Posted on 03/18/2006 9:19:19 AM PST by sanormal
In a tiny house on the West Side, two nuns provide a daily break for Mexican immigrant mothers struggling to raise families in a foreign culture.
The nuns teach English, computer skills and arts and crafts. They celebrate birthdays and invite residents to the local Catholic church for Masses. If requested, they give advice on applying for citizenship.
It's free. No questions asked. Not about religion. Not about legal status.
But the work of the 7-month-old Presentation Ministry Center and similar organizations could be in jeopardy, according to opponents of a bill approved by the U.S. House in December.
As part of a proposed overhaul of immigration law, the House wants to make it a crime for any individual or group to knowingly assist the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
Whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Islamic, religious leaders say critical social services to the undocumented potentially could be reduced — if not stopped — should that part of the bill become law.
It could force them into a moral quandary: Obey civil law or God's mandate to show compassion to the poor.
Many religious leaders already have made their choice.
"If they want to put a bunch of priests and ministers in jail, then we're going to have to face the consequences," said Father Jim Loiacono, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church in Eagle Pass, four blocks from the Texas-Mexico border. "It's heartless because these are people who are so desperate there's no way we can turn them away."
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
The issue is rather thorny.
I see the border issue as a security matter. The security and soveriegnty of our borders is paramount in a post 9/11 world.
Those that assist illegal border crossers are "helping" them into a dark underworld ruled by drug gangs, low-wage slavers and transporter mobsters. The crossers are "helped" by being taught how to break our laws and live under the law. The crossers are "helped" into a life with no hope. Having babies in the US and getting welfare is the pinnacle of achievement for these "immigrants." Because they are illegal, they have no hope of the American Dream
Doesn't seem like help to me, at all.
THE BIBLE AND THE BORDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
--Robert Klein Engler
HE IS AN ILLINOIS MINUTEMAN!!
(CHICAGO--7 Nov. '05) Most social observers agree that the United States is a very religious country. By all measures of religiosity, the U. S. ranks high. At least 85 percent of the U. S. population claims they believe in God. Church attendance is high in the U. S. and so are donations to religious groups. With such a large number of citizens holding religious beliefs, it is little wonder that these beliefs are beginning to enter the debate over illegal immigration. To some observers it may seem that God and the border patrol are going to meet head-on.
If the U. S. is a very religious country, then it is also a predominantly Christian country. Some 80 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Yale professor S. P. Huntington argues that Anglo-Protestant Christian beliefs are at the core of traditional American values. Anglo-Protestant beliefs, however, have changed and developed through the centuries since the founding of the nation. From the doorway of a storefront church on the south side of Chicago to the stained-glass windows of New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral, the U. S. offers multiple expressions of the Christian faith.
Many Christians are now caught up in the debate about illegal immigration. Some do not know what to do to stop illegal immigration while at the same time living a faith that asks its believers to practice charity and forgiveness. Other Christians mistakenly believe that groups who are against illegal immigration, groups like the Minuteman Project, are immoral and dangerous. These Christians believe that illegal immigrants should be seen as people who need our assistance and compassion, not our judgment and condemnation.
Does the Bible and Christian theology have anything to add to the illegal immigration debate? Are Christians supposed to act one way or another on this social issue? I think Christianity does have some answers to the moral questions raised by illegal immigration. These answers are to be found both in Christian scripture and theology. In my view it is possible to be both a good Christian and have secure borders. It is also possible to demand illegal immigrants be deported and to practice Christian charity.
In chapter 13 of the apostle Paul's Letter to the Romans, the English translation reads, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed..." (Romans 13:1-2). Clearly, this is advice to Christians to follow the laws of their nation and to respect the laws of other nations.
When people come to the U. S. illegally, they are committing a crime. They are doing something that is against the governing authorities of the U. S. Illegal immigrants are not good Christians from Paul's perspective. Illegal immigrants may have reasons for breaking U. S. laws, but those reasons do not excuse their illegal actions. We should not let charity and compassion blind us from the criminal act illegal immigrants commit.
Those who work in a law-abiding way against illegal immigration and those who ask that the laws of the U. S. be enforced are being good Christians in doing so. Likewise, those who demand that illegal immigrants be detained and deported respect the governing authorities of their nation. In line with Paul's argument, they are doing what good Christians ought to do.
This is not to say that illegal immigrants should be treated badly. Christians practice charity and respect for the individual, but they do not condone law breaking. Law-abiding citizens of the U. S. have every right to make sure their borders are secure and that illegal immigrants are removed from their country as quickly and humanely as possible.
There are ideas implied in Paul's other writings that also shed light on the contemporary issue of illegal immigration. In his Letter to Philemon, Paul address the issue of what is to be done about a runaway slave. In short, Paul sends back the runaway slave, Onesimus, and encourages his master, Philemon, to accept and forgive him. This may seem an unusual act by Paul to those who know that under Roman law, the master had absolute authority over the life and person of the slave.
Although illegal immigrants are not slaves the way Onesimus was a slave in the apostle Paul's time, we can see illegal immigrants today as persons running away from their moral obligations to improve their own country and not run down ours. If that is the case, then it is certainly a moral and Christian thing to encourage illegal immigrants to return home and make life better in their own country.
Moving from scripture to the domain of Christian theology, we learn that moral actions have both an objective and subjective component. The theologian Thomas Aquinas held that both subjective intention and objective consequence are necessary in making a moral judgment. In one of Thomas's examples, while out hunting it is better to kill your father believing he is a stag, than to kill a stag believing it is your father.
