A timely post about from www.Vdare.com about the group “Tigres Del Norte” that was in the D.C. mall amnesty rally. This follows this post about Ernesto “Che” Guevara. In the meantime, you can get more involved if you like here and read an interesting book HERE.
"Somos Mas Americanos" - We are More AmericanScratch the surface, and The National Question pervades every facet of American society. The entertainment world is no exception. In July of 2002, country-western singer Chad Brock was lambasted for what he said at a concert in Greeley, Colorado: “Why should we adapt? You are coming over to our country. We don’t speak Russian. We don’t speak Spanish. We speak English here.” [“Singer’s Remark Riles Hispanics,” Denver Post, July 9, 2002]And two years ago, rock guitarist Ted Nugent provoked the wrath of LULAC by saying, also in a concert, that “If you can’t speak English, get the #%!# out of America.” [VDARE.COM warning: link contains original verb.]What Brock and Nugent were saying—each in his own way--was that immigrants should learn English—a quite reasonable opinion shared by most Americans. What would happen, though, if a successful recording artist or group released a song that relegated some Americans to second-class status?Answer: Apparently nothing - if the group is composed of Mexican immigrants, who relegate gringos to second-class status in their own country. The song in question is “Somos Mas Americanos” [We are more American], sung by a group called Los Tigres del Norte. One of the results of the creeping bilingualism in the U.S.A. is the growth of a parallel Spanish media—practically unknown to most clueless English-speakers. “Somos Mas Americanos ” has spent a whole year on the record racks without controversy. I purchased my copy of “Uniendo Fronteras” in a Wal-mart in the state of Texas. You might ask your local Wal-mart why they sell anti-American music. “Somos mas americano,” sing the Tigres, “than the son of the Anglo-Saxon.... than every last one of the gringos.” If you haven’t heard of Los Tigres del Norte, well, they aren’t singing songs for you anyway. But they are singing about you. Based in California, the Tigres del Norte are Grupo Numero Uno in Norteño, a polka-based form of music from northern Mexico, famous for its story-song “corridos” [To see a photo of the Tigres click here].The nucleus of the group is formed by front-man Jorge Hernandez and his brothers, who migrated from Mexico to California in 1968. They were adopted by British impresario (and non-Spanish speaker) Art Walker, who encouraged them to electrify, modernize and commercialize their music. Walker’s Fama Records was the first Spanish-language record company on the West Coast. “Contrabando y Traición” [Contraband and Treachery], 1972-73, was the Tigres’ first big hit, as well as the first of the “narcocorrido” genre. (For more details, check out this article from the Silicon Valley paper Metro, “Tiger Tales.”) Just how big are the Tigres? Well, they’ve won a Grammy. They have earned 7 gold albums (sales of 500,000 or more), no small feat when you consider that Latin music sales only make up 4.6% as of the year 2000, last year for which full-year statistics are available. Last May, they received the “Latino spirit award” from Gray Davis, one of those “sons of the Anglo-Saxon” who happens to be governor of California. For now.They’ve been honored by the Smithsonian Institution. They are slated to receive the “Estrellas de la Gente” [Stars of the People] award at a big award shindig, “De La Gente Ritmo Latino,” in LA’s Kodak Theater, on October 25th. And, for the past year, the Tigres have received a free ride from the media since releasing “Somos Mas Americanos.” Not only were the Tigres - not even U.S. citizens, although they’ve lived in California for 34 years - unafraid to release this bitter piece of irredentist anti-gringo propaganda, but it's been a raving success. The song was released in August of 2001 on the Tigres’ album “Uniendo Fronteras” (“Uniting Borders”, but what they really mean is “Erasing Borders”.) “Uniendo Fronteras” did quite well, spending 3 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart. “Somos Mas Americanos” peaked last May at #12 on the Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay Chart, and at #39 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks. (Both of these figures are based only on the album’s success in the U.S.) "Somos Mas Americanos" peaked at #7 on San Antonio’s KLEY. But it wasn’t only popular in the Southwest. It peaked at #3 on WARV (Richmond, Virginia) and WAGL (Lancaster, South Carolina). You might inquire how high it climbed on your local Spanish-language station. At a Tigres del Norte concert in the Houston Astrodome on February 24th, 2002, the song was apparently the audience favorite.For the benefit of VDARE.com readers, I present below my translation of “Somos Mas Americanos.” It doubtless fails to capture the literary quality of the original-language lyrics. But it does translate the content. That way, you can be aware of what your neighbors may be listening to on your local Spanish-language radio station:
“Somos Mas Americanos” (by Enrique Valencia)Windows Media Player sample at Yahoo.com
A thousand times they have shouted at me,
“Go home, you don’t belong here”
Let me remind the Gringo
That I didn’t cross the border, the border crossed me
America was born free—Man divided her
They drew the line so I would have to jump it
And they call me Invader
That’s a big error
They took eight states from us—who is the invader here?
I am a stranger in my own land
I don’t come to make war—I’m a working man
(Chorus)
If history does not lie, the Powerful Nation was seated here in glory
Composed of valiant warriors
Indians of two continents
Mingled with Spaniards
And if we go by the centuries
We are more American [“Somos Mas Americanos”]
We are more American
Than any son of the Anglo-Saxon
(Spoken)
They purchased from us, without money,
the waters of the Rio Bravo
They took from us Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado
California too, and Nevada
Even with Utah it was not enough—they also took Wyoming from us!
I am of Indian blood—I am Latino—I am Mestizo
We are of all colors and all occupations
And if we go by the centuries
Though it pains The Neighbor
We are more American
Than every last one of the Gringos
(Chorus)
[Original Spanish lyrics) ]
Ya me gritaron mil veces
que me regrese a mi tierra
Porque aqui no quepo yo
Quiero recordarle al gringo
Yo no cruce la frontera
La frontera me cruzo
America nacio libre
El hombre la dividio
Ellos pintaron la raya
Para que yo la brincara
Y me llaman invasor
Es un error bien marcado
Nos quitaron ocho estados
Quien es aqui el invasor
Soy extranjero en mi tierra
Y no vengo a darles guerra
Soy hombre trabajador
Y si no miente la historia
Aqui se sento en la gloria
La poderosa nacion
Entre guerreros valientes
Indios de dos continentes
Mezclados con español
Y si a los siglos nos vamos
Somos mas americanos
Somos mas americanos
Que el hijo de anglosajon
(hablado)
Nos compraron sin dinero
Las aguas del Rio Bravo
Y nos quitaron a Texas Nuevo Mexico, arizona yColarado, tambien volo
California y Nevada con Utah no se llenaron
El estado de Wyoming
Tambien nos lo arrebataron
Yo soy la sangre del indio
Soy latino soy mestizo
Somos de todos colores
Y de todos los oficios
Y si contamos los siglos
Aunque le duela al vecino
Somos mas americanos
Que todititos los gringos
To refute all the pseudo-historical nonsense in “Somos Mas Americanos” would require another article. Allow me however, to address one.The song’s assertion that “I didn’t cross the border, the border crossed me” is pure bunkum. The majority of Mexican-Americans in the U.S. today are NOT descended from the residents of the Southwest in the period from 1836—1853, when it passed (in phases) from Mexican to U.S. control. After all, the members of the Tigres themselves are immigrants from Mexico. And Mexicans have no more right to enter the U.S. than immigrants from Asia, Europe or anywhere else in the world. But just because this excuse for illegal immigration is bogus does not mean it is not influential. Far from it. False myths can function quite effectively as powerful motivations for mass movements. “Somos Mas Americanos” does not exist in a vacuum. The Tigres are not fringe, underground musicians. They are in the mainstream of contemporary Latino music. Immigration enthusiasts fixated on romantic images of the Ellis Island experience had better pay attention too . The difference between immigration a century ago and immigration now is so enormous as to amount to a difference in kind. Irving Berlin, an immigrant of that bygone era, wrote “God Bless America.”
