Opposing the Illegals = "Fear of Foreigners"?(Mrs. Don-o Dialogs With Bishop on Immigration)

East Tennessee Catholic ^ | September 26, 2010 | Mrs. Don-o

[Mrs. Don-o]

The link is to East Tennessee Catholic, and the article I'm responding to is "Triptych of Love," by Richard Stika, Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville. (When you use the link, you'll have to go to page 3; I don't know how to link there directly.)

The first half of Bishop Stika's article does a fine job of pointing out that the Biblical teaching of God's concern for "the widow, the orphan, and the stranger" can be applied in our day to the unmarried mother, the unborn child, and the immigrant. This much, I think, is true, accurate, and pastorally sensitive.

He runs into difficulties when he touts remittances, the transfer of funds from foreign workers in the US to their families back in Mexico and other home countries, as one of the positives of the present immigration situation.

"These remittances, collectively, represent the largest and most effective poverty-reduction program inthe world. When we attack the migrant, we increase poverty and take food from the hungry."

Coming to the US without authorization is against the law; working here with a fake Social Security number is fraud; and yet Bishop Stika portrays cashing on millionfold lawbreaking and fraud as if it were a good thing.

And he runs into worse difficulties in his very next paragraph, in which he characterizes those opposed to this fraud as being moved by base motivations:

"But we are growing more fearful as a people and a society. When that hap[pens, as history demonstrates, the weakest and most vulnerable in a society are attacked. The slogans are familiar: fear of overpopulation, fear of lost autonomy, fear of the foreigner."

Good as Bishop Stika's intentions may be --- and I am convinced that they are the best --- good intentions do not justify bad programs.

My letter follows.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Dear Bishop Stika,

I was proud to see the reports in East Tennesseee Catholic about your welcome pastoral activities with our Hispanic community, and especially with the farm workers in Unicoi. And I admired your reflections on the Triptych of Love. Yes, “the widow, the orphan and the stranger” are the objects of God’s special concern, as we are taught by the Prophets, and by Jesus Christ Himself. Your recognition of this triad in the husbandless mother, the unborn child, and the vulnerable immigrant is a valuable insight.

It seems to me, though, that in some respects you may have oversimplified your presentation in a way that is inadvertently inaccurate and unfair.

The complex controversy about the status of those who enter this country unlawfully is difficult in part because many of these illegal millions are simultaneously perpetrators as well as victims of injustice.

This was made clear by the testimony of Dr. Carol Swain, a VanderbiltUniversity professor of law and political science, who spoke in Washington, DC on Sept. 24 at the House panel on immigration just before Stephen Colbert (but didn’t get nearly the attention Colbert got). She made a quietly stunning case that it is the steady flow of cheap migrant labor which destroys job opportunities and depresses wages for poor blacks and other American minorities.

This is a legitimate argument against the acceptance of massive immigration. It stems from concern for a vast group of sufferers whose interests are rarely considered: the millions of poor Americans --- and particularly young, unskilled minority males --- who are substantially, and in some cases permanently, robbed of any prospect of gainful employment because they have been displaced by an invasion of foreign nationals.

That’s why I must ask you to resist reducing this controversy to racism or xenophobia. I hope you did not intend to imply, in your “Triptych” article, that the

present immigration controversy is attributable to the unreasonable fears and resentments of Americans in a difficult time.

I have read a number of statements of Christian activists advocating such things as:

• comprehensive immigration reform as proposed by President Obama and his legislative allies

• the wider availability of schooling, health insurance, public housing, food stamps and other incentives and subsidies for unlawful residents and recipients

• the DREAM Act, and other proposed paths to U.S. citizenship for some of the 11- 13 million people who are in this country illegally.

These advocates, while well-meaning, too often make a wrong-headed assumption: that those who favor the above measures care about justice and compassion, and those who oppose them, do not.

Many, like myself, would contend that all of the above proposals are injurious to vulnerable communities, legitimate immigrants, minorities and the poor. We have reasonable evidence for this judgment; and it is unjust to suggest that our arguments are without foundation or that they originate in fear or bigotry.

I appreciate the fact you’re trying to address the main issues in a clear, brief, and Christian way. (And I know how difficult that can be!)

I am putting a book in the mail to you, “On the Immorality of Illegal Immigration” by Fr. Patrick Bascio, C.S.Sp. Fr. Bascio, a life-long advocate for social justice, has worked in poor communities in the U.S., Tanzania, and the Caribbean islands. Fr.Bascio also has a PhD in Systematic Theology from FordhamUniversity, with an emphasis on the Morality of Economic and Political Systems.

I hope this will provide a valuable perspective.

Sincerely in Christ,

[Signed]

[FlingWingFlyer]

Opposing illegals DOESN'T = "Fear of Foreigners. It's We the People's way of telling the dumbasses up on Capitol Hill to stop creating laws if they don't intend to enforce them.