From the point of view of the moral theology of Thomas Aquinas, we may judge illegal immigrants from Mexico from both a subjective and objective point of view. Objectively, illegal immigrants are breaking U. S. immigration laws, but do these criminals have a subjective intention that outweighs the objective criminal act? Is breaking U. S. immigration laws justified because it is the only way poor Mexicans can feed their families, or do illegal immigrants who come to the U. S. have another choice?
Coming to the U. S. illegally is not the only choice poor Mexicans can make to improve their lives. They could also choose to stay in Mexico and work to make Mexico a better country. In fact, as good Christians it is their moral obligation to do this. It is better to improve Mexico than to be a criminal in the U. S. Illegal immigration may be the easy way out, but it is not the moral way. Christians are supposed to do what is good, even if the good is difficult to do.
Although Christianity encourages acts of charity, we cannot be both charitable and law breakers. We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. The Archbishop of Mexico City should be encouraged to prevent Mexicans from coming illegally to the U. S. He should encourage Mexicans to work for Christian social change in Mexico instead of criticizing U. S. immigration policies. Unless the Mexican state changes, many Mexican citizens will never be able to have a fulfilled life. Nor can they find fulfillment by breaking U. S. immigration laws. To push the poor from your door to your neighbor's door is not an example of Christian charity.
It remains to be seen what other religious questions will be raised about illegal immigration to the U. S. It seems clear for the moment that as the debate over illegal immigration grows, so, too will the theological and scriptural debate over this issue grow. It may very well be that just as liberal Christianity in the U. S. inspired the civil rights movement of the late 20th century, so, conservative Christianity will inspire the secure border movement of the early 21st century.
Robert Klein Engler lives in Chicago. He is an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University. His book, A WINTER OF WORDS, about the turmoil at Daley College, is available from amazon.com.
http://tinyurl.com/9v7zq
The Catholic Church VS the Waukegan Police Department
"the alien livingg with you must be treated as one of your native-born"
US citizens are jailed for breaking the law. I think we should go right ahead and do that.
How are they breaking the law? Are the concealing the illegals from ICE? Are they providing forged documents or the names of people that can provide them?
I don't like illegals, but to me it looks like they are doing God's work, ministering to the needy without spending a single taxpayer dime.
If parisheners withhold their tithes, it won't be long before the church leaders wisen up to acting within the law.
"It's heartless because these are people who are so desperate there's no way we can turn them away."
Call INS or whatever it is being called this week.
Buy them a ticket 'home'.
Surrender all their other commonly accepted 'rights' as a citizen.
Continue dreaming of a religious state in lieu of the one our constitution envisioned. (might clash with islamic dreams)
Improve their Spanish.
Or, concentrate on our own needy and let mexico take care of it's own social issues.
And,
recognize that there are border issues other than easy access to a maternity ward.
I know exactly what the police will do with the illegal aliens. Nothing, because they will not be picked up and deported. That is not the cop's fault. The nuns, on the other hand, are violating the law on purpose. They are doing it in a premeditated fashion, and claiming houlier than thou status as a reason to do so. So yes, the nuns are a problem.
Obviously not. One of the points that I was making is that one can find a quote in the bible to justify anything. Also, I do not consider it moral to allow your country to be destroyed by illegal citizens. In this case, Romans 13 has a single edged blade.
You are absolutely right. Therefore, make sure that you seek no medical attention of any kind beyond what you would get from your local medicine man in the bush. Otherwise, you would be a hypocrite.
"Luck"? I don't believe that "luck" is a Christian belief. It is all done because of God's plan, isn't it? That isn't luck, is it?
You and Raycpa(sp) are a pair. We should live in fortified cities, and let the illegal aliens take over the rest of the country. We should live by his version of Mosaic law, and we shouldn't seek medical care. What a nightmare of a future you two present. You remind me of the islamofascists. Same mindless adherence to what you think are the Lord's words, resulting in total anarchy, misery, death and destruction.
You have a lot of good points, and yes immigration needs to be addressed by the govt. However, there is a theory in L.E. called, I believe, the "broken window theory". The unfixed broken window signifies the beginning of the end of that neighborhood. It attracts more of the same, and as the destitution spreads, more problems are attracted to the area, etc. In other words, all aspects of the problem must be addressed.
True. In the meantime, close and secure the borders until the mexican govt gets squared away.
I can see and understand the dilemma, many churches have always helped illegals as far as food and water and clothes. I really don't have a problem with that, they are following their belief. I do think some churches are crossing the line into the politics of the illegal problem. Some churches are actually involved in smuggling, and assisting the illegals through the whole process from getting here to staying here permanently. I strongly disagree with that, in fact I think the ones that are involved in the smuggling operations should be treated as smugglers period.
You missed my point. It's not a question of fair. The world isn't fair.
It is unarguable that the reason that poverty around the world exists is because of corrupt government
Being born in a country that is prosperous with a stable government isn't a matter of luck?
Anyone who claimed that poor people are poor purely because of their own "lack of initiative," or for some other reason having to do with an inherent flaw in the poor person's character does not know God, and will never see Him until they wise up. To such a person my words must seem like idiocy.
Being born in a country that is prosperous with a stable government isn't a matter of luck?
A matter of perspective. Some would call it luck, others fate. But whatever it is God hands us in our lives we are expected to make the most of it. There will be an accounting. I do not expect you to go and sell all that you own and give it to the poor, but remember and say to yourself when you see them that "there, but for the grace of God go I."
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