Posted on 04/23/2006 9:21:44 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Protest marches. Lobbying for legislation. Alliances with pro-immigration groups. A Good Friday Mass in which an immigrant stood before a cross to symbolize Jesus. The Catholic Church has become a force for change, with the weight of millions of Catholics behind it, in the politically charged battle that is immigration reform.
Some see the position as one grounded in moral principles, in which the dignity of people is more important than their legal status.
Others question the propriety of a faith-based organization, whose main mission is evangelization and the spiritual welfare of its flock, planting itself so squarely in the camp of migrants, some here illegally. The roots of the Catholic Church's fight for immigrant rights, and other social justice causes, run deep.
Its position, leaders argue, is buttressed by international law --- its morality grounded in Gospel. That stance, on what has been called one of the most volatile issues of the day, is also inherently political.
In a letter printed in January 2003, Catholic bishops exhorted Americans and those within the church to welcome everyone --- including those here illegally --- with joy, charity, hope and hospitality.
The letter would become the founding document on which church leaders have based their current immigration reform campaign.
In May 2005, Catholic bishops unveiled the program, dubbed ‘‘Justice for Immigrants: A Journey of Hope.'' The campaign holds that immigrants should be seen not as the enemy, but as humans with dignity.
Less than a year later, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony told bishops to ignore a proposed reform bill, which he called inhumane, should it pass.
Proposed by Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner and passed in the House in December, HR 4437 called for building massive walls between the United States and Mexico. The bill also would make illegal immigrants felons and could make helping them a crime.
The million-member Diocese of San Bernardino, which encompasses San Bernardino and Riverside counties, declared January as the month of the immigrant. The diocese formed teams that are implementing the campaign in parishes.
Some within the church call the activism an inappropriate blend of politics and religion though faith-based organizations, including the Catholic Church, long have rallied behind causes of social justice.
History of justice
From the Revolutionary War to the labor movements of the reform era to civil rights, religious leaders have stood behind --- and sometimes led ---campaigns for equality with the belief that silence is a form of moral complicity.
Bill O'Neill, a priest and professor of Catholic social teaching at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, said there's a long-standing tradition of bringing the ethical beliefs of the Gospel into the public realm.
‘‘I think the demands of Christian love will always be political,'' said O'Neill, who has worked with refugees in Africa. ‘‘The question is having the wisdom to speak effectively.''
Church leaders argue they are following a higher law, one that sometimes is in conflict with man's law.
‘‘We have to be humble prophets, deeply committed to the heart of our own religious convictions but do so in a way that respects democracy and a . . . pluralist society,'' O'Neill said.
O'Neill points to Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to civil disobedience in his letter from Birmingham Jail. Addressing clergy who criticized his timing and who said a pastor shouldn't encourage people to break the law, King explained the difference between just and unjust laws.
‘‘A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God,'' King wrote.
‘‘There was a time when the church was very powerful . . . when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed,'' King said. ‘‘In those days, the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.''
There are differences between the civil-rights movement and the plight of immigrants, however. Blacks had no choice in coming to America and had been citizens for generations at the time of King's letter.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political science professor at the UC Riverside, said immigrants desire to come to the United States. The reason they want to come here, however, is partly America's fault.
No one is pulling people across the border and taking them against their will, he said. ‘‘In some sense, immigrants are responsible for being here, but to some extent their choices are made in a context where employers (and) the U.S. government all engage in a policy of looking the other way to serve their own interests.''
Some Catholics are confused by the church's willingness to disregard a law it terms unjust.
If Catholics are morally obligated to care for the vulnerable, to what extent are immigrants morally bound to respect a country's laws, they ask.
‘‘To incite people to ignore the law that's being (proposed) to help the illegal immigrants -- that in my opinion is wrong,'' said Vincent Kilbride, who is a lifelong Catholic. ‘‘The teachings of the church say help the people that need help; nowhere in the Bible does it say illegal.''
Tax-exempt
Though church leaders argue that they're trying to help the most vulnerable in society, some, including parishioners, argue they're helping the most lawbreaking.
Kilbride, 81, said if the church wants to be so political, it should forgo its tax-exampt status. It bothers him that donations are being used to help those in the country illegally.
According to the tax code, it is legal for nonprofits, including churches, to engage in political activism under the Constitution and federal law and still remain tax-exempt.
They may not be involved in a political campaign on behalf of one candidate or become so involved in politics they lose sight of their charitable and religious missions, IRS officials said.
Some faith-based organizations have been scrutinized by the IRS for unlawful electioneering, most recently during the 2004 presidential election.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed several complaints against churches who endorsed candidates and took on the Catholic Church when bishops declared that parishioners who voted for John Kerry could not receive communion.
Last year, a church in Pasadena caught the eye of the IRS after rector emeritus George Regas of All Saints Church gave a politically charged sermon before the election.
Jeremy Leaming of Americans United said the organization is hesitant to criticize houses of worship for political activities. Only when violations appear flagrant do they step in.