BTW: When are we going to see a little "comprehensive" income tax reform? I'm getting mighty tired of paying taxes. I work for my money, therefore, it's MY money.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Maybe useful a template for your own letter to your Bishop, Social Justice guy, pastor, preacher, or Sister of Mercy?

Comments?

Please don't bash the Church per se, whose doctrines on this subject are at once moral, practical, and persuasive. My gripe is against clerics who drape their prudential opinions with episcopal brocade but ignore some of the key requirements of Catholic Social Doctrine. For instance, this from Para 2241, Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"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."

[MrB]

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

---

It’s implied, but not explicitly stated: “and ASSIMILATE”.

[Last Dakotan]

Thanks for the post.

[La Lydia]

Mrs. Don-o, talking to the priests and bishops about this is a sure way to drive yourself crazy. I just changed parishes and all my angst disappeared.

[EyeGuy]

“Please don’t bash the Church per se, whose doctrines on this subject are at once moral, practical, and persuasive.”

####

I won’t bash my own Church.

However, while helping the poor is all of those things, stealing from others at the point of a gun to do so, is most assuredly not. Government mandates to redirect wealth are ultimately enforced by large, armed men.

[Nea Wood]

If an American Christian were to sneak into Canada, steal some Canadian’s identity, work “under the table,” and/or receive healthcare, services and benefits paid for by Canadian taxpayers, would that be wrong? Clearly, it would be. Any such Christian would be told by her pastor (if he’s worth his salt) that she was being dishonest, covetous and thieving; that she should be in submission to the authorities over her and apply to live in Canada legally. But somehow, when it’s someone sneaking across OUR border, we must be sympathetic. We must let them stay. We must give them everything. I’m sick and tired of being told that it’s “un-Christian” to oppose illegal immigration. If being (supposedly) “poor” is reason to excuse crime, then anyone can shoplift, rob a bank, or mug a person on the street and it’s okay because the one who did it is “poor.”

[Mrs. Don-o]

Exactly.

[Jaded]

Thank you.

[Claud]

Very well done! My hat’s off to you Mrs. Don-o!

[bmwcyle]

God loves the cheerful giver. Robbing Peter to pay Paul leaves Peter not so cheerful.

[Legatus]

You make a very good point! It's like the bishops (and the bleeding hearts in general) think that Mexicans are somehow subhuman... After all, we wouldn't tolerate this kind of thing from a REAL person.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Yes, I was particularly scandalized by Bishop Stika's assertion that the fraud-and-lawbreaking-based remittances are the world's best anti-poverty program. It is immoral (and un-Catholic) to justify crooked dealings on the grounds that they are wonderfully beneficial to the crook.

For that matter, the illegal drug trade probably outpaces remittances as a source of foreign earnings for Mexico. Does that constitue the "positive side" of the narcotraficantes' business dealings?

It is disheartening to see a religious leader who will tout a vast corrupt system of the exploitation of foreign labor as having its valuable aspects. I recall that Pope Leo XIII described economic oppression as "a crime crying out to heaven for vengeance."

But a kind of sentimentality prevents even good men from seeing this.

[catroina54]

“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.”

---

now what has you thinkin’that our bishops aren’t going along these guidelines in THEIR push for amnesty ?
as then these criminals get decriminalized and according to their thinking will pay payroll taxes,FICA,etc ?

writing to them is a waste of time and only proves the archdioceses’ fast track to socialism and brainwashing those susceptible to their revision of the Gospel and teachings of the Catholic Church.

When the Tablet had the Bishop’s Christmas letter stating that Christ was migrant.......that was IT.
I’m sure many objected righteously but their stand and FUNDING via cAtholic Charities remains the same.

anyway,nobody should allow this manmade scatology to seperate them from Mass attendance and contributing to other worthy causes,maintenance etc.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Well, actually, Christ was a "migrant" in the sense that he was an exile or refugee (with St. Joseph and Mary in Egypt) and these terms are loosely synonymous.

\ However Christ did not practice or advocate illegal entry, identity theft, document fraud, gaming the system to get access to public services you're not entitled to, and all the rest.

That's where the issue gets seriously fudged.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I thought this might be of interest to you.

[stephenjohnbanker]

I left the Catholic church over 10 years ago, and found a church which teaches the bible, and stays out of left wing politics.

[don-o]

writing to them is a waste of time

I choose to believe people who are willing to think a thing through can be persuaded. What Mrs Don-o did not share is that she copied the letter to the head of the diocese social justice office (a man who will hear her) as well as to the diocese newspaper (which many will read).

I, of course am biased; but she does good work in sharing her clear, concise, and, imo - irrefutable analysis.

[stephenjohnbanker]

John 10 : 1

” I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber “

Works for me.