Posted on 05/03/2010 3:31:46 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
A brief walk through one country’s history reveals why people migrate.
In the turbulent early years of the 20th century the Catholic Church seemed to face persecution almost worldwide. In his book on the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church, Triumph (Forum, 2001), H. W. Crocker III writes of one particular country that in 1917 became “the first explicitly socialist, anti-religious, and constitutional revolutionary republic in the world” (p. 395). In the two decades that would follow, the Catholic Church in this country would witness all its property confiscated and nationalized and more than 40,000 Catholics killed and martyred, including 90 priests (equivalent to two-thirds of the Catholic population of East Tennessee and all of its priests and deacons).
Three papal encyclicals would be written between 1926 and 1937 concerning the dire situation in a country where 4,500 priests once served—but by 1935, according to some reports, fewer than 340 would remain to minister to a much persecuted and suffering Catholic population. At the turn of the millennium Pope John Paul II canonized 25 of this nation’s saints and martyrs from this period.
You may be surprised to learn that the country in question is not the Soviet Union but Mexico, and included in the list of those martyred were 70 Knights of Columbus, eight of whom have since been declared saints. Pope Pius XI would include Mexico with the Soviet Union and Spain in describing the “terrible triangle” of terror afflicting the Church at this time in history. But the blood of martyrs is never shed in vain, and much was shed in Mexico.
As one would expect, as a result of persecutions and the resulting civil war (1926-1929), large numbers of Mexicans were uprooted and fled from the terror. Up to one-quarter million people were internally displaced in the 1920s, with an additional half million people emigrating to the United States, sharing in the tragic mystery of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt in order to escape Herod’s murderous rampage. Although by mid-century the persecution eventually gave way to a reluctant but nonetheless still harsh tolerance of religion, it was not until 1992 that many anti-Catholic restrictions were officially lifted.
With the advent of World War II, the United States turned to Mexico to help fill its vast labor shortages in industry and farming. In the decades that followed, the demand for foreign laborers only increased, especially for temporary and seasonal workers in the Southeast and Southwest. As a result of the economic crisis in Mexico of the 1980s the number of its people living in poverty increased dramatically.
As poverty and migration are so often intimately linked, many people are surprised to learn that one of the largest and most efficient programs for directly reducing global poverty levels is not a specific kind of aid program or global charitable effort but the result of remittances—money that foreign workers send back to their families. According to a 2007 World Bank study, remittances represented almost $170 billion in external financing for needy countries in 2005, a figure that today is likely well in excess of $200 billion.
The reasons for migration are complicated, as a snapshot of Mexico’s past century proves, but solutions are even more complex. Comprehensive immigration reform is as much about fixing a broken immigration system as it is about addressing the “push” factors behind migration—and none of these will be easy to address.
When it is difficult to be the face of Jesus to others, it is often because we first fail to see Jesus in the other person. Perhaps this is why God especially hears the cry of the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner (Exodus 20:20-22) and reminds us to be particularly mindful of their needs.
The widows and orphans of our time are the unborn and the despairing pregnant women whose boyfriends or husbands have abandoned their responsibilities to them. But let us not forget the third figure of this scriptural mandate, in whose history we share. For we too sojourn as foreigners in this life’s pilgrim journey and struggle to learn the one language that is most essential to learn: the language of faith.
Ending with my traditional play upon the words of Pope Paul VI, “If you want peace,” care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.
Mr. Simoneau directs the Knoxville Diocesan Justice and Peace Office.
Please be sure to read Mrs. Don-o's comments at #1.
Glad it was a satire :o)
Thank you for your gracious response.
I honestly invite you (and all) to reprint anything I’ve written here, in whole or in part, with or without sttribution, in any form and to anyone who, in your opinion, ought to hear it.
I will save it.
>Glad it was a satire :o)
It wasn’t. {Except for the meta-humor of the title.}
satire
–noun
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.
The jobs that we used to think of as "first jobs" are held by illegals in many areas. Most young people got entry level minimum wage jobs while in high school and college and many that did not intend to go to college used those jobs to climb the ladder to a real job or even their own business~ especially in the construction trades. Even if the first job was temporary it taught work ethic skills and was very valuable beyond the small pay. Without that "first job" this generation will have a hard time becoming self-sufficient or building a career or business.
Ping!
Catholic ping!
I think the Church is speaking about legal immigrants....not illegals.
I know zero about Roman Catholic administration (other than my in-laws were mad that their daughter married a generic Christian in an Episcopal Church), but two ideas come to mind:
1. Local churches can petition to get under the authority of a Bishop who is not a communist. To use the example of the Anglican Church in the USA, dissenting Episcopals got under the authority of God-fearing African Anglican Bishops, and told their local bishops to stuff it.