Today, the immigrants in Los Tigres del Norte sing “Somos Mas Americanos.” And not only is the song uncontroversial - but they receive an award from the governor of California. How times have changed! American citizen Allan Wall has lived in Mexico since 1991,and is permitted to live and work there thanks to a legal work permit issued by the Mexican government.
VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here. Readers can contact Allan Wall at allan39@prodigy.net.mx
Showing posts with label #obamamnesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #obamamnesty. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Editorial: The Roman Catholic Church only wants the U.S. to increase immigration!
Editorial
Last week was a recent attempt for the Roman Catholic Church to lobby in the U.S. immigration debate. Unlike their approach in pro-life legislation, and traditional marriage legislation, the Roman Catholic Church's position on immigration seems to focus only on the U.S. accepting an increasing amount of immigrants, this policy does not apply to other nations such as Mexico, or to the Vatican itself!
Again, consider contacting key Roman Catholic bishops about this, whether you are Catholic or not!
Last week was a recent attempt for the Roman Catholic Church to lobby in the U.S. immigration debate. Unlike their approach in pro-life legislation, and traditional marriage legislation, the Roman Catholic Church's position on immigration seems to focus only on the U.S. accepting an increasing amount of immigrants, this policy does not apply to other nations such as Mexico, or to the Vatican itself!
Again, consider contacting key Roman Catholic bishops about this, whether you are Catholic or not!
Friday, September 13, 2013
Action Alert: Contact Catholic Bishops, Even if You're Not Catholic ***BUMPED***
Action Alert
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
From Under The Rubble | Catholic Bishops On Immigration—Here We Go Again!
A very interesting post from www.Vdare.com about the Roman Catholic Church’s push on hurting America’s poor by encouraging more immigrants to compete with them for jobs and wages. This follows this post about GOP Representatives that FACEBOOK analyzes as leaning towards amnesty with all of their microtargeting. This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what you can do click here and you can read two very interesting books HERE.
From Under The Rubble | Catholic Bishops On Immigration—Here We Go Again!
[See earlier Is the Rule of Law Immoral? Ask Archbishop José Gomez!]
According to the New York Times, America's Catholic bishops are counting on the persuasive power of the pulpit this month to push "comprehensive immigration reform"—also known as amnesty for illegal aliens.
Unfortunately, we've already seen this movie, and it has an unhappy ending. Back in January 2010, our beloved shepherds launched a similar campaign supporting another amnesty bill.
Bishop John C. Wester chaired the Committee on Migration of the bishops' conference (USCCB) at the time. He told the Catholic News Service that "the church will prod lawmakers take action on the issue, beginning with a postcard campaign to members of Congress and prayer vigils across the country." [CNS, January 8, 2010].
Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't something else going on in January 2010?
Oh, that's right—Obamacare! But Obamacare wasn't a problem. After all, it never would have gotten off the ground, had the bishops not supported "universal health care" as "a basic human right" for years.
So the confident bishops focused on amnesty, announcing a nationwide "Justice for Immigrants" campaign in January 2010. They planned to distribute millions of postcards to parishes throughout the country urging Catholics to demand that Congress "enact immigration reform as soon as possible."
Then ObamaCare passed with abortion funding intact. The betrayed bishops expressed shock and chagrin.
They had good cause. The Nobel Peace Prize winner with an honorary degree from Notre Dame—whose election so many of them had supported in 2008—had lied to them.
It's shocking, I know. Simply shocking.
Then the most pro-abortion president in history betrayed them again, directing HHS to issue its notorious "Contraceptive Mandate." And today, dozens of bishops, Catholic universities, businesses, and individuals—among them Notre Dame—find themselves suing Obama, whose "universal health care" regulations threaten to force thousands of Catholic institutions nationwide to close.
The Experts Flunk Out
"We want to try to pull out all the stops," says Kevin Appleby, [Email him] the director of migration policy at the bishops' conference.
But, to paraphrase Samuel Huntington, "Who Are We?"
Richard Doerflinger, [Email him] Appleby's colleague on the USCCB staff, answered that question in 2010. He said that "one organization in particular [the USCCB] has the role of speaking for the moral voice of the Church on these matters and also have [sic] the policy expertise of figuring out when legislation is acceptable to the Church's interests and our convictions…."
"We're not just an interest group that has an opinion," he continued. "We've actually researched the facts…. That's something that no other Catholic group can do in the depth that we've done it."
Oh, really?
On the face of it, this bluster blends in with the arrogant noise that echoes among the thousands of "experts" who populate Washington's bureaucracies.
The USCCB is, alas, "just another interest group," but Doerflinger has a point. It's different in one critical aspect: the laughable notion that no one else in America can do competent research reflects not just hubris—it represents a form of errant elitism unique to the Church that has been practiced, and condemned, for centuries.
It's called "clericalism."
Isn't This Supposed to be the "Age of the Laity"?
Such theological errors have real-world consequences. Clericalism has diluted the genuine authority of the American Church to the point where most bishops are afraid to exercise it—as though they had lost the authority to teach anything at all.
Witness the Church's trying to oppose homosexual "marriage" or the Contraceptive Mandate without being able to address homosexuality or contraception on moral grounds.
USCCB President Timothy Cardinal Dolan is right—the bishops have had "laryngitis" regarding the magisterial teachings of the Church on sexual morality for fifty years. But they've filled the vacuum with the political agenda of the welfare state, and have used their "role of speaking for the moral voice of the Church" to pass off their opinions as official Catholic teaching instead.
As a result, America's bishops have inverted the Church's priorities. Eternal truths are ignored, while personal political agendas are canonized. They have become "just another NGO," lobbying on issues ranging from inflation, welfare, taxes, and budgets to the price of tomatoes in Florida.
Amnesty for illegal aliens fits right in with a clerical agenda that has become increasingly partisan, radical, and secular.
It is especially distressing to see politicized bishops cloak their agenda in religious language, as though no good Catholic—or good person!—could possibly disagree.
Catholics in my diocese are asking their pastors, in and out of the Confessional, "Is it a sin to oppose amnesty?"
