Posted on 09/05/2013 5:59:33 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
The plight of the some 11 million undocumented in the U.S. has prompted the U.S. Catholic Bishops to mount a campaign for immigration reform this Sunday. Building on their long tradition of supporting and protecting immigrants, large Catholic dioceses like New York and Los Angeles -- meccas for immigrants throughout U.S. history -- will join others like Newark to preach and enlist the support of the people in the pew to advocate for reform.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI struck that chord when he addressed the bishops of the United States in 2012: "With great generosity continue to welcome waves of new immigrants, to provide them with pastoral care and charitable assistance, and to support ways of regularizing their situation, especially with regard to the unification of families. A particular sign of this is the long-standing commitment of the American Bishops to immigration reform."
[SNIP]
Manasquan borough council did everything it could to prevent the men from gathering when the gatherings first started. Each time, federal law trumped local xenophobia and they threw in the towel because all their local laws and litigation would simply waste resources. But the hatred some residents had for these undocumented was chronicled in the weekly newspaper for months.
I have noticed that the men are orderly, do not congregate in groups of more than six or eight and bother no one. They do not make noise, litter or call attention to themselves except when a pick-up truck pulls in the lot. Throughout the U.S., businesses cannot attract the laborers to do the kinds of work these men want to do. We need to reform immigration laws so these men can get hired, pay taxes and further boost the economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI struck that chord when he addressed the bishops of the United States in 2012: "With great generosity continue to welcome waves of new immigrants, to provide them with pastoral care and charitable assistance, and to support ways of regularizing their situation, especially with regard to the unification of families. A particular sign of this is the long-standing commitment of the American Bishops to immigration reform."
Quick - all you Catholics who are conservatives need to shovel them a bunch more money!
Actually we need to slip a note in the collection basket. “Contribution Withheld due to your support for lawlessness”.
They (the bishops) could cite the Bible which speaks about the need to care for the “stranger”.
They could also cite the Bible which speakes about what happens to those who “break” the law...!
BINGO! We have a WINNER!
There are catholic conservatives who disagree with the vatican on this issue. I am one of them. The RCC’s stance on immigrations is not dogma and one can still be a catholic of good standing disagree.
Having a lawful immigration policy where people become citizens through a naturalization process where they learn about the USA...can prove proficiency of English and become valuable members of American society is a good, kind and generous thing.
Encouraging people of any nation to enter the country illegally is promoting the theft ( there is a commandment against this if I remember correctly:) of the hard earned resources of others with no desire to contribute to the greater good. The United States cannot feed, clothe and shelter 100 percent of the world’s population on the backs of 1 percent of the American tax payers.
Why the vatican doesn’t understand this, I am not sure, but I suspect it is grounded in the fear of not being able to fill the pews.
....if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.The "do not mistreat him" verse governs the behavior of the (existing) residents of the land. Mosaic Law applied to anyone and everyone that occupied land within Israel's borders. So once our theoretical stranger "dwells with you in your land" i.e. sets foot inside your borders (legally or illegally), the residents were not to mistreat him, but the stranger was now subject to the Mosaic Laws (including any that might govern citizenship and government handouts), just as the resident was subject to them. And the "stranger within the gates" would be expected to learn and know those laws for himself....
The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
-- Leviticus 19: 33-34
...when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.So the question that immigration reform advocates need to answer is what constitutes "love your neighbor" behavior when confronted with a lawbreaking stranger within your gates?
Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law,
and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”
-- Deuteronomy 31:11-13
(rewritten slightly for clarity)
“The plight of the some 11 million Mexican citizens who came uninvited and unwanted to the U.S. has prompted the U.S. Catholic Bishops to mount a campaign to encourage people from other countries to move to the U.S. as well, though uninvited and unwanted, this Sunday.
“Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI struck that chord when he addressed the bishops of the United States in 2012: “With the great generosity provided by others, we continue to welcome waves of economic parasites from other countries, to provide them with pastoral care and charitable assistance, and to support their sapping of the wealth of this prosperous country.”
Implied is that the wealth of Americans is so great they should be forced to surrender it to the five billion starving people of the world who live under governments indifferent to their well being. It is better that Americans lose their wealth and prosperity than that these people change their home nations so that they too could lead prosperous lives of their own making.
But what is not suggested is that “if man ‘A’ wishes to take from man ‘B’ to improve the life of man ‘C’, then man ‘A’ is a S.O.B.”
Well said.
Excellent.
I agree with caring for the stranger. Nobody is advocating that illegal immigrants be abused in any way.
Feed them. Give them a hot shower and a warm bed. Then put them on a bus and send them home. Tell them to get in line and apply to come legally like everybody else.
If you or I went to one of these vaunted liberal European countries illegally that is EXACTLY what they would do.
Everyone in the U. S. other than native Americans are immigrants.
What ancestry is yours?
Remember the signs?
CATHOLICS NEED NOT APPLY
IRISH NEED NOT APPLY
ITALIANS NEED NOT APPLY
This is comming from the same Bishops who supported ACORN. Some say they still fund abortion. True Catholics will withhold money from the Bishops Appeal as I have for years.
Members of my family have fought running battles for many years to keep their parishes from participating in Saul Alinsky inspired community organizing efforts. Too many priests are soft-hearted yet clueless.
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