CA: Diocese would follow gospel's order, not law's

Riverside Press-Enterprise ^ | 4/11/06 | Michael Fisher and Sharon McNary

[Clemenza]

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.

This vehemently anti-illegal agrees with you. ;-)

[Clemenza]

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.

This vehemently anti-illegal AGNOSTIC agrees with you. ;-)

[Conservative til I die]

What they're saying and doing here isn't inflaming anti-Catholic prejudices in the US?

If FR reaction on the topic is any judge (and let's pray that it isn't), those against the Church on this already dislike the Church.

[DumpsterDiver]

If FR reaction on the topic is any judge (and let's pray that it isn't), those against the Church on this already dislike the Church.

Speaking for myself, I don't consider Roger Mahony the embodiment of all things Catholic any more than I think Fred Phelps speaks for Baptists or that money-grubbing televangelists represent Christianity.

[sitetest]

Dear EDINVA,

I hadn't understood the article to speak about any specific piece of legislation, merely a specific principle: Catholic clergy and aid workers are not agents of the state.


sitetest

[sitetest]

Thanks.

[A.A. Cunningham]

I share your frustration with the lack of enforcement of the law by the government. However, that in no way justifies the behavior of Mahony, et al of thumbing their noses at civil law and encouraging and enabling those who break the law. Mahony, specifically, has grossly distorted the issue and this is just one more example of his hypocrisy. We all were appalled when Bishops ignored the law when dealing with pederasts. We should all be just as upset now with how they are ignoring the law regarding illegal aliens.


Bishops and Priests, just like the rest of us, are bound to speak the truth and obey just and moral law, regardless of the consequences or the inconvenience.

[sitetest]

Dear A.A. Cunningham,

It wasn't my intention to defend any inappropriate actions on the part of Cardinal Mahoney, merely to make clear that it is not the duty of the Catholic Church to enforce the secular laws.

If there are priests who actively conspire to assist illegal immigrants to come over the border, and thus illegally enter the United States, I condemn that.

However, in that those responsible for enforcing this law have not done so, the law in this case loses moral, if perhaps not legal force. It's difficult for me to see that members of the Church have much obligation toward these laws when offering material assistance to illegal immigrants, or even assistance to help regularize and legalize the status of individual immigrants.

I also wonder about the morality of deporting 12 million souls who came here "illegally" when our government made it pretty darned clear that no one cared if they were violating US laws in entering our country. It makes me angry that our government, whether run by Dems or Republicans, more or less turned illegal immigration into little more than a "technicality" to be ignored or dispensed with. But I'm not sure that there is now a moral basis to apply retroactively a much tighter enforcement against those who have already made their lives in this country, based upon the unspoken assurances that they could come here without legal documentation.

It is not the fault of illegal immigrants who took the opportunities offered them, it is the fault of the government that made those opportunities available by failing to enforce the laws.


sitetest