Countless bishops would apparently like them to think so. Roger Cardinal Mahony once told an immigration rally that supporters of current law were "fanning the flames of intolerance, xenophobia and, at times, bigotry."
Curiously, the Rubble can find no record of Mahony or his successor, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez—or any other bishop or USCCB official, for that matter—condemning the blatant racism of La Raza—"The Race"—or that of many other pro-amnesty agitators who march alongside them in amnesty rallies.
Instead, the Cardinal implies that everyone who disagrees with him is irrational.
Such self-serving moral posturing is hardly pastoral. It ill serves—and even perverts—the Church's mission to "go and teach all nations"; it misinforms the public, scandalizes good Catholics; and is thoroughly lacking in charity.
It is also often lacking in truth. Good bishops and priests consistently refer to the Catholic Catechism's teaching that prosperous nations should strive to "welcome the foreigner" [CCC 2241]; however, they rarely mention what follows: "Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens."
The Church's amnesty advocates routinely criticize businesses for exploiting the immigrant; they rarely mention that lobbyists for those same businesses are swarming Capitol Hill, supporting amnesty because they want cheap labor.
The Church's amnesty advocates often bemoan the sins of amnesty opponents. But how many of them teach the immigrant that falsifying Social Security documentation is a federal felony as well as a violation of the 7th and 8th Commandments? That the same goes for "working the system" illegally to max out on education, medical, and food programs (among dozens of other welfare programs)?
Amnesty advocates want to bring illegals "out of the shadows." Shouldn't we bring the truth "out of the shadows"?
This refreshing approach would honor immigrants as fellow human beings, and not as mere incompetent wards of the Church or the State. It would affirm the immigrants' dignity, their worth, and their ability to be fully human. It would constitute an act of charity and justice, as well as simple common sense.
Towards A More Positive Pastoral Plan
Clericalism is condemned by the Church because it is an error in theory and a disaster in practice. In 2010, amnesty distracted the bishops and their "experts" until it was too late. Today, it distracts them from teaching the fundamental truths of Humanae Vitae regarding marriage and morality that our drowning culture is literally dying to hear.
The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium makes it clear that the layman, not the cleric, is responsible for the particulars of legislation.
Which brings up an important point. The bishops' clericalism would be just as egregious if they opposed amnesty and deficit spending and supported tax cuts for the rich.
Practical politics is the laity's responsibility. The responsible layman should just tell the bishops, "Please, do not endorse my legislation: politics divides us. Tell us the truths that unite us."
As Cardinal Dolan points out, since the bishops went silent on fundamental morality half a century ago, some thirty million Catholics have left the Church. Pope Francis wants us to reach out to bring them back. It's a slam dunk that preaching politics isn't going to do it—but preaching Christ crucified just might.
Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Manion. This column is distributed by www.fgfBooks.com.
According to the New York Times, America's Catholic bishops are counting on the persuasive power of the pulpit this month to push "comprehensive immigration reform"—also known as amnesty for illegal aliens.
Unfortunately, we've already seen this movie, and it has an unhappy ending. Back in January 2010, our beloved shepherds launched a similar campaign supporting another amnesty bill.
Bishop John C. Wester chaired the Committee on Migration of the bishops' conference (USCCB) at the time. He told the Catholic News Service that "the church will prod lawmakers take action on the issue, beginning with a postcard campaign to members of Congress and prayer vigils across the country." [CNS, January 8, 2010].
Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't something else going on in January 2010?
Oh, that's right—Obamacare! But Obamacare wasn't a problem. After all, it never would have gotten off the ground, had the bishops not supported "universal health care" as "a basic human right" for years.
So the confident bishops focused on amnesty, announcing a nationwide "Justice for Immigrants" campaign in January 2010. They planned to distribute millions of postcards to parishes throughout the country urging Catholics to demand that Congress "enact immigration reform as soon as possible."
Then ObamaCare passed with abortion funding intact. The betrayed bishops expressed shock and chagrin.
They had good cause. The Nobel Peace Prize winner with an honorary degree from Notre Dame—whose election so many of them had supported in 2008—had lied to them.
It's shocking, I know. Simply shocking.
Then the most pro-abortion president in history betrayed them again, directing HHS to issue its notorious "Contraceptive Mandate." And today, dozens of bishops, Catholic universities, businesses, and individuals—among them Notre Dame—find themselves suing Obama, whose "universal health care" regulations threaten to force thousands of Catholic institutions nationwide to close.
The Experts Flunk Out
"We want to try to pull out all the stops," says Kevin Appleby, [Email him] the director of migration policy at the bishops' conference.
But, to paraphrase Samuel Huntington, "Who Are We?"
Richard Doerflinger, [Email him] Appleby's colleague on the USCCB staff, answered that question in 2010. He said that "one organization in particular [the USCCB] has the role of speaking for the moral voice of the Church on these matters and also have [sic] the policy expertise of figuring out when legislation is acceptable to the Church's interests and our convictions…."
"We're not just an interest group that has an opinion," he continued. "We've actually researched the facts…. That's something that no other Catholic group can do in the depth that we've done it."
Oh, really?
On the face of it, this bluster blends in with the arrogant noise that echoes among the thousands of "experts" who populate Washington's bureaucracies.
The USCCB is, alas, "just another interest group," but Doerflinger has a point. It's different in one critical aspect: the laughable notion that no one else in America can do competent research reflects not just hubris—it represents a form of errant elitism unique to the Church that has been practiced, and condemned, for centuries.
It's called "clericalism."
Isn't This Supposed to be the "Age of the Laity"?
"I want to get rid of clericalism."Like the layman, the bishop has the right to hold private political opinions regarding issues on which good Catholics (and bishops) can disagree. The problem arises when the bishop attempts to elevate his personal agenda to the level of authoritative Church teaching. This constitutes an abuse of the prelate's authority and confuses not only the faithful, but the public as well.
--Pope Francis at World Youth Day,
Rio de Janeiro, July 2013
Such theological errors have real-world consequences. Clericalism has diluted the genuine authority of the American Church to the point where most bishops are afraid to exercise it—as though they had lost the authority to teach anything at all.
Witness the Church's trying to oppose homosexual "marriage" or the Contraceptive Mandate without being able to address homosexuality or contraception on moral grounds.
USCCB President Timothy Cardinal Dolan is right—the bishops have had "laryngitis" regarding the magisterial teachings of the Church on sexual morality for fifty years. But they've filled the vacuum with the political agenda of the welfare state, and have used their "role of speaking for the moral voice of the Church" to pass off their opinions as official Catholic teaching instead.
As a result, America's bishops have inverted the Church's priorities. Eternal truths are ignored, while personal political agendas are canonized. They have become "just another NGO," lobbying on issues ranging from inflation, welfare, taxes, and budgets to the price of tomatoes in Florida.
Amnesty for illegal aliens fits right in with a clerical agenda that has become increasingly partisan, radical, and secular.
