Posted on 10/01/2010 1:49:32 PM PDT by 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.
LLS
There's your mistake.
Beautiful letter. Thanks for sharing.
I wrote to Bishop Stika because I am convinced he is worth communicating with; in other words, I give him credit for being amenable to reason. That is the default-position of civility which we owe to anyone.
Beyond that, I have been watching Rev. Stika's activities and reading his words for several years now. For five years he was doing Child and Youth Protection work for Abp Raymond Burke of St.Louis; for those who may not know this, Burke is one of the finest bishops in the world, absolutely first-class, and for Burke to put Stika in this most sensitive and responsible position means he merits respect from one whose respect is worth having.
Just 3 months after he accepted appointment as a Bishop with a Diocese in his own right (Knoxville), Stika stuck his neck way out there by publicly opposing the University of Notre Dame's decision to award Obama that tawdry "honorary degree." Stika said it was "embarrassing and shameful," given Obama's "approach to abortion rights, embryonic-stem-cell research, and other issues is not in keeping with the teachings of our Catholic faith."
So, especially for a newbie-bishop, Stika has notable moral courage as well.
Please join me inpraying for all the bishops, especially Stika, whop will be a real asset (once we get him educated about immigration!!)
:o) Thanks, LLS.
You’re very welcome. I’m hoping I can motivate more FReeprs to communicate with their clergy. Otherwise we are just swimming around in our own little fishtank, blowing bubbles.
Thank you so much. I’m so tired of the communist influence in the church. He has no clue the plans lined up for us.
And it’s a shame.
Thou shalt not steal is a commandment.
Has he seen the conditions and how they are mistreated in CA and other places? Doesn’t he see this also separates the father from the family (his role) and spawn second relationships and illegitimate children? Does he not care for those who immigrate legal (great cost, long waits), citizens who pay for these services and those (here anyway), who sit in the pews 40 years without attempting to resolve their status and no amendment of purpose? What example it sets to their children re: right and wrong?
Had our bishops preached marriage, the gospel of life and morals from scripture, this wouldn’t be the subject period.
Sorry for the rant, i’ll add it to my confession list for today.
BTW, what are the bishops doing in the countries of origin re: the source? Why can’t they earn a living in their countries? I understand it could be dangerous in some places, they are charged to tell the truth in and out of season. The bishops here could speak out for them.
So we're for family reunification? How about reunification in Mexico? How about jobs in Mexico?
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 GDP than Colombia. Five times higher than Venezuela. Almost 15 times higher than Ecuador.
Mexico has enormous resources of petroleum and minerals, superb coasts and mountains, good soil and climate, and gifted people. In a free and honest system this could all be turned into brilliant economic and cultural development.
Mexican society suffers deeply from crime and corruption going right to the very top, which forces the out-migration of some of its most valuable human resources: men and women, mostly under the age of 30, bearing the advantages of youth and energy, and self-selected, as it were, for the traits of initiative and ambition.
These head for the U.S., weakening marriages, breaking up families, leaving the elderly, the young, and other dependents without the irreplaceable presence of their stronger family members, and leaving the Mexican economy under-developed, stripped of its most potentially dynamic elements.
Thanks for the post, Mrs. Don-o!!!!!
You’re welcome!!!
This would seem obvious from the general principle that one ought to cooperate with legitimate governments short of sinning, but too many Christians miss it.
“I believe things that X are doing are wrong” doesn’t automatically translate to X-o-phobia.
LLS
One thing I will say - don't beat your head against the wall trying to change the mind of those who won't change. After one or two attempts you know some will never see things as you do.
Many years ago I had my first experience with a ‘bad’ Priest. I was sedated and waiting for serious surgery and was astounded by his behavior. It made quite an impression.
Contrary to what some here think, I know there are good and bad people and did not attribute his failings to other members of my church.
That is what I don’t understand either. The shadows illegal immigrants are forced to live in are physically and morally dangerous. In addition, it does NOTHING to hold Mexico to account for its treatment of its own people.
Our pastor recently wrote an email on social justice. I went in to speak to him about it. It was a very good discussion and found out that he truly had no idea of the connotations that social justice and just distribution of goods have to conservatives. I truly believe he does not know what is going on in its name.
A really good outcome of the situation has been my reading the social teaching encyclicals of the Popes. They are accessible, well thought out and do not AT ALL say what some claim they say. The key is the knowledge.
Thanks for writing on this subject.
Importing foreign laborers to depress the wages of the lowest-paid workers in America, is the kind of injustice which Pope Leo XIII said "cries out to heaven for vengeance."
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