Posted on 03/03/2006 5:09:00 PM PST by LouAvul
When Cardinal Roger Mahony called on Roman Catholics this week to embrace immigrants regardless of legal status, he wasn't just reiterating the church's long tradition of reaching out to the downtrodden.
Mahony and other U.S. Catholic bishops are increasingly weighing into the debate over what to do about the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States - a development that's being met with criticism from groups pushing for tougher immigration law enforcement.
Catholic leaders have launched a "Justice for Immigrants" campaign, appealed to President Bush and congressional leaders for a legalization program, and sharply criticized a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December to tighten border controls.
Among other things, the bill - now before the Senate - would obligate churches and other social organizations to ask immigrants for legal documentation before providing assistance.
A handful of bishops have denounced it. Mahony, the leader of the nation's largest archdiocese, went a step further this week. He promised to defy it if it's passed into law.
"I would say to all priests, deacons and members of the church that we are not going to observe this law," Mahony said after an Ash Wednesday Mass calling on Catholics to "make room" for immigrants.
Church leaders say they are simply adhering to Catholic teachings about compassion. But groups pushing for a crackdown on illegal immigration accuse them of trying to bolster their flock by catering to Hispanics, who comprise the majority of undocumented newcomers.
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
That's it, in a nutshell.
BTW, I think 11 million is an understatement.
So they want everyone who entered the country illegally to appear before an immigration judge?
This is more about socialism/NWO than ethnicity.
Mahoney and the chancery queens are "Progressives" hiding behind the Church.
As a Catholic, I see the Mahoney position as the gravest INJUSTICE to the untold numbers of people from other parts of the world who would come here LEGALLY if only all the room for immigrants hadn't been STOLEN by the criminal immigrants. Further, I won't be cowed into accepting the position just because some Church leaders say it. Again, as a Catholic, I am only bound to accept the infallibility of the Pope and then only when he speaks "ex cathedra".
I just read the other day that our diocese has now hired an immigration lawyer. And they are asking for more money, yea.
This is a losing position taken by the American Catholic Church. They are trying to take advantage of the fact that most of these "immigrants" are Catholic. It is cheap pandering of the first order. Kind of like tolerating pedophilic priests and then declaring bankruptcy when the lawsuits are awarded in a court of law.
Sorry, bishops and cardinals. One of the first tenets of God's laws are to obey man's laws if they are not unjust. There is nothing unjust about requiring legal immigration.
For decades the Church tolerated "liberation theology" in Mexico, Latin America, and South America which resulted in oppressive leftist governments. Now these people are getting out of the hellholes this policy created and illegally entering the USA costing legal Americans millions of $$$. As a Catholic, they can kiss my rosary if they think I am going to stand for this.
Papalbots flame away!
So do I, mainly because the government admits to between 11 and 13 million being here. That should tell you all you need to know. Bank on 22+.
How about launching a program that demands Equal Justice For All? If an illegal alien breaks the law then the illegal alien gets arrested, just like everyone else.
It ain't justice when a foreign national gets away with breaking the law.
ping
As a non-Catholic, I want to know why the Catholic Church is promoting the invasion of other countries by illegal immigrants, but not inviting all these hordes to move to the Vatican. The Catholic Church has become the biggest promoter of socialism-communism in the world, both directly, by preaching these political doctrines from the pulpit, and indirectly, by refusing to abandon their hopelessly anachronistic teachings against birth control, which inevitably expands the already impoverished hordes of socialist-hand-out-craving masses. They run around these already overpopulated countries, which have dead-in-the-water economies, tell everybody to make as many babies as humanly possible, and then encourage the excess population to illegally invade other countries. We're told we should have "compassion" for them because they're so poor they can't feed their children if they don't invade wealthier countries. Well then STOP TELLING THEM TO HAVE BABIES THEY CAN'T FEED!
Mahony and Bush can both take their compassion and shove it!
I have a lot of respect for the Catholic Church but this makes very sad.
In all fairness, the birthrates in Latin America have dropped DRASTICALLY over the past 30 years. In 1960, the average Mexican woman had six children. Today, that figure is 2.2.
Ping!
Ping!
I have never seen the basis for these estimates, have you?
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