It is especially distressing to see politicized bishops cloak their agenda in religious language, as though no good Catholic—or good person!—could possibly disagree.
Catholics in my diocese are asking their pastors, in and out of the Confessional, "Is it a sin to oppose amnesty?"
Countless bishops would apparently like them to think so. Roger Cardinal Mahony once told an immigration rally that supporters of current law were "fanning the flames of intolerance, xenophobia and, at times, bigotry."
Curiously, the Rubble can find no record of Mahony or his successor, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez—or any other bishop or USCCB official, for that matter—condemning the blatant racism of La Raza—"The Race"—or that of many other pro-amnesty agitators who march alongside them in amnesty rallies.
Instead, the Cardinal implies that everyone who disagrees with him is irrational.
Such self-serving moral posturing is hardly pastoral. It ill serves—and even perverts—the Church's mission to "go and teach all nations"; it misinforms the public, scandalizes good Catholics; and is thoroughly lacking in charity.
It is also often lacking in truth. Good bishops and priests consistently refer to the Catholic Catechism's teaching that prosperous nations should strive to "welcome the foreigner" [CCC 2241]; however, they rarely mention what follows: "Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens."
The Church's amnesty advocates routinely criticize businesses for exploiting the immigrant; they rarely mention that lobbyists for those same businesses are swarming Capitol Hill, supporting amnesty because they want cheap labor.
The Church's amnesty advocates often bemoan the sins of amnesty opponents. But how many of them teach the immigrant that falsifying Social Security documentation is a federal felony as well as a violation of the 7th and 8th Commandments? That the same goes for "working the system" illegally to max out on education, medical, and food programs (among dozens of other welfare programs)?
Amnesty advocates want to bring illegals "out of the shadows." Shouldn't we bring the truth "out of the shadows"?
This refreshing approach would honor immigrants as fellow human beings, and not as mere incompetent wards of the Church or the State. It would affirm the immigrants' dignity, their worth, and their ability to be fully human. It would constitute an act of charity and justice, as well as simple common sense.
Towards A More Positive Pastoral Plan
Clericalism is condemned by the Church because it is an error in theory and a disaster in practice. In 2010, amnesty distracted the bishops and their "experts" until it was too late. Today, it distracts them from teaching the fundamental truths of Humanae Vitae regarding marriage and morality that our drowning culture is literally dying to hear.
The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium makes it clear that the layman, not the cleric, is responsible for the particulars of legislation.
Which brings up an important point. The bishops' clericalism would be just as egregious if they opposed amnesty and deficit spending and supported tax cuts for the rich.
Practical politics is the laity's responsibility. The responsible layman should just tell the bishops, "Please, do not endorse my legislation: politics divides us. Tell us the truths that unite us."
As Cardinal Dolan points out, since the bishops went silent on fundamental morality half a century ago, some thirty million Catholics have left the Church. Pope Francis wants us to reach out to bring them back. It's a slam dunk that preaching politics isn't going to do it—but preaching Christ crucified just might.
Christopher Manion, Ph.D., [send him mail] is Director of the Campaign for Humanae Vitae, a project of the Bellarmine Forum. He served as a staff director on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for many years. He has taught in the departments of politics, religion, and international relations at Boston University, the Catholic University of America, and Christendom College.
This column is sponsored by the Bellarmine Forum, and distributed by Griffin Internet Syndicate and FGF Books.Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Manion. This column is distributed by www.fgfBooks.com.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Action Alert: Contact Catholic Bishops, Even if You're Not Catholic ***BUMPED***
Action Alert
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Action Alert: Contact Catholic Bishops, Even if You're Not Catholic ***BUMPED***
Action Alert
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Action Alert: Contact Catholic Bishops, Even if You're Not Catholic ***BUMPED***
Action Alert
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Over the past weekend, and scheduled for the Next several Weekends, the Roman Catholic church will be giving Homily Sermon messages encouraging their parishoners to lobby for increased immigration. This comes at the expense of unemployed Americans. You can read an article from VDARE about it here. After that, whether you are Catholic or not, you can contact the closest Roman Catholic bishops and the following key bishops with the message that follows their contact information:
Your Closest Bishop
Bishop Dolan NY
Bishop Chaput Philadelphia
Bishop Olmstead Phoenix
Bishop Gomez Los Angeles
You can use or modify this message
Honorable Bishop,
I am asking you to make a public statement against S.744 and any “pathway to citizenship”.
This bill will allow 33 million new immigrants over the next decade.
The 33 million green cards offered by S. 744 in the first decade would go to:
• around 11 million for illegal aliens (could be millions more if the official estimate is wrong)
• around 11 million in continuation of elevated flows from 1990 surge policy
• around 5 million from end of numerical limits on people waiting in line (mostly chain migration)
• around 6 million from new and expanded categories
On the other hand,
Nearly every section of the Gang Amnesty bill seems to add more foreign workers to compete with unemployed and underemployed Americans. The Gang apparently believes that the way to help the 20 million Americans who can't find a full-time job is to give out another 20-30 million lifetime work permits to foreign citizens over the next decade.
This bill would further flood labor markets at the lower-skill levels where real wages have declined 10% to 22% since 1980.
If the bill becomes law, the chances of Americans with no more than a high school education entering the middle class may disappear.
But it isn't just the low-end where Americans are threatened. The bill would make huge increases in importing higher-educated workers at a time when around half of all recent American college graduates either have no job at all or they aren't working in a degree job.
The under-32 Millennial Generation already is in danger of being a lost generation. After this bill, we may see these young adults spend the rest of their lives only partly engaged in the economy as they depend on government and family.
None of this is the kind of economy or society most Americans desire. Surely a compassionate and thoughtful citizenry will put a stop to this nonsense and ask its Representatives to go back to work putting Americans back to work.
In appreciation of your consideration,
Catholic Bishops Push Amnesty Sunday in Church
A very interesting post from www.Vdare.com about the Roman Catholic Church’s push on increasing immigration to hurt America’s poor. This follows this post about a Roman Catholic’s perspective on immigration lobbying during Mass. This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what you can do click here and you can read two very interesting books HERE.
On this Sunday, many American Catholics heard sermons recommending that amnesty be given to lawbreaking foreigners who are here to steal American jobs. It’s part of a more aggressive campaign organized by the Bishops to press a “moral” argument for amnesty, despite the inherent ethical weakness of contending that scarce jobs should be taken from poor Americans and given to poor invasive foreigners, redistribution being part of Marxist “liberation theology”.
Remember: over 20 million Americans are unemployed, and the recently passed Senate bill would allow 30 million “immigrants” to attain legal status in the next decade, reduce wages and increase unemployment.
How then does the Catholic pro-amnesty position support morality?
It doesn’t. Catholic elites are serving their customers alone. The fact that the amnesty policy harms the most vulnerable Americans as a whole is overlooked entirely. (Catholic parishioners, on the other hand, prefer traditional sovereignty: according to a 2009 Zogby poll 64 percent preferred enforcement over amnesty.)
