Posted on 11/20/2014 2:30:39 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Often at odds with the Obama administration over religious liberty, abortion, and gay marriage, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out on the presidents side this month, pleased with his decision to act unilaterally on immigration, a move theyve been encouraging for some time.
In a little-noted September letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, they chided Congress for its inaction.
We write to urge you to use your authority to protect undocumented individuals and families as soon as possible, within the limits of your executive authority, the letter began. With immigration reform legislation stalled in Congress, our nation can no longer wait to end the suffering of family separation caused by our broken immigration system.
The letter asked specifically for deferred action for immigrants with strong community ties and equities in the United States and [who] have lived in the United States for ten years or longer, those with approved family and employment petitions, parents of children who are U.S. citizens, and parents of DACA recipients. DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a 2012 administration memo authorizing prosecutorial discretion when dealing with those who illegally entered the country while under 18.
The letter was signed by Eusebio Elizando, Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle, Washington, and Kevin Vann, Bishop of Orange, California. Elizondo is also Chairman of the USCCBs Committee on Migration, while Vann is Chairman of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
The Administration has the opportunity to provide this relief to families who have built equities in this country, the letter concludes. As Congress has been unable to pass immigration reform legislation, we urge you to exercise your authorityas conferred by, but also limited by, the federal Constitution and statutesto protect these families from separation and exploitation. As pastors concerned with the physical and spiritual welfare of our people, we can no longer wait to end the human suffering caused by our current immigration system.
It would be derelict not to support administrative actions which would provide immigrants and their families legal protection, Elizando said last week. We are not guided by the latest headlines but by the human tragedies that we see every day in our parishes and programs, where families are torn apart by enforcement actions especially.
It may be necessary for the president to step up and to act in a way that addresses the needs of families, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas told Catholic news site Crux. The preference would be to have a bipartisan solution, and a comprehensive solution. But it seems as if for whatever reason there is a paralysis existing right now, and in the meantime, people are hurting, families are being separated.
Sean OMalley, Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Boston, famously held a mass at the U.S.-Mexican border in April of this year, distributing communion wafers through the fence to the faithful on the other side.
We have lost a sense of responsibility to our brothers and sisters, he said in his homily at the time. Afterward, in an interview with The Washington Post, he said that as a D.C. priest during the 70s and 80s, most of my parishioners were undocumented refugees. To me, theyre not statistics; theyre people, and Ive seen the kinds of sacrifices and the suffering theyve endured.
OMalley drew criticism from some for the move, including Catholic commentator George Weigel, who said Its not clear to me how holding Mass in these circumstances can be anything other than politicized.
USCCB support for executive action and hope to influence it goes back to June, when Obama first announced his intention to act unilaterally. Kevin Appleby, director of their Migration Policy and Public Affairs Office, has consistently pushed for a progressive solution, according to Aleteia, another Catholic news site.
As pastors, bishops and priests are charged with ensuring that all Catholics and those of good will have the opportunity to know God and to be with him, Appleby wrote in a 2013 op-ed. It is also an obligation of all Catholics. Advocating for immigration reform is yet another way for the Catholic clergy, joined by the Catholic faithful, to fulfill that responsibility.
Ah, you mean like 2004 where a majority of Catholics voted for protestant George W. Bush instead of "fellow Catholic" John Kerry. Must have been a "historical exception"
LOL, wow, 2004, when the Catholic vote went 52% for Bush as the incumbent after voting for Al Gore in 2000 previously Bill Clinton and then following it with voting for Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Yes it was one of the handful of historical exceptions, let’s all we conservatives rejoice and import tens of millions more such voters.
You guys blow my mind the way you defend democrat voters.
They aren't a 50/50 vote and hopefully no one defends the Jewish vote either, since you brought them up, do you defend it?
But we aren't importing Jews and their future democrat voting offspring by the tens of millions.
The left isn't counting on the Jewish vote delivering Texas into their hands.
Nope, you and I don't make that claim, but PLENTY of freepers do make this argument EVERY election cycle and claim Jews are going to magically vote Republican this time if we "stand with Israel" and turn a blind eye to their love of abortion and gay marriage. "God's choosen people", y'know. Need me to ping you to some 2014, 2012, and 2010 threads to refresh your memory?
>> The left isn't counting on the Jewish vote delivering Texas into their hands. <<
No, they're counting on the Jewish vote to put them over the top in areas with large Jewish populations, like Florida and New York. Then we waste money trying to "win" a voting bloc that is one of the most reliable RAT special interest groups, instead of spending it on voters that are actually willing to vote GOP. Obama could probably pledge to wipe Israel off the map and he'd STILL win the "Jewish vote"
Millions of Catholics who vote in U.S. elections aren't "imported", they were born here and have lived here for generations. Or is that your way of admitting the problem isn't with the "Catholic vote" as a whole, but rather, the IMMIGRANT vote? (which IS overwhelmingly RAT, unlike the Catholic vote overall, which is a swing vote no matter how much you lie and pretend Catholics overall are safe Dem)
It is unreasonable for a handful of our Jewish posters to treat discussion of the Jewish vote the way that some of our Catholic freepers do the Catholic vote, as something that can’t be discussed and widely known and that must be attacked and shut down, and even lied about.
Some Catholics here clearly do not want the relationship between the Catholics and the left and it’s connection to immigration, to become general knowledge.
Totally incapable of admitting that he’s wrong. A lot like Obama in that.
They are encouraging chaos and no where in the Bible does God encourage chaos.
Lutheran Missouri Synod is still standing tall!! So don’t give up on us yet.
I take it The Constitution of the United States wasn’t taught in their schools. So how much are the RCC USA and other Liberal churches going to pay directly out of their churches own pockets for the economic and criminal damage they do? It is not a sin to have an orderly immigration system and Amnesty is not such a system. It’s rewarding an invasion some of it being encouraged by the RCC itself like the Diocese of Nashville’s stunt when they were bussed in a few months ago.
Thanks, I honestly remember reading that many of those coming from Mexico and Latin America were fallen away Catholics or other denominations. I think many may be Catholic as a matter of convenience and if the local Bishops were to stop supporting shameless disregard for immigration laws they would suddenly stop filling the pews (if they do now) and find other church homes.
Republicans are making inroads into the Jewish vote now. Mitt Romney made the strongest Republican showing among Jewish voters since 1980.
The Catholic vote is voting largely along ethnic lines. White Catholics are now voting more Republican than white Protestants outside the South.
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