2. Hit them with their money. I assume the RCC using a 10% tithe, where 5% goes to the RCC and 5% can go to other charities. Well, make sure you do this, at least, instead of 10% to the RCC. Then (if permitted), direct your 5% that goes to your church to a specific fund in your church or, better yet, to a struggling parish under a Bishop that is not a communist.
bump!
another bump
Marking
btt
ROTFL!! That's the best laugh I've had all day!
Catholics know very little about tithing. Many years ago, someone in the National Catholic Register described most Catholics as having deep pockets, but short arms. Most Catholics nowadays are nowhere NEAR as generous as their immigrant forbears, who gave generously of their hard earned money to build the beautiful old churches that are now crumbling in the larger, older urban areas of the US. As their kids grew up and started making money, they left the cities for suburbia, and never looked back. But they still try to claim that they aren't wealthy, so they shouldn't be expected to contribute to their Parishes.
Our parish did a study many years ago, and found out that in our parish of approximately 3000 families, most of whom, while not rich, are certainly pretty affluent, only about 1800 used the contribution envelopes on a regular basis, and the average amount in each envelope, each week, was about $4. A lot of folks make the excuse that they don't use envelopes, but they put cash in the collection basket, but they put a lot less than they think they do, on an annual basis.
Brilliant post.
That’s very sad. I am a member of a non-Roman Catholic Christian Church.
(It’s not “protestant,” in that it doesn’t care, nor was it established by a “break away” group. Any sinner who wants Christ as his boss is welcome.)
Anyway, I served as an elder for a while and we did pretty much the same study, using checks as our guess. It looked ot us that we had about 75% of 300 families giving (what we guestimated to be, based on employment) about 6-8% of their take-home pay.
I have no idea why we do better. Might be a fluke related to our little church.
Nah, Catholics just don’t have an expectation of ‘tithing’, unless they happen to have a priest who puts an emphasis on stewardship.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my column. I truly appreciate it and certainly respect your comments. I’m not sure that we are really all that far apart on our thinking about immigration.
The documents that have been of help to me in forming my conscience on this subject are Exsul Familia Nazarethana by Pope Pius XII (1 Aug 1952) and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People instruction, Erg migrantes caritas Christi (2004).
First of all, I believe, as Pope Pius XII stated, that a country has the right to control its borders, but it also mustn’t exaggerate its sovereignty. There are the “push factors” which I attempted to highlight, but there is also the mechanism for controlling the flow into the country which long ago failed to keep up with the in-country (US) demands for seasonal workers and laborers and which remains the major attraction for coming into the US. That system desperately needs to be fixed.
It is not the Church’s job to tell politicians how to come about with those fixes, but it is the Church’s responsibility – and that means every Catholic’s responsibility – to remind our legislators that they are dealing with human beings whose dignity must always be at the heart of their deliberations. The call to comprehensive immigration reform is above all a dignity issue.
But until a legal and efficient process is developed and implemented, illegal entry into the US will remain the easiest path (and far from the safest) for getting into the US. The system has to be fixed so illegal entry is no longer attractive. This will be the way that those who make money guiding people across the border will be put out of business. Given a choice of coming into the country legally or illegally, who wouldn’t chose to do so legally. But there exists only 5000 worker visas each year for a demand that is a hundred times greater than that. People are not going to want to wait years to get a worker visa for jobs that exist now.
Fix the system and make it so that it can efficiently provide visas for the in-country demands and I think you’ll find the vast majority of those seeking entry into the US will want to do so through a mechanism for a proper legal entry. Until then, the illegalities will only continue and worsen.
As I was writing the above, a verse from I Chronicles 22:1-2 came to mind. King David, on in years, began collecting all the materials that would be needed by his son for building the Temple. The verses state: “David then ordered that all the aliens who lived in the land of Israel be brought together, and he appointed them stonecutters to hew out stone blocks for building the house of God.”
I believe a nation can do one of two things with its alien residents – they can either treat them harshly as the Egyptians did the Israelites or do as David did and make them a part of building up the kingdom of God in our country.
Again, I think we honestly differ very little on this issue. Because it is so difficult of an issue, I have tried to understand it from the perspective of those who doubtless want to make this journey but feel they have little other choice if their families are to survive. I look forward to our continued dialogue.
Paul Simoneau
Director of Peace and Justice
Diocese of Knoxville
I would truly like to think we are not “really all that far apart on our thinking about immigration. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take this discussion further.
Let’s examine your assertion that “[the] mechanism for controlling the flow into the country long ago failed to keep up with US demands for seasonal workers and laborers.” You’re saying that we need to take in a lot more legal immigrants, because America does not have enough unemployable people to take seasonal agricultural jobs.