The Catholic church in the United States represents a foreign power, the Vatican, which is a sovereign city-state, albeit small, with a flag, bordered territory and ambassadors. The church acts against the well being of American citizens by lobbying for its lawbreakers, yet the church doesn’t pay taxes. Worse, our national government gives the Catholics millions of dollars to perform activities like refugee resettlement and advising illegals how to break immigration law more effectively.
The chart below comes from the 2010 edition of Catholic Charities at a Glance. FYI, 62% (the Government Revenue, meaning our tax dollars) of the total = $2,895,092,130.
In addition, the church has spent well over $3 million in the past year lobbying for amnesty.
Below are a few snips from the special amnesty sermons given to push the Catholic open-borders agenda:
It’s funny how these well paid moral paragons aren’t concerned about the Americans who will be replaced by the millions of new workers freed up to work any job by the amnesty and brought in through the “increased flow” so desired by employers looking to save a nickel — 46 million in 20 years according to the CBO.
Dolan is also pretty nervy to bring up Martin Luther King in the context of compassion, when black Americans get the worst of it from the endless stream of exploitable Mexicans.
Here’s Cardinal Dolan’s recent opinion piece, exhorting the troops:
Catholic Bishops Push Amnesty Sunday in Church
On this Sunday, many American Catholics heard sermons recommending that amnesty be given to lawbreaking foreigners who are here to steal American jobs. It’s part of a more aggressive campaign organized by the Bishops to press a “moral” argument for amnesty, despite the inherent ethical weakness of contending that scarce jobs should be taken from poor Americans and given to poor invasive foreigners, redistribution being part of Marxist “liberation theology”.Remember: over 20 million Americans are unemployed, and the recently passed Senate bill would allow 30 million “immigrants” to attain legal status in the next decade, reduce wages and increase unemployment.
How then does the Catholic pro-amnesty position support morality?
It doesn’t. Catholic elites are serving their customers alone. The fact that the amnesty policy harms the most vulnerable Americans as a whole is overlooked entirely. (Catholic parishioners, on the other hand, prefer traditional sovereignty: according to a 2009 Zogby poll 64 percent preferred enforcement over amnesty.)
The Catholic church in the United States represents a foreign power, the Vatican, which is a sovereign city-state, albeit small, with a flag, bordered territory and ambassadors. The church acts against the well being of American citizens by lobbying for its lawbreakers, yet the church doesn’t pay taxes. Worse, our national government gives the Catholics millions of dollars to perform activities like refugee resettlement and advising illegals how to break immigration law more effectively.
The chart below comes from the 2010 edition of Catholic Charities at a Glance. FYI, 62% (the Government Revenue, meaning our tax dollars) of the total = $2,895,092,130.
In addition, the church has spent well over $3 million in the past year lobbying for amnesty.
Below are a few snips from the special amnesty sermons given to push the Catholic open-borders agenda:
● Green Bay Diocese supports immigration reform: “When one part of that community is suffering injustice – the whole community is suffering,” explained Rev. Andrew Cribben.One of the loudmouths for amnesty is New York City’s Cardinal Dolan, who has the gall to suggest America is insufficiently welcoming in its immigration policy, even when this country admits more foreigners than the rest of the planet combined.
● LA’s Archbishop Gomez joins Catholic churches nationwide urging Congress to pass immigration reform: “It’s not normal for a country of immigrants to not have a good system in place to welcome immigrants,” Mexican-born Archbishop Jose Gomez said to reporters outside the cathedral.
● Atlanta Catholic church calls for immigration overhaul: “Our moral tradition based upon our Catholic social justice calls on all people of faith and good will to stand up in defense of life and human dignity,” Deacon Gerald Zukauckas said.
It’s funny how these well paid moral paragons aren’t concerned about the Americans who will be replaced by the millions of new workers freed up to work any job by the amnesty and brought in through the “increased flow” so desired by employers looking to save a nickel — 46 million in 20 years according to the CBO.
Dolan is also pretty nervy to bring up Martin Luther King in the context of compassion, when black Americans get the worst of it from the endless stream of exploitable Mexicans.
Here’s Cardinal Dolan’s recent opinion piece, exhorting the troops:
Immigration reform: A moral imperative, New York Daily News, by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, September 6, 2013
As Congress comes back into session, it has a once-in-a-generation chance to fix our broken immigration system.
We cannot let this opportunity pass. Immigration reform would help families, it would help our economy and it would improve our security. Most importantly, it’s the right thing to do.
Pope Francis recently reminded us that “the measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need.” For generations, men and women have come to America’s shores in search of a better life for themselves and their families, and we’re justly proud of our heritage as a nation that welcomes people of good will.
But today, no one can be proud of the enormous underclass of undocumented workers that’s been allowed to form — millions of our neighbors who live on the margins, have their families fractured and are easily exploited.
We can’t be proud of the hundreds of migrants who die in the American desert each year in their quest to support their families back home.
We can’t be indifferent to these profound humanitarian problems. No wonder that, around the country, Catholics and citizens of other creeds are on the front lines in providing a compassionate response, as they were with Rev. Martin Luther King a half-century ago.
Every day, our parishes and charitable organizations encounter people struggling to make a new life for themselves and their families. We meet families who run the risk of being torn apart. We meet migrants who risked dangerous desert passages to get here. We meet young immigrants who want to get an education, find a job and raise a family like countless others before them.
Those who caricature these immigrants as “takers” couldn’t be more wrong. The plain fact is that immigrants, including those who are undocumented, make great contributions to our economy. They spend their wages on goods and services and also start their own businesses, driving economic growth and employment in their communities.
Studies have shown that by and large immigrant laborers complement the American work force by filling jobs in industries such as agriculture and service. And undocumented immigrants pay over $10 billion in federal, state and local taxes per year, according to some estimates; that number would rise if immigration reform moves forward.
Support for immigrant families multiplies these benefits. Families are engines of integration into American life, helping to root immigrants in communities. Families provide support for newcomers to get started and for those already on their feet to move forward, to start a business or to put aside money for an education. When families are united here, it means that immigrants’ paychecks get spent in the U.S. economy instead of being sent out of the country. Above all, keeping families intact gives people a full stake in American life.
Helping immigrants contribute to American life is what immigration reform is all about. Answering the Gospel call to “welcome the stranger” and looking to our teachings and our on-the-ground experience, the U.S. Catholic bishops have called for various reforms: a generous, earned path to citizenship; making family reunification a priority; protecting the integrity of our borders; securing due process for immigrants and their families; improving refugee protection and asylum laws, and addressing the root causes of unauthorized immigration.
We know that there’s room for disagreement on such a complicated issue, but we hope and pray for a law that moves us forward.
Just as Americans are proud of our immigrant heritage, we’re also proud of our can-do spirit. When we see a problem, we do our best to find a solution. There’s no doubt our immigration system is broken. Now’s the time to fix it.
