Posted on 09/23/2013 7:46:15 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Two marches in support of comprehensive immigration reform will be held in October. Participants are encouraged to carry Arkansas or United States flags and wear white to show solidarity.
In a Sept. 23 letter to pastors, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor wrote, I highly encourage all Catholics to join in one or both of the two upcoming marches in support of comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship: in Rogers Oct. 5 and in Little Rock Oct. 12. The impetus for immigration reform has stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives and it is important that our demand for justice for immigrants be heard now.
I plan to participate in the march in Little Rock Oct. 12, but due to prior commitments, I will not be able to participate in the march in Rogers Oct. 5, so you will need to serve as my voice there as well as the voice of so many voiceless people in our midst.
The bishop is asking priests to wear their clerical attire so that support of the Catholic Church for immigration reform will be unmistakable. He is also asking the Knights of Columbus honor guards to participate. Other participants should wear white and should not carry foreign flags or wear clothing supporting a foreign country.
It is important that non-Hispanics participate in large numbers to give clear witness to our legislators that this is an issue of justice and thus concerns all of us, the bishop wrote. Indeed, ever since the time of Cain, God has insisted repeatedly that we are to be our brother's keeper.
The Oct. 5 march in Rogers begins at 4 p.m. at the corner of Walnut Ave. and 2nd St. and will proceed to the corner of Walnut Ave. and 13th St. where a celebration will take place from 5-7 p.m.
The Oct. 12 march will begin at 3 p.m. at two different start locations. One group will leave the entrance of Philander Smith College in Little Rock and the other one will leave from near Dickey Stevens Park in North Little Rock. A rally will be held at the State Capitol at 4 p.m.
No.
Why is it that clergy can't speak from the pulpit against things like gay marriage without having to worry about being charged with a hate crime and being accused of mixing church and state, but crap like this goes on without trouble?
Oh wait, I know why.
Bishops and priests can always address issues, but they cannot endorse a candidate. That’s when they lose the tax-exempt status for their church.
....1841 was an election year in the state of New York. Five days before the election, at a Catholic rally at Carroll Hall, [then-bishop John Joseph Hughes] presented his parishioners with a list of the candidates he favored for council and urged them to vote for them....The Constitution gave Hughes the right to advise his parishioners how to vote, but the Protestant establishment was outraged at what they saw as priestly meddling in politics. Leading the attack, James Gordon Bennett, editor of The New York Herald....Hughes's politicking paid off. All but three of the candidates he had supported were elected. In April 1842, the state passed the Maclay bill. By a majority of just one, New York's Senate voted to end religious instruction in New York's public schools....
-- excerpts from Hour Two of the PBS broadcast God In America
The next question then is, why the hell is USCCB so vocal about this particular issue, and on the wrong side for any thinking Christian?
His ENTIRE DIOCESE should LOOSE its tax exempt status.
If I were in Bishop Taylor’s Diocese I would send him a message Sunday by not putting anything in the collection.
I hope those in his Diocese do just that. Send him a little note in the envelope they send out, instead of money.
The “Civil Rights Movement” seems to be yearning for the good old days. Maybe they could do something new, like find jobs for the folks, get good accountable schools or march against black on black crime.
yet another bishop who is not a Christian.
You are totally ignorant about tax law.
Another Catholic bishop campaigning for a pro-abortion majority.
Immigrants vote about 70% pro-abortion. Thus, they have no right to enter the U.S.
Bishops never see what goes in the collection basket in a parish.
In cities such as Rogers (Benton County) and Springdale (Washington County), Latinos make up more than thirty percent of the total population. Spanish signage is now seen in many Arkansas towns and cities.
Many were imported specifically to work for Tyson Foods, which is now a big proponent of open borders with Mexico.
Why thank you for that compliment.
I think Churches who promote POLITICAL agendas should loose their tax free status - PERIOD.
They get the message when it’s passed on.
And now for all you Lutherans, thought you might like to see something that will make your day. Have a barf bag ready.
So, if Obama issues an EO that calls for the execution of all Catholic priests, the Church has no right to object?
I guess it goes without saying that you think the Church has no right to object to the HHS Abortion Mandate.
After all, Obama is a POLITICIAN, and his official acts are a matter of POLITICS, and anyone who objects is engaging in POLITICAL activity.
In Germany, the issue of how the Jews were being treated was a POLITICAL issue.
It’s funny that you treat as a self-evident principle something that dates from 1954—and came about as an accident. And was imposed on the country by the murderous, election-stealing thug, LBJ.
A 501(c)(3) organization in Texas campaigned against Lyndon Johnson. Johnson got a provision put in the IRS code banning campaigning for or against candidates by tax-exempt organizations.
The effect on churches wasn’t even intentional.
Nowadays, people treat the ban on political activity by churches as a self-evident Founding Principle.
It’s nonsense. Any church, or any minister, who wishes to say anything about any issue or candidate ought to be free to do so, AS THEY WERE FROM 1620 UNTIL 1954. Their pronouncements will be evaluated by their fellow citizens like anybody else’s pronouncements.
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