On Wednesday, Catholic leaders in Kansas asked the state legislature not to pass any immigration enforcement measures during the upcoming legislative session.
Rev. Joseph Naumann, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City and Bishop Scott Jones Bishop of the United Methodist Church held a news conference to urge that illegal aliens be allowed to gain legal status in this country.
Archbishop Naumann said: “Our immigration policies are so restrictive. It makes it relatively impossible to legally immigrate to this country. There have to be ways to help them achieve legal status here, if not citizenship, perhaps a worker program that will allow them to achieve legal status.”
The news conference was attended by Renee Slinkard, of the Tea Party Immigration Coalition, who asked the religious leaders want to encourage and even reward those who enter this country illegally “when we are faced with all this terrorism, crime, human trafficking.”
Naumann responded by saying that those he characterizes as “bad actors” should be deported, but that most of those who disregard our immigration laws have no “ill intent.”
Naumann along with several other Catholic leaders recently signed an open letter asking once again that Congress pass so-called ‘comprehensive immigration reform,’ which would result in an amnesty granted to millions of illegal aliens.
Of course, this is only the latest foray by the Catholic Church into the issue of illegal immigration. Church leaders have been lobbying on behalf of illegal aliens for years now--an activity which many feel should result in the loss of the Church’s tax exempt status.
-In July 2010, Bishop Gerald Kicanas speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop, addressed the House Judiciary subcommittee, and made the following statement: “Immigration is ultimately a humanitarian issue since it impacts the basic rights and dignity of millions of persons and their families. As such, it has moral implications, especially how it impacts the basic survival and decency of life experienced by human beings like us. ... Our current immigration system fails to meet the moral test of protecting the basic rights and dignity of the human person.”
“Because of a broken system, immigrant families are being separated. Migrant workers are subject to exploitation by unscrupulous employers, and those attempting to find work by coming north are being abused and taken advantage of by human smugglers. it is our view that the best way to secure our southern border is through (comprehensive) immigration reform.”
While Kicanas, who is the head of the archdiocese in Tucson, claimed that over the last ten years, thousands of men, women and children have died in the desert trying to cross into this country…he failed to mention the thousands of Americans who have been killed by illegal aliens.
Nor did the Bishop mention the thousands of American children who have been molested by many of those “migrant workers.” Of course, the issue of child molestation is a touchy one for the Catholic Church.
-In January 2010, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on immigration met to discuss how the church can help push forward ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’
Bishop John C. Wester, chair of the committee, characterized the USCCB’s lobbying efforts as “a full-court press” on immigration reform.
Wester told reporters: “We certainly honor the laws of the land and we're grateful for them, but we do believe the system is no longer able to deal with the immigration realities we face today. We have great need for labor and invite immigrants to work, but then call it trespassing. We need temporary workers, but don't have sufficient visas.”
Though Wester claimed the Catholic Church has respect for our laws, he was also quick to justify the actions of those who enter this nation illegally. The bishop said: “’What part of illegal don't you understand?' is a quick sound bite. But if someone is breaking the law, you need to look at why the person's breaking the law.”
-In 2008, during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States, he gave many speeches and sermons. Among other things, the Pope admonished Americans to adopt a welcoming attitude toward those who break our laws by entering this country illegally. Benedict said: “I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home.
-In June 2005, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times in which he defended and even encouraged illegal aliens to enter this country. Of course, Mexicans and other Latin Americans are overwhelmingly devout Catholics. Mahony along with the rest of the church’s hierarchy is undoubtedly anxious to tap this potential source of income.
In 2006, Cardinal Mahony directed all priests in his 288 parish archdiocese to simply ignore any federal law which requires anyone working on behalf of the church to inquire into the citizenship of anyone seeking help (The Catholic church offers assistance to illegal aliens applying for various welfare programs). The directive was given by Mahony in response to the immigration bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 2005, which declared all illegal aliens and mandated the prosecution to anyone who knowingly aided an illegal alien.
The Catholic Church has also helped to organize the massive illegal alien rallies seen in recent years around the nation. The March 2006 rally held in Washington, D.C. was sponsored by among others the Archdiocese of Washington’s Office of Justice and Service, Catholic Charities of the Arlington Diocese, and the Catholic Social Justice Lobby Network. Baltimore churches St. Michael and St. Patrick even sent a four bus convoy filled with illegal aliens to the Washington rally.
A high-ranking official with the Diocese of Arlington, Va. named Father Jose Hoyos played to the crowd when he said: “I want to pray for all the representatives and the senators and the president of the United States, because if they were Christians they would not pass this kind of law.”
According to the Catholic Church, it is now somehow un-Christian to protect the sovereignty of one’s own nation.
What the leadership of the Catholic Church always fails to acknowledge in their sanctimonious speeches is the fact that the U.S. dioceses are dying, and droves of devout Mexican and Central American Catholics is just what the church needs right now to save it.
Countless child sex abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church over the last several years, and American families have been leaving the church in droves. As American men and women whisk away their children from the potential risk of molestation in the Catholic church, they also take their much needed money. The coffers of U.S. Catholic churches have been running on empty and the church sees the pocketbooks of illegal immigrants as its only hope.
The Catholic Church has been forced to pay-out millions to the victims of pedophile priests. Fed up with the hypocrisy and disregard for the lives of innocent children, many Americans have fled the Church. In the Boston Archdiocese alone, 65 churches have been forced to close their doors due to a sharp decline in parishioners.
For many American Catholics, it became obvious that their church would never take seriously the issue of children being victimized by child-raping priests. It also became obvious that the church would never take true responsibility for the role the leaders of the church played in harboring these monsters. It is little wonder that so many now well-informed American Catholics refuse to ever return their children as well as their donations to the church.
The illegal aliens represent exactly what the Catholic Church needs right now...largely uneducated and devoted worshipers with jobs. The illegal aliens will be all-too happy to place their children in Catholic schools (largely funded by school vouchers). If Congress ever grants amnesty to all illegal immigrants, they will fill the now-darkened parishes throughout the U.S. Most of these people speak very little English and most lack even an elementary school education and are unfortunately much more likely to keep their mouths shut once the priests begin to victimize their children. The shell game of shifting predatory priests around will begin again and the faithful will continue to fork-over ten percent of their wages to the church.
While they claim that the motives behind their quest for amnesty for millions of mostly Hispanic illegal aliens are strictly humanitarian, the church also has very practical reasons for seeking amnesty…Their own survival.
Furthermore, churches in this country are considered to be non-profit, charitable organizations and as such are exempt from taxes. However, as a condition of that status, they are prohibited from engaging in political activities (endorsing candidates, lobbying, etc.).
If the Catholic Church is going to use the pulpit to lobby for political change, they must be treated as any other lobbyist group attempting to influence our elected representatives.
The time has come to force the church to decide whether it is either a church or a political organization. If it chooses the latter, the taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize their lobbying activities.
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