Dolan is archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Walk Out? Argue? A Patriotic Catholic Ponders What To Do If His Priest Pushes Amnesty On Sunday
A very interesting post from www.Vdare.com about a Roman Catholic’s perspective on immigration lobbying during Mass. This follows this post about Syria and Immigration. This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what you can do click here and you can read two very interesting books HERE.
Walk Out? Argue? A Patriotic Catholic Ponders What To Do If His Priest Pushes Amnesty On Sunday
It has been widely reported that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on U.S. Catholic bishops and priests to turn their prayerful pulpits into political bully-pulpits this Sunday, September 8th. Patriotic American Catholics—of whom I count myself one—must think about how to respond to this indignity should they be subjected to it.
The USCCB’s immigration-mad professional bureaucrats want bishops and priests to harangue the faithful—who come to Mass to worship their God and Savior, not to be a captive audience at political pep-rallies—with stump speeches in favor of the nation-destroying Gang of Eight bill the Senate so recklessly passed and that now looms in the House.
Of course, the mass-immigration dogmatism of U.S. Catholic bishops is not the Magisterial teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on immigration and the right of countries to defend their national character.
A look at what the Church has consistently taught about nations and peoples—teachings grounded in Scripture and almost 2,000 years of tradition—must lead any honest reader to conclude that no nation is compelled as a Christian duty to throw open its borders to the point of seeing its distinctive culture and character drowned by a flood of foreign migrants.
The liberal fetish for diversity, something most of America’s Catholic bishops have adopted, is nowhere found in Holy Writ. Indeed, the dissolution of nations and their distinctive cultures into a monoculture—the end-state for Open-Borders fanatics, who see America as a “proposition nation” rather than an organic ethno-cultural entity—is exactly what we are warned against in Genesis’s story of God’s confounding the arrogance of the builders of the Tower of Babel.
No faithful Catholic is obliged to suffer in silence misguided proselytism for Amnesty and Open Borders from any priest, no matter how eminent. On the political, economic and, yes, racial issues that immigration raises, bishops and priests are not arbiters. Their pronouncements cannot bind the faithful. These are matters of prudential judgment, not of faith and morals.
A reading of the USCCB’s posted position on immigration makes that clear—it is far too incoherent and unintelligent to be an authoritative statement of Church doctrine. Others have dissected this mish-mash of fallacies and emotionalism, so I won’t belabor it here. One of its clauses, however, is particularly noteworthy as a remarkable combination of left-over ‘60s-style liberalism wedded to a peculiarly American arrogance:
Even more divorced from reality, and smacking of Americanist hubris, is the notion that “Congress should examine the root causes of migration … and seek long-term solutions.”
So the U.S. government, at Americans’ expense, should so enrich countries that send America immigrants that the locals won’t want to leave? And how is it the duty of the U.S. Congress to examine and solve the problems of scores of other countries? Isn’t that just what America’s Founding Fathers warned their fellow-citizens against?
Lord knows (Catholic bishops should too), America has problems by the score of her own—and none will be solved by inundating America with the indigent of the Third World.
We can’t know until after this Sunday’s Masses just how enthusiastically America’s Catholic priests will respond to this call from the United States’ Catholicism Central.
I am a member of the Pastoral Council of our Catholic parish in a Northeastern town. Our pastor is quite liberal; his number two less so. Our bishop has a reputation for being very liberal. I went to the diocesan website to see if there were any announcements about pro-Amnesty events for this Sunday. To my pleased surprise, I did not see any (although there are links to pro-Amnesty articles from the USCCB web site).
Neither of our parish’s priests has said anything about special homilies or events in response to the USCCB appeal. There is nothing on our parish web site.
I take those to be good signs. I hope to worship at Mass this coming Sunday undisturbed by pro-“immigration reform” politicking.
Nevertheless, heavyweight Catholic prelates are certainly out there right on cue beating the drums for Amnesty. Just today (September 6) Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the USCCB, has an overbearing column in New York’s Daily News: Immigration reform: A moral imperative. “Immigration reform” of course means the Gang of Eight’s disastrous scheme. In Dolan’s view, America must remain a “welcoming nation”; the cost to Americans doesn’t matter.
Dolan’s column is not really worth quoting. Anyone used to Open-Border propaganda could recite most of it sight unseen: America the nation of immigrants; the “undocumented” in “the shadows,” whom Dolan insists on calling our neighbors instead of more accurately describing them as trespassers; etc. Dolan even works in the “Rev. Martin Luther King.” (I’m surprised the Daily News editors let him get away without including the usually obligatory “Dr.”).
So what should a faithful and patriotic Catholic do this Sunday if the priest at Mass does insist on delivering a pro-amnesty pitch instead of a real homily?
Some suggest that congregants get up and walk out. That appealed to me at first, but I think it would backfire. The primary reason for attending Mass is to take Communion—and that happens after the homily. Should one walk out and then walk back in? Pretty awkward and not very respectful to our Lord, whose house a church is.
Also, it’s very likely one’s fellow-congregants would find such a move disrespectful—and those on our side of the issue should not be doing anything that might give offense and make the priest pitching amnesty appear the aggrieved party.
So I will not do that. Nor will I interrupt the homily—that would be a serious breach of etiquette and even more potentially alienating.
However, in our church, the priest greets the congregants individually as they leave the church after Mass—a receiving line in reverse. I believe is a nearly universal custom in American Catholic churches.
What I’ll do, should the need arise: politely yet firmly tell the priest that I disagree with the substance of a pro-Amnesty message and that I believe that the Mass is not the place for political activism.
I will not make restrictionist arguments. There won’t be time, and it would be rude to others waiting their turn to greet the celebrant. I will follow up with a letter to our bishop—in it I would state the basic restrictionist case—saying that I disagree with the message and the misuse of the Mass to propagate it. I will send a copy of that letter to the USCCB.
Catholic immigration patriots are not questioning the bishops in areas where they have legitimate authority. But we have the right and duty to protest an improper intrusion of politics into worship—and to defend our nation.
Henry McCulloch (email him) writes regularly for VDARE.COM.
The USCCB’s immigration-mad professional bureaucrats want bishops and priests to harangue the faithful—who come to Mass to worship their God and Savior, not to be a captive audience at political pep-rallies—with stump speeches in favor of the nation-destroying Gang of Eight bill the Senate so recklessly passed and that now looms in the House.
Of course, the mass-immigration dogmatism of U.S. Catholic bishops is not the Magisterial teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on immigration and the right of countries to defend their national character.
A look at what the Church has consistently taught about nations and peoples—teachings grounded in Scripture and almost 2,000 years of tradition—must lead any honest reader to conclude that no nation is compelled as a Christian duty to throw open its borders to the point of seeing its distinctive culture and character drowned by a flood of foreign migrants.
The liberal fetish for diversity, something most of America’s Catholic bishops have adopted, is nowhere found in Holy Writ. Indeed, the dissolution of nations and their distinctive cultures into a monoculture—the end-state for Open-Borders fanatics, who see America as a “proposition nation” rather than an organic ethno-cultural entity—is exactly what we are warned against in Genesis’s story of God’s confounding the arrogance of the builders of the Tower of Babel.
