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Title: Pope Speaks Up for Immigrants, Touching a Nerve
Source:
The New York Times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/u ... en=7e078b92e34e849e&ei=5087%0A
Published: Apr 20, 2008
Author: DANIEL J. WAKIN and JULIA PRESTON
Post Date: 2008-04-20 11:49:46 by robin
Ping List: *The Border*
Keywords: None
Views: 236
Comments: 9
April 20, 2008 Pope Speaks Up for Immigrants, Touching a Nerve By DANIEL J. WAKIN and JULIA PRESTON Even as he was flying to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of protecting immigrant families, not dividing them. He raised the issue again in a meeting on Wednesday with President Bush, and later that day spoke in Spanish to the church’s “many immigrant children.” And when he ends his visit to New York on Sunday, he will be sent off by a throng of the faithful, showing off the ethnic diversity of American Catholicism. The choreography underscores the importance to the church here of its growing diversity — especially its increasing Hispanic membership. Of the nation’s 65 million Roman Catholics, 18 million are Latino, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and they account for more than two-thirds of the new Catholics in the country since 1960. Millions of other recent arrivals come from Asia and Africa. More and more parishes depend on priests brought from abroad to serve the flock. Benedict has calibrated his immigration stance with care, stating the need to protect family unity and immigrants’ human rights, but pointedly avoiding any specifics of the American immigration debate, like the issue of whether to grant legal status to illegal immigrants. Yet last week his visit quickly stirred the crosscurrents of the debate. His comments drew a rebuke from Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado who has been a leading opponent of illegal immigration. Accusing the pope of “faith-based marketing,” Mr. Tancredo said Benedict’s comments welcoming immigrants “may have less to do with spreading the Gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the Church.” Mr. Tancredo, a former Catholic who now attends an evangelical Christian church, said it was not in the pope’s “job description to engage in American politics.” On the other side of the issue, some members of the Catholic hierarchy said they were shocked that on the same day that Benedict and President Bush affirmed in a joint statement the need for a policy that treats immigrants humanely and protects their families, federal agents were conducting raids at five chicken plants. They arrested more than 300 immigrants accused of being illegal workers. The timing was coincidental, immigration officials said, and it was not clear whether the pope had known about the arrests when he met with Mr. Bush. But the raids surprised some American Catholic leaders, who are often on the forefront of advocacy for immigrant rights. “I was stunned,” said Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Roman Catholic diocese and one with many Hispanics. “I just feel these raids are totally negative. I thought it was very inappropriate to do it in such a blatant way when the pope was coming, when he has been so outspoken in defending the rights of immigrants.” The American bishops have been consistently outspoken in favor of legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants and expand legal avenues for immigrants to bring their family members from abroad. They and other Catholic activists were among the most visible supporters of a broad bill, supported by Mr. Bush but not enacted by Congress last year, which included a path to legal status for 12 million illegal immigrants. They took Benedict’s statements last week as affirmation of their work. For while the immigration theme has been overshadowed during Benedict’s trip by his denunciations of the sexual abuse scandal in the church, it was the second issue after the abuse cases that he addressed on the plane from Rome, when he responded to reporters’ questions that were submitted in advance and picked by the Vatican. The separation of families “is truly dangerous for the social, moral and human fabric” of Latin and Central American families, the pope told reporters aboard his plane. “The fundamental solution is that there should no longer be a need to emigrate, that there are enough jobs in the homeland, a sufficient social fabric,” he said. Short of that, families should be protected, not destroyed, he said. “As much as it can be done it should be done,” the pontiff said. The pope did not just send a message to the president and the public, he spoke to the bishops. In his private meeting with them on Wednesday evening, he emphasized that recent newcomers to the United States are “people of faith, and we are here to welcome them,” Cardinal Mahony said. The pope also dwelled on the negative impact of family separation. Several bishops took that as a direct reference to the impact of previous immigration raids and deportations, in which illegal immigrant parents were separated from spouses and children who were United States citizens or legal immigrants. “Obviously the Holy Father is not encouraging people to do anything illegal,” Cardinal Mahony said. But the raids “do not serve as a deterrent,” he said, adding, “They simply create fear and uncertainty in our communities.” Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City said the pope was “not going to get into the specific points that our country has to hash out.” Bishop Wester, who is chairman of the Committee on Migration of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the pontiff had told the bishops “very clearly that we need to attend to the basic human rights immigrants have.” Bishop Wester also criticized the immigration raids, which took place at plants in five states belonging to Pilgrim’s Pride, a major poultry processing company. Immigration officials said they did not consider the pope’s visit when planning the operations, which they said came after a yearlong investigation. But Bishop Wester said: “It did strike me as inappropriate. The pope comes as a man of peace, a man of good will, the leader of a major religion. Many of the persons arrested were Catholic.” As recently as mid-March, he said, his committee met with Julie L. Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that carried out the raids. The bishops asked Ms. Myers not to conduct raids in churches and to ensure legal representation for immigrants, Bishop Wester said. The pope returned to the theme several times over the course of his visit, which ends Sunday. About 4,000 church members from the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens, will hold a prayer service in 29 languages at Kennedy Airport. About half will be immigrants, said Msgr. Ronald T. Marino, the Brooklyn Diocese’s vicar for migration. Many will wear the costumes of their homelands. The pope will not attend, but the crowd will bid him farewell. “Not a word has to be spoken,” the monsignor said. “What you will see says it all.” In Washington, Benedict encouraged the American bishops and their communities “to continue to welcome 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.” That, he said, was the American tradition. And in a meeting with Catholic educators, he emphasized the importance of keeping Catholic schools open, especially to serve immigrants and the underprivileged. Catholic leaders say such words have bolstered their work, yet the pope’s emphasis is no surprise in a country where much of the church’s growth and vitality comes from the influx of immigrant Catholics. Following the polyglot practice of his predecessor, John Paul II, Benedict used Spanish to directly address the Latino portion of his flock during the homily at his Mass at Nationals Park in Washington on Thursday. The Church has grown thanks to their vitality, he said, and God calls on them to keep contributing. Priests and bishops who lobby elected officials and minister directly to immigrants can be more explicit. Monsignor Marino, for example, who also heads the Brooklyn Diocese’s Catholic Migration Office, said, “In my judgment, immigrants are heroes.” He applauded the pope’s words. “The simple pointing to it as one of his priorities, something coming out of his mouth, is real important,” Monsignor Marino said. “For him to say one sentence means he knows the rest.” Thomas G. Wenski, the bishop of Orlando, Fla., and a former head of the bishops’ Migration Committee who remains a consultant to it, said he hoped the pope’s visit would have a practical effect. “The pope’s visit will unleash some good will here so that Congress might live up to its responsibility and deal with the issue,” Bishop Wenski said. In a letter in December, Cardinal Mahony chastised all the presidential candidates for campaigns that he said had “inflamed anti-immigrant sentiment in the country.” Since then the three remaining candidates, Senators John McCain of Arizona, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, have lowered the volume on the immigration issue. Secular advocates for immigrants also welcomed the pope’s words. “That’s big news,” said Teresa Gutierrez, a coordinator for the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Workers Rights. “Any decent comment about the reality of what’s really happening to immigration in the United States coming from such a prestigious person as the pope is extremely helpful.”
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#1. To: robin (#0)
So by this "logic" if a cop caught someone robbing a bank on the day the Pope visited and the robber was a Catholic he should let him go. uh huh. Some people are too stupid to be out loose.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. more coverup
'Individuals should not take responsibility for their own defense. That’s what the police are for. ... If I oppose individuals defending themselves, I have to support police defending them. I have to support a police state.”' Alan Dershowitz
The politicians got us into this mess, will any but Jim Sensenbrenner have the guts to get us out?
I cling to hope of a 50 state repudiation of the traitorous, neocon Plutocrat Party
As long as Latinos, including illegals, vote en masse, the politicians most affected by their votes, won't do anything. I don't know what power it is that Mexico holds over us, but from Reagan on, every US President has just allowed them full sway.
'Individuals should not take responsibility for their own defense. That’s what the police are for. ... If I oppose individuals defending themselves, I have to support police defending them. I have to support a police state.”' Alan Dershowitz
It's not MEXICO that has the power over us, it's the corporate overlords who hold the power over us, and make ALL presidents and politicians dance to their tune. They LOVE that cheap Mexican labor. They don't have to pay a living wage, they can pay them a pittance and then fob off living expenses onto the taxpayer. Another case of public expense and private profits.
But Bishop Wester said: “It did strike me as inappropriate. The pope comes as a man of peace, a man of good will, the leader of a major religion. Many of the persons arrested were Catholic.”
Lord Acton
#2. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
#3. To: robin (#0)
In a letter in December, Cardinal Mahony chastised all the presidential candidates for campaigns that he said had “inflamed anti-immigrant sentiment in the country.” Since then the three remaining candidates, Senators John McCain of Arizona, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, have lowered the volume on the immigration issue.
#4. To: iconoclast (#3)
#5. To: robin (#4)
I don't know what power it is that Mexico holds over us, but from Reagan on, every US President has just allowed them full sway.
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#6. To: robin (#4)
The Mexican government has intimate knowledge of the US government's involvement in the worldwide illegal drug trade, the proceeds of which are used to fund their worldwide black ops. The Mexican government has names, dates and places of transactions. They know who the people are and how the offical US government smuggling network works. More importantly, they have the evidence to prove what they know. And by government, of course, I mean the two party fraud. The two-party fraud will bend over backwards to make the Mexican government happy because they know that if the American people ever found out the truth not only would it be the end of their rule, but it just might wind up with them and their families being given the Mussolini treatment.
