continue. The government does not provide for morality. You can't enforce love at the end of a stick or a fine. As you note, if the government really is concerned with illegal immigrants, they'd do something about it - 20 years ago.
Regards
Excellent post, sitetest.
The churches are not going to back down on this...
Dear A.A. Cunningham,
In principle, I agree with you. However, that obligation, to my own mind, is significantly attenuated when the federal government doesn't do a damn thing to enforce the laws on the books. Why are Catholic priests and laity obligated to spend significant time and energy instructing illegal immigrants to obey the law when the government makes a mockery of the law by failing to make any real effort to enforce the law?
In what way is the law still law when the federal government permits 12 million individuals to violate it with virtually complete impunity?
One might say that federal refusal to enforce the law makes a nullity of the law. Indeed, to me it appears that the federal and state governments consciously look the other way, because, let's face it, the power elites don't want to lose their cheap nannies, maids, and landscapers.
To me, it appears that the folks who run our country let these laws stay on the books so that the rest of us can think that there is some real mechanism for reducing illegal immigration, but that it hasn't ever been the intention of the elites to actually enforce this law.
So, what obligations do Catholic priests and laity have to instruct folks where the people who run the government have no intention of enforcing the law?
"The clergy should also be pressuring Fox and his government to get off the snide and improve their own economy thus affording their people more opportunities in their home of origin."
I'm sure that Mexican bishops probably say things to that effect. However, considering the historic murderous antipathy of the Mexican government toward the Catholic Church, one wonders just how effective their voice might be.
As for American bishops saying that sort of thing to the Mexican government, I'm sure all it would do is further inflame anti-Catholic prejudices amongst the elite of Mexican society.
sitetest
Thanks.
Nor should they.
Sensenbrenner opened a can of worms with the harsh bill he sponsored in December, and by allowing the Catholic Church to correctly jump to the logical conclusion of holding that those who aid illegals as felons who can be punished by imprisonment would include ministers and priests.
No sane American is going to support punishing priests for assisting illegals.
The House bill is going to have to be reworked, or these bishops are going to continue to beat the hell out of it.
Look up the case of No More Deaths members Chanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss. They are being charged with violating Federal law, and are being treated as felons.
The proposed law you appear to despise is already the law of the land.
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