No faithful Catholic is obliged to suffer in silence misguided proselytism for Amnesty and Open Borders from any priest, no matter how eminent. On the political, economic and, yes, racial issues that immigration raises, bishops and priests are not arbiters. Their pronouncements cannot bind the faithful. These are matters of prudential judgment, not of faith and morals.
A reading of the USCCB’s posted position on immigration makes that clear—it is far too incoherent and unintelligent to be an authoritative statement of Church doctrine. Others have dissected this mish-mash of fallacies and emotionalism, so I won’t belabor it here. One of its clauses, however, is particularly noteworthy as a remarkable combination of left-over ‘60s-style liberalism wedded to a peculiarly American arrogance:
Addressing Root Causes: Congress should examine the root causes of migration, such as under‐development and poverty in sending countries, and seek long‐term solutions. The antidote to the problem of illegal immigration is sustainable economic development in sending countries. In an ideal world, migration should be driven by choice, not necessity.“Driven by choice” indeed—but the bishops obviously believe that the native-born who must bear the influx of immigrants should have no choice about that.
[Catholic Church's Position on Immigration Reform, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, August 2013]
Even more divorced from reality, and smacking of Americanist hubris, is the notion that “Congress should examine the root causes of migration … and seek long-term solutions.”
So the U.S. government, at Americans’ expense, should so enrich countries that send America immigrants that the locals won’t want to leave? And how is it the duty of the U.S. Congress to examine and solve the problems of scores of other countries? Isn’t that just what America’s Founding Fathers warned their fellow-citizens against?
Lord knows (Catholic bishops should too), America has problems by the score of her own—and none will be solved by inundating America with the indigent of the Third World.
We can’t know until after this Sunday’s Masses just how enthusiastically America’s Catholic priests will respond to this call from the United States’ Catholicism Central.
I am a member of the Pastoral Council of our Catholic parish in a Northeastern town. Our pastor is quite liberal; his number two less so. Our bishop has a reputation for being very liberal. I went to the diocesan website to see if there were any announcements about pro-Amnesty events for this Sunday. To my pleased surprise, I did not see any (although there are links to pro-Amnesty articles from the USCCB web site).
Neither of our parish’s priests has said anything about special homilies or events in response to the USCCB appeal. There is nothing on our parish web site.
I take those to be good signs. I hope to worship at Mass this coming Sunday undisturbed by pro-“immigration reform” politicking.
Nevertheless, heavyweight Catholic prelates are certainly out there right on cue beating the drums for Amnesty. Just today (September 6) Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the USCCB, has an overbearing column in New York’s Daily News: Immigration reform: A moral imperative. “Immigration reform” of course means the Gang of Eight’s disastrous scheme. In Dolan’s view, America must remain a “welcoming nation”; the cost to Americans doesn’t matter.
Dolan’s column is not really worth quoting. Anyone used to Open-Border propaganda could recite most of it sight unseen: America the nation of immigrants; the “undocumented” in “the shadows,” whom Dolan insists on calling our neighbors instead of more accurately describing them as trespassers; etc. Dolan even works in the “Rev. Martin Luther King.” (I’m surprised the Daily News editors let him get away without including the usually obligatory “Dr.”).
So what should a faithful and patriotic Catholic do this Sunday if the priest at Mass does insist on delivering a pro-amnesty pitch instead of a real homily?
Some suggest that congregants get up and walk out. That appealed to me at first, but I think it would backfire. The primary reason for attending Mass is to take Communion—and that happens after the homily. Should one walk out and then walk back in? Pretty awkward and not very respectful to our Lord, whose house a church is.
Also, it’s very likely one’s fellow-congregants would find such a move disrespectful—and those on our side of the issue should not be doing anything that might give offense and make the priest pitching amnesty appear the aggrieved party.
So I will not do that. Nor will I interrupt the homily—that would be a serious breach of etiquette and even more potentially alienating.
However, in our church, the priest greets the congregants individually as they leave the church after Mass—a receiving line in reverse. I believe is a nearly universal custom in American Catholic churches.
What I’ll do, should the need arise: politely yet firmly tell the priest that I disagree with the substance of a pro-Amnesty message and that I believe that the Mass is not the place for political activism.
I will not make restrictionist arguments. There won’t be time, and it would be rude to others waiting their turn to greet the celebrant. I will follow up with a letter to our bishop—in it I would state the basic restrictionist case—saying that I disagree with the message and the misuse of the Mass to propagate it. I will send a copy of that letter to the USCCB.
Catholic immigration patriots are not questioning the bishops in areas where they have legitimate authority. But we have the right and duty to protest an improper intrusion of politics into worship—and to defend our nation.
Henry McCulloch (email him) writes regularly for VDARE.COM.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
A Democrat’s Sermon: Catholic Bishops’ Treason Offensive Hits Next Sunday, September 8
A very interesting post from www.Vdare.com about Catholic immigration policy towards the U.S. (but no other nation). This follows this post about the reduction in immigration leading to the increase in Civil Rights. This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what you can do click here and you can read two very interesting books HERE.
A Democrat’s Sermon: Catholic Bishops’ Treason Offensive Hits Next Sunday, September 8
No American patriot should have failed to study the recent New York Times cheerleading reportorial Catholic Push to Overhaul Immigration Goes to Pews (by Ashley Parker and Michael D. Shear, August 21 2013). A huge offensive is about to be launched against US citizens by a (tax-exempt) church, led by a foreign power, for its own secular and selfish motives:
Pass this kind of legislation and the U.S. on the way to becoming a banana republic.
And note that there’s no discussion of overall numbers, of unemployment—or anything resembling a concern for America’s national interest.
CNA even tells us that the appalling Appleby implicitly concedes that patriotic American Catholics aren’t buying their Bishops’ baloney:
CNA also reports that Awful Appleby implicitly concedes that there’s actually nothing in Catholic doctrine to support the bishops’ position on the Schumer-Rubio Amnesty/ Immigration Surge Bill. It falls into the area of “prudential judgment,” where laymen can make up their own minds.
But Arrogant Appleby still tries to bluster a way out for the bishops:
And don’t think the bishops won’t be pushing the guilt trip on their flocks.
You really have to be impressed by this slick attempt to use religious arguments for blatantly secular ends!
CNA quotes Kim Daniels, spokesperson for the U.S. bishops' conference president, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York:
Even more important: did Gomez truly “abjure foreign potentates” when he took the U.S. Oath of citizenship?
VDARE.com has for years exposed the forces advocating Open Borders for legal and illegal migrants: Big Business; ethnic advocacy groups; religious lobbies like the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Immigration Table etc.
Tellingly, that we are mired in the worst economic situation since the Great Depression simply does not to matter to those forces.
