Posted on 07/11/2008 4:33:16 PM PDT by DemonDeac
"Once a month or so, Father Ouderkirk drove back to St. Bridget’s to officiate at a wedding or baptize a baby. He savored those rituals, proof that the Hispanic immigrants who had arrived over the past decade to work in Postville’s kosher-meat plant were setting down roots. Some had bought their own homes. Their children had graduated from high school, even been selected for the National Honor Society."
"Then came the morning of May 12, when both satisfaction and retirement ended for the 75-year-old priest. Federal immigration agents raided the Agriprocessors factory, arresting nearly 400 workers, most of them men, for being in the United States illegally. Within minutes of the raid, with surveillance helicopters buzzing above the leafy streets, the wives and children of Mexican and Guatemalan families began trickling into St. Bridget’s church, the safest place they knew."
"Gone were all but two members of the choir he had assembled over the years. Gone was all but one of the eight altar servers. Gone were the husbands from the weddings he had performed, and gone were the fathers of the children he had baptized."
"“It’s like God saying, ‘I gave you a little practice,’ because this is the worst,” Father Ouderkirk said in an interview"
"Probably every child I baptized has been affected. To see them stunned is beyond belief.”"
"The only redemptive thing that can be said, perhaps, is that in the crisis at Postville — with nearly 400 immigrants imprisoned and facing deportation, with 40 mothers under house arrest awaiting their own court dates, with families that had two working parents now forced to survive on hand-outs from a food pantry — the beacon of the Catholic church to immigrants has rarely shone more brilliantly."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Congressman Billybob
First in the series, "American Government: The Owner's Manual"
Maybe he needs a remedial course in theology.
I am sick of this type of attitude!
What exactly does he preach?...right & wrong....OR wrong is right?
If members of your congregation are being deported, and you’re worried about them, you should be working to help them get re-established back home. If part of the family was arrested and part left behind they’re going to have problems of a different kind, and you can help.
What you can’t do is help them evade the law.
If things are tough enough back in the home country that people are fleeing by the millions, that sounds like fertile ground for missionary work, fertile ground for your church to get involved. The deportees could perhaps be enlisted in doing church work in their home country. If part of your congregation is being sent abroad at taxpayer expense you have to see how God can use this.
Well said.
Here is a company that turned $18 dollar jobs into $8 jobs, violated OSHA laws, helped with stolen identities and abused their employees and no one had thought to shut them down.
These were modern slave owners. They should be in jail, not just their supervisors. The local press here in Iowa has spelled out a lot of the violations and the relief offered by the regulators.
And..the Catholic Church was going along with it.
ping
Mr. niteowl77
2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.(Emphasis added)
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
If the feds can’t (or won’t) round up these illegals in the church because it’s supposedly a sanctuary, then get the Minutemen up there to go in and bring these people out so the feds can arrest and deport them. Then send Ouderkirk away for a nice long stretch for aiding and abetting.
If these are such hard-working decent Guatemalans and Mexicans, then let them go back to Guatemala and Mexico and work hard to build a decent country.
As a Catholic is makes me sick and angry when people like this make the church look bad.
How about some of your laser-focused attention to these law-breakers in your own front yard? Oh, that's right, you're too busy harassing ministries that you disagree with theologically...
From the 1st sentence...
“the Hispanic immigrants “
Where’s the obligatory BARF ALERT ??????
WTF! Setting down roots? This priest was an enabler. If he was a moral man, he would advised them to go back and immigrate legally and not ignore the laws of this country.
I love how they slip in the bit about their national honor society kids.
Yeppers...
That made me smile too
:)
Most of the kids drop out or dont know English so they just drag themselves and their American classmates through school...
How about criminal charges of harboring criminals, a RICO suit that takes the church and all it’s assets.
ping
It was allowed for pro-life folks, but it will not be allowed for the illegals.
WHY?
Because every city, county, state that tries to enforce rule of law against illegals -....are systematically prevented from following through, whether by a judge or other means.
This edict comes from the top ...down.
A lot of these so called 'raids' are window dressing/photo-ops.
How many raids are actually carried through to completion?....How many employers are sanctioned/fined?
How many illegals are deported & tracked so they won't sneak in the next day?...the next week?
Someone mentioned the 'honor society' illegal kid being deported, etc.
That' s the MSM 'talking points' doncha know.
As we read, day after day, across the internet, we see these same catch-words over and over.
They truly must think we're stupid....or not paying attention....or both!...or whatever ....does it really matter anymore....
I am thankful to the dedicated here at FR who keep this topic & events before us, on a daily basis.
Thousands read this forum....and a lot of folks are getting informed.
This is the old crying over spilled milk ploy. Build the stupid fence mandated by law and no one gets hurt. It’s the open border policy and failure of our leaders if any of these children are victims (which they aren’t!)
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