Illegal Immigration And The Catholic Church
Posted: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
by David Hallstrom
http://www.usacitydirectories.com
I am a Catholic. I am also, however, against illegal immigration. I believe that we should clamp down harder on illegal immigrants and we should do more to protect our borders. Churches, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other, however, have a different duty, in society, than governments, police departments and citizens. A church's duty is to help people without regard to the person's past or current standing.
Cardinal Mahony stated "The whole concept of punishing people who serve immigrants is un-American. If you take this to its logical, ludicrous extreme, every single person who comes up to receive Holy Communion, you have to ask them to show papers. It becomes absurd and the church is not about to get into that. The church is here to serve people…. We're not about to become immigration agents. It just throws more gasoline on the discussion and inflames people."
In a letter to the Times a reader stated "It is time for the Internal Revenue service to look into the Catholic Church's tax-exempt status. It seems as though Cardinal Roger Mahony is getting involved in politics, and I thought that was a no-no."
I disagree with that reader. I don't believe that Cardinal Mahony is engaging in politics. He was not telling his parishioners what stance to take on illegal immigration, he was simply asking (not odering) his parishes to "fast, pray and press for humane immigration reform" and instructing his priests to continue to provide assistance to people without regard for their immigration status.
It is a priest's duty to assist people. To deny a person the sacraments of confession, communion, baptism, last rites, marriage, etc., or to deny financial aid or comfort in times of need, because that person may or may not be here legally or because that person may not be able to prove that he or she is here legally, would be unchristian and against the spirit of the Church. In my opinion, any priest that would deny aid based on immigration status, would not be fit to be called a priest.
Cardinal Mahony also stated that he disagreed with certain new laws and rules being proposed. I disagree with some of his statements, however this country's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and I believe that he should be able to vocalise his thoughts and feelings, just like the rest of us. His being a Cardinal should not rob him of his right to free speech. He is not, after all, speaking of treason or hate and he is not stating that God told him to make his statements. He is not stating that God will punish those that do not follow his (Cardinal Mahony) wishes.
Cardinal Mahony advocates immigrant rights and I and many others disagree with many of the rights he advocates, however, he is a citizen of this country and no matter what his position or influence, should have the right to speak out on issues that he believes in. Politicians, celebrities, union leaders, billionairs, etc. all are allowed to speak out. Why should church leaders be prevented from speaking out?
Yes, the government should do everything it can in order to stop illegal immigration. No, churches should not be stopped from caring for their flock and they should not be stopped from caring for someone just because he or she may or may not be a citizen or a legal immigrant. The government's duties and the church's duties are not the same.
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About The Author David G. Hallstrom, Sr. is a retired private investigator and currently publishes several internet directories including http://www.resourcesforattorneys.com a legal and lifestyle resources directory for attorneys, lawyers and the internet public. For more lifestyle information see http://lifestyle.resourcesforattorneys.com, the Lifestyle directory from Resources For Attorneys. |
While the Catholic Church as well as any other Church has the duty to serve the people, it also has the corresponding duty to serve the requirements to uphold morality. Serving the people must be balanced with the duty to uphold morality.
In South America, Pope Benedict spoke against both raw Capitalism and raw Socialism. Significantly, two of the first five saints he canonized were dedicated to workers dignity.
Father Hurtado was one of them. During the 1940s and 1950s, in dealing with the rich, entrepreneurs and employers, he tried to reform working conditions based on human dignity and Rerum Novarum. Rerum Novarum was a historical standard for workers dignity for over a hundred years. It was not about politics or religion. It was simply about doing the right thing when it comes to the work day.
Today, Rerum Novarum has been put to sleep with men and women of good will seemingly ignoring it as a priority. It is nonsensical to put a band aid on economic wounds without addressing the core of the problems. I am afraid Cardinal Mahoney is doing more harm than good with his support of illegal immigration without confronting the cause.
Why did the the Mexican workers flock to the USA?
Mexico reports a low unemployment rate just like the USA does while we all know the streets report something quite different. Furthermore, the U.S. Federal Government itself sponsored the moving of U.S. factories to Mexico starting in 1956. It was supposed to be just a temporary program but it never ended. It evolved into the Maquiladora factories in Mexico using impoverished workers to supply cheaper goods for the American consumers. By 1992, more than 2,000 U.S. factories were moved to Mexico. This number quickly doubled to more than 4,000 after President Clinton and Democrat controlled Congress passed both NAFTA and GATT trade agreements. A new working poor class was created in the USA while impoverished working classes abroad were set in place.President Bush tells us the Mexican workers come to the USA to take jobs Americans will not do. He does not tell us about the more than 4,000 factories that were moved to Mexico which apparently failed to helped the Mexican economy. Mexican workers refused to take many of these jobs because of wage slave wages. Now some of the factories are moving out of Mexico to places like China for the sake of even cheaper labor. At the same time, a vast migration of workers flocked to the USA.
It is indeed a race to the bottom with Globalization and Free Trade having a long history of failures while no one seems to want to talk about it including men of good will like Cardinal Mahoney.
Globalization and Free Trade have made a mockery out of the Free Enterprise system and the old story of workers rights versus big money grows worst. In South America, raw Socialism which is a stale response to these conditions is waiting to take over again.
We need to find a way to stop this cycle and stop putting band aids on the situation will not work. For more information, search under tapajna flat world, tapsearch globalization or tapart news. There are more than a million reference search results at Google and Gigablast com under the phrase Clinton Years American Dream Reversed.
Despite the absurd advocacy of illegal immigration on the part of many American religious leaders, the vast majority of American Catholics do NOT support illegal immigration. I am one of them.
The Catholic Church can still help these poor people by sending money and volunteers to Mexico and work with them there. Illegals find sanctuary here and by helping them and sheltering them. The churches that engage in this practice are actually contributing to the problem. What most people don't understand is that illegals obtain certificates of baptism, communions, blessings, seminary, etc. papers that are often used as springboards for other documents. They also use these documents as evidence of time in the country just in case an amnesty comes along. They also use church people to vouch for them. So it's a game. These churches are doing good Samaritan work while at the same time, doing harm to the rest of society by making the illegal problem even bigger. Would Christ want millions of illegal immigrants entering Israel in modern times? You know that would happen, right?Catholics against illegal immigration need to say so with their pocketbooks. Keep them closed. Only give your money to missioneries actually helping in other countries.
Cardinal Mahony has always been for immigrant rights, even before he was a priest. He grew up on a farm in the central valley of California. As a deacon in the Catholic church, I vowed to be a servant to all of God's people, with or without papers. And that is what I do. But as a citizen of the United States, I cannot approve of the rampant disregard for our law and the usury of the illegals that is going on. Closing the border has not and will not work. The only way to keep them from coming in is to pass more legislation that would punish businesses who employ illegals. The excuse that "they had papers" is not good enough. We need a law that requires them to use the e-verify system already in place. Let's take all those govenment workers out there passing there days playing on the internet and put them to work enforcing immigration laws. If there are no jobs for them to go to, they'll go home and fina a way to come back legally. If that ever happens, maybe we'll see some states like California prevent bankruptcy and balance their budgets and see unemployment fall to below 5%!