It’s obvious that many faithful Catholics have been deeply affected by their church’s ongoing pedophiliac scandals and (I believe as a long-time liberal Democrat) its inflexible views on family planning, abortion, gays and divorce. By evading these issues, and instead speaking from its pulpits all over the US about “social justice” a.k.a. Amnesty, these prelates show they are just the same sort of self-interested crooks as the Latino tribes and the greedy business types who want cheap labor.
The New York Times piece tells us how powerful this push will be:
How can so many be so stupid, greedy, selfish—and blind to how this must inevitably appear to American patriots?
Donald A. Collins [email him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.
Catholic bishops and priests from major dioceses across the country will preach a coordinated message next month backing changes in immigration policy, with some using Sunday Masses on Sept. 8 to urge Congressional passage of a legislative overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.This Appleby point man [email him] makes clear the rhetoric will be emotional and manipulative:
The decision to embrace political action from the pulpit is part of a broader effort by the Roman Catholic Church and other faith groups that support President Obama’s call for new immigration laws…
"We want to try to pull out all the stops," said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who said the immigration issue was at a now-or-never moment. "They have to hear the message that we want this done, and if you’re not successful during the summer, you’re not going to win by the end of the year."
Catholic leaders, who have tried to wield their clout against Mr. Obama on issues like abortion, birth control and same-sex marriage, are betting that their congregations will be able to exert pressure on reluctant Republicans and wavering Democrats to support the president on immigration. They say they are motivated by the Bible’s teachings and by the reality that many Latino immigrants are Catholics and represent a critical demographic for the church.
[Emphases and links added throughout].
Underlying an effort by U.S. bishops to coordinate messages on the need for comprehensive immigration reform is a profound sense of pastoral care, said an official at the bishops’ conference.Whoa! Come here illegally and that gives you the right to stay?
‘Sometimes [the bishops] are criticized that they're encouraging lawbreaking, but the fact is, these folks are here, and their families are getting separated, and what the bishops are trying to do is change the law so they can help them,’ said Kevin Appleby, director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' migration policy and public affairs office.
Bishops' immigration outreach based on 'pastoral' concern, by Carl Bunderson, Catholic News Agency, Aug. 30, 2013
Pass this kind of legislation and the U.S. on the way to becoming a banana republic.
And note that there’s no discussion of overall numbers, of unemployment—or anything resembling a concern for America’s national interest.
CNA even tells us that the appalling Appleby implicitly concedes that patriotic American Catholics aren’t buying their Bishops’ baloney:
Appleby described a disconnect between the polling which has overwhelming support among Catholics for a comprehensive bill with a path to citizenship and action.Maybe that “hard time” is because the “polling” was just pollaganda?
"We've had a hard time transitioning from 'I support the bishops on this issue,' to people picking up the phone, sending an email, writing a letter, being active on it? With this push we're trying to change that a bit, we'll hopefully get more Catholics to speak up, and say, 'we want this done.'
CNA also reports that Awful Appleby implicitly concedes that there’s actually nothing in Catholic doctrine to support the bishops’ position on the Schumer-Rubio Amnesty/ Immigration Surge Bill. It falls into the area of “prudential judgment,” where laymen can make up their own minds.
But Arrogant Appleby still tries to bluster a way out for the bishops:
He explained that it is important for Catholics to read Church documents, and the writings and homilies of bishops on the issues. While “we can sit here and have an argument over whether something is a prudential judgment versus a doctrinal issue,” he said, it is important to remember that a bishop’s teaching, even on matters of prudential judgment, “calls for careful consideration by Catholics.”Wow, let’s get it from on high, ignore the secular reality, and vote for more unemployment and cultural disarray!
And don’t think the bishops won’t be pushing the guilt trip on their flocks.
To disregard—refusing to even consider—the bishops' position on immigration reform because it is a matter of prudential judgment is a disconnect, Appleby explained.Translation: Catholics in America are behaving like Americans—difficult for their Leftist church bureaucrats to manipulate.
“Even under a prudential judgment analysis, someone is required to at least consider the arguments being put forth by the Church, to take them into consideration there is a responsibility to at least consider what the Church is saying, and then incorporate it into their position to the degree that they can."
He added that the tendency of Catholics in America to put their party affiliation, be it Republican or Democrat, ahead of their faith, means that “there's a lot of education to be done.”
You really have to be impressed by this slick attempt to use religious arguments for blatantly secular ends!
CNA quotes Kim Daniels, spokesperson for the U.S. bishops' conference president, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York:
“We support immigration reform as a response to Pope Francis' call to resist indifference and to regain a sense of 'fraternal responsibility' regarding the suffering of immigrants,” she told CNA Aug. 27….Archbishop Gomez, now enthroned in Los Angeles, is an immigrant from Mexico. Why doesn’t he urge Mexico to show more “hospitality” to immigrants, and stop mistreating illegal immigrants?
In a July 21 homily, Archbishop José Gomez taught that “God comes to us in the person of the stranger,” that hospitality is a “sacred duty,” and that immigration is “not only a matter of politics,” but is “a matter of our relationship with God.”
Even more important: did Gomez truly “abjure foreign potentates” when he took the U.S. Oath of citizenship?
VDARE.com has for years exposed the forces advocating Open Borders for legal and illegal migrants: Big Business; ethnic advocacy groups; religious lobbies like the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Immigration Table etc.
Tellingly, that we are mired in the worst economic situation since the Great Depression simply does not to matter to those forces.
It’s obvious that many faithful Catholics have been deeply affected by their church’s ongoing pedophiliac scandals and (I believe as a long-time liberal Democrat) its inflexible views on family planning, abortion, gays and divorce. By evading these issues, and instead speaking from its pulpits all over the US about “social justice” a.k.a. Amnesty, these prelates show they are just the same sort of self-interested crooks as the Latino tribes and the greedy business types who want cheap labor.
The New York Times piece tells us how powerful this push will be:
"The political campaign by Catholic priests is certain to catch the attention of Catholic members of Congress. Catholics are the largest single religious group in Congress, making up just over 30 percent of the members, according to the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Project. The current House has 136 Catholic members, including Speaker John A. Boehner and 60 other Republicans, according to Pew.The Catholic Church has what are supposed to be deep differences with Obama over abortion, homosexual marriage and other matters. But, paradoxically, the New York Times article noted:
For some Republican members, vocal support by local priests and bishops could provide the religious rationale they need to support an overhaul in the face of criticism from conservatives.
"White House officials said they were counting on Catholics and members of other religious groups to help pass an immigration overhaul through a Republican-controlled House that is filled with members fighting against one. Cecilia Munoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said Catholic leaders had participated in outreach meetings at the White House.When you add the fear, which I believe is vastly overrated, that Republicans must completely kowtow to Latinos, it adds up to trouble.
"It’s pretty rare for the Catholics to take on an issue like this straight to the pews," said Ms. Munoz, who is leading Mr. Obama’s immigration effort.
How can so many be so stupid, greedy, selfish—and blind to how this must inevitably appear to American patriots?
Donald A. Collins [email him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.
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