On the contrary, this year Stanislaus County, CA, in the middle of California’s agricultural heartland, saw its unemployment rate hit a record 18.9%
http://www.modbee.com/2010/03/10/1083029/stanislaus-unemployment-at-189.html
Same thing in Kern Co, over 18%
http://www.turnto23.com/news/23178035/detail.html
Over 20% in five other California counties
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/11/business/la-fi-cal-jobs11-2010mar11
I realize this is just a California snapshot, Spring 2010, not harvest time, but I can easily get you figures from all over the USA, seasonally adjusted. California was one of five, along with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, that recently reached their highest unemployment rates since the government began keeping track in 1976, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In all of these places, the unemployment rate for the young white, black and Latino male subset is MUCH HIGHER. Just take 30 seconds to run your eyes over these figures nationwide: among young males, over 50% unemployment.
http://tinyurl.com/youth-unemployment-us
Surely you see that the very sector who have the bodily capacity to do physical labor, are the ones who are suffering the most disastrous unemployment--- even as farm employers, landscapers, and construction contractors say they can’t operate without Mexicans?
That 50% figure for youth unemployment represents not just an economic need, but a terrible psychological --- call it a wasting disease. Young Americans, black, white, and Latino (native-born and legitimate legal immigrants) become demoralized, are reduced to a state of degrading dependency, lose a big chunk of their human dignity when they, first, cannot find entry-level jobs; second, cannot get apprenticeships; third, are not even expected to work, i.e. to aspire to the status and dignity of full adults.
At present there are 16 million unemployed --- and that’s understated, since it does NOT include those who are not seeking unemployment benefits: the young who have never had a job, laid-off workers who have given up looking for a job, and those who are employed part-time when they want and need full-time.
Forty percent have been out of work for more than 6 months. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0108/Number-of-long-term-unemployed-hits-highest-rate-since-1948
To paraphrase and rework what you said. “The call to oppose the flood of low-wage immigration is above all a dignity issue.”
Mexico does not have to be, and in important ways, IS NOT, a poor country. Mexico has the 12th highest GDP in the world, outranking Spain and Canada, and FAR outranking any other country in Central America or the Caribbean coast. Three times higher than Colombia. Five times higher than Venezuela. Almost 15 times higher than Ecuador.
http://tinyurl.com/world-purchasing-power-parity
By the way, a lot of Central American people would love to work in rich Mexico. But under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony. The General Law on Population says,
* “A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally.” (Article 123)
* Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned. (Article 125)
Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law:
* A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)
* Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined. (Article 132)
All that is backed up by Mexican law enforcement officers at every level: every city cop, every policeman in all 31 states, is empowered to enforce this law, and by God they do.
At the same time, Mexico openly colludes in shipping people into the USA illegally, and furiously protests our attempts to enforce our own legitimate laws.
I honestly think we should call Mexico’s bluff on its unwarranted interference in U.S. immigration policy. Let’s propose, just to make a point, that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member nations standardize their immigration laws by using Mexico’s own law as a model.
Perhaps a case can be made for increasing the number of legal worker visas in certain skilled areas. But I would want to make it subject to some sort of trigger mechanism.
Just off the top of my head, say that when young US male unemployment is at 50%, the number of temporary work visas for the agricultural, landscaping, food processing, meat packing and related sectors will be zero. At 25% young US male unemployment, the corresponding work visas will be 5,000. At 10% young US male unemployment, 10,000 visas. At 5%, 20,000 visas.
You understand these are just top-of-my-head figures. But I’m getting the concept across.
I believe, and would argue strongly, that it is immoral to allow immigration to take entry-level, seasonal, low-wage, unskilled or semi-skilled jobs when white, black, and Latino men already legally in the US are rotting away for lack of employment.
There is not one job in the USA that will lack US workers, if the wages are decent.
Paul, did you know I worked for the United Farm Workers 40 years ago? Worked my tail off for them, for social justice, for the poor, for those looking for a better future.
The Union failed. There were more farmworkers under a Union contract in 1970 than there are today. Do you know why it failed? There are about 3 or 4 reasons I could cite, but the absolute biggie was: wave after wave of foreign laborers who destroyed wages, destroyed working conditions, destroyed any possibility of dignified successful Union farm labor in California or anywhere else in the USA.
Another paraphrase, reworking what you said in a different way: God bless the Mexicans: make them a part of building up the kingdom of God in their country: in Mexico.
Good to talk with you, Paul. I’m glad we respect each other enough to argue hard.
Faithfully,
[Mrs. Don-o]
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