Leaming quoted several recent public opinion polls that show a large majority of Americans don't want their houses of worship to become too political, whether on issues of abortion, gay rights or immigration.
‘‘The bishops are welcoming divisiveness and turmoil'' by supporting one side in the immigration debate, he said. ‘‘Many, many people go to their places of worship not to be lectured on the political topics of the day.''
Catholic doctrine
In the ‘‘Strangers No Longer'' pastoral letter from 2003, the egregious human rights violations committed by current law, including the separation of families, requires the faithful to speak up.
Professor John McGreevy, who teaches on the history of Catholicism in America at Notre Dame, said the church's long-standing ties to Latin America and its adherence to international law make its position on immigration understandable.
Covenants signed in 1948 after the Holocaust guarantee individuals basic human rights, regardless of domestic laws.
What moral weight these rights have is still a question.
Chilton Williamson Jr., author of ‘‘The Immigration Mystique: America's False Conscience,'' writes from the perspective of a longtime Catholic and self-styled neoconservative.
In an essay on St. Augustine's ‘‘City of God,'' Williamson says the 1,000-page tome, by one of the most influential fathers of the church, actually makes a case against globalization and unfettered immigration.
‘‘It was nothing less than a fifth-century precursor of the modern debate on maintaining distinct national identities and preserving the integrity of the Western world,'' Williamson wrote. ‘‘St. Augustine . . . held a view much closer to that of us present-day anti-globalist, anti-immigration reactionaries than the universalist dream that all too many Christians have been persuaded is integral to their faith.''
Augustine writes, ‘‘The earthly city will not be everlasting; for when it is condemned to the final punishment it will no longer be a city.''
Williamson says, ‘‘This seems a clear prediction that the destroyer of the present world will be neither fire nor ice but social chaos --- the end of national identity, Babel unbound.''
Such arguments find resonance in some Catholics, who ask whether the need to preserve and enhance a national identity outweighs a moral obligation to welcome immigrants, even if they're trying to escape poverty or feed their families.
Yet a population of 11 million people can't be ignored.
San Bernardino diocesan officials said the church has no official programs to help immigrants apply for citizenship, though developing them is part of the Justice for Immigrants campaign.
For now, immigrants are referred to Catholic Charities, a nonprofit organization with services for refugees and immigrants. My-Hanh Luu, director of the immigrant program, said about 1,300 people sought help at its office last year, up about 5 percent from the year before.
These churches need to shut up and mind themselves of the separation of church and state. Otherwise, they can just take their pathetic arses to Mexico.
In Germany the industry and government brought in Turks in the 60's because there were too few workers in industry. The Turks stayed, and now we have Muslim cities. Big business has long forgotten about that, leaving the cultural and religious conflict for citizens, the government and the churches.
Wow, I've yet to see that in the Bible and a follow up to that, that states and you get to stay tax exempt.
Wonder why I missed that part in Bible class, and at one time I taught Bible class. Oh goodness, Lord forgive me for I didn't read that you wanted all illegal invaders to invade America.
"Thou shall not steal" ought to apply to one's country - including its culture and tax-provided services.
These churches are wrong. They really need to read the word of God and then repent.
There is no such thing as seperation of church and state but i do agree the church needs to go where it can help the most looks like mexico is a good candidate..The problem is when they send someone down there they get robbed or beaten by the very people they are their for ...
More misguided catholic "social justice" BS.
It is beyond my understanding why a church would espouse the paradigm of socialism, which replaces salvation by God, with salvation by mankind? Perhaps it is because the leaders of the church are fools.
They are aligning themselves with Communists, raciest and supremacists.
How about Mexican Catholics practicing their beliefs in Mexico, I think they have them there too.
Better yet.
How about FREE catholic school education for these poor immigrants? I imagine the largesse of the socialist religious leaders would fail that test.
The RC needs to stfu on the border or start paying taxes and register under Mccain/Feingold.
GERMAN big business hasn't forgotten, I don't think.
I remember the "RAUS TÜRKE!!" graffiti in Germany.
The Turks blended in SLIGHTLY better than the Arab Muslims. The Turks are Indo-European, at least. In the early 20th century they even changed their clothing and alphabet to Westerize. They made SOME effort.
The Arabs are Semitic; their culture (even the Christian Arabs) is as alien to Germany as the Indian or Oriental cultures.
My two cents. :o)
There is technically no "separation of church and state" in our Constitution. However the Chuch has been invaded by liberals,and they never think laws apply to them. I can't recall the chapter or verse, but God clearly tells citizens to obey the laws of their government.
Liberals have a hard enough time following God's law.
If Catholics are morally obligated to care for the vulnerable, to what extent are immigrants morally bound to respect a country's laws, they ask.
The Catholic Church is wrong. The Bible says that we are to "OBEY THE LAWS OF THE LAND!" When church leaders tell their followers to break the laws of God, they are sinning and causing their "flock" to sin, because ALL people are to be obedient unto the laws of the land. In the book of Ezekiel, God gives a very strong warning to preachers/priests who lead their flock astray! Woe unto them!
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