I don't know what power it is that Mexico holds over us, but from Reagan on, every US President has just allowed them full sway.
#7. To: robin (#0)
They and other Catholic activists were among the most visible supporters of a broad bill, supported by Mr. Bush but not enacted by Congress last year, which included a path to legal status for 12 million illegal immigrants. ... Accusing the pope of “faith-based marketing,” Mr. Tancredo said Benedict’s comments welcoming immigrants “may have less to do with spreading the Gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the Church.” Mr. Tancredo, a former Catholic who now attends an evangelical Christian church, said it was not in the pope’s “job description to engage in American politics.” "....Undermining the American Constitution The Vatican, which has historically been no friend of the Bible, has nevertheless inveigled a much more highly regarded status in the United States than perhaps anywhere else in the world today. In the US, Roman Catholics are more prosperous and the so-called evangelicals much more pro-Romanist than in many other countries of the world. Rome has systematically taken advantage of the religious freedom guaranteed by the US Constitution to promote her own doctrines while scheming to undermine those of American Protestantism....." Americans should remember "the Roman hierarchy has formally announced its intention to destroy their country, where she is entrenching herself with strength and promoting herself with subtlety. In L'Aurora of December, 1950, 'Father' Patrick O'Brien announced: "We, the Hierarchy of the Holy Catholic Church, [...] if necessary, shall change, amend, or blot out the present Constitution so that the President may enforce his, or rather our, humanitarian programme and all phases of human rights [!] as laid down by our saintly Popes and the Holy Mother Church. [...] We are going to have our laws made and enforced according to the Holy See and the Popes and the canon law of the Papal throne. Our entire social structure must be rebuilt on that basis. Our educational laws must be constructed to end the atheism, the Red peril of totalitarianism, **** Protestantism, Communism, Socialism and all other of like ilk and stamp, be driven from this fair land. [...] **** We control America and we do not propose to stop until America or Americans are genuinely Roman Catholic and remain so." The Union and Echo, the official diocesan organ of the Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, declared in December 1950 that **** at the rate of ***** 126,000 converts a year in the United States it would take too long to "convert" (i.e. Romanise) America: "We must convert [...] Politics, Economics, Sociology, Business, Entertainment, Labour and Management, the Department of State and the Executive Branch of our Government to Christian and hence Catholic principles." There are already signs of a trade war being conducted by the EU against the US. Europe first, America next, tomorrow the world! Christians beware!" http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=euro2 WHO ELSE says they CONTROL AMERICA and works tirelessly to subvert sane immigration policies for this country? MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. CATHOLIC OR JEWISH? And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, ... http://watch.pair.com/mystery-babylon.html ============================ Hispanics help reshape US Church By Kevin Connolly BBC News In the remote village of Chimayo, where the mountains of New Mexico swell up out of the desert scrub, the faithful pray for miracles, and offer a clue to the pressures and influences helping to reshape modern American Catholicism. "Holy dirt" One of the faithful gathers "holy dirt" - believed to have mystical powers The ancient tribal peoples of the region believed that the fine, sandy soil from the local hillsides had mystical powers to heal broken bodies and broken lives, and there are plenty of 21st century American Catholics who agree with them. Officially, the Catholic Church makes no claims for the "holy dirt", as the parishioners describe it, but there is a rack of discarded crutches artlessly displayed inside the church building, which suggests that it doesn't entirely disown the idea either. The soil is kept in a small, dry, shallow well in a side chapel of the church, and the faithful queue to collect it, using a children's plastic beach shovel to pour it into containers brought from home. They touch samples of the soil to affected areas, they offer it to dying relatives, they ask priests to bless their sample. And they believe. One woman who had driven her ailing mother all the way from Texas to seek help for her chronic backache was convinced she had found it. "I definitely felt the Holy Spirit in there; the presence is everywhere here, whether the healing is spiritual or physical," she told me. Folk beliefs Religious grotto Hispanic immigrants bring with them a vitality and a tradition of folk beliefs Like many other churches across the south and west of the United States, the decor at the church of Chimayo and the tone of worship bear witness to the history of Hispanic culture - a vitality and a tradition of folk beliefs that are very different from the values of Catholics in the colder cities to the north. Father Jim Funtum, one of the parish priests at Chimayo says that Hispanic immigrants across the US are bringing change to the American Catholic Church. But, he says, they will also be changed by it over time. "That's how things evolve," he says. "We are on high ground, as well as holy ground in Chimayo, and there is no better place from which to survey the state of the Church - an issue Pope Benedict will visit later this week. "The truth is, whatever else immigrants from Latin America bring to the Catholic Church, they bring numbers, and without them this would be a Church in decline. The traditional congregations of the American Catholic Church have been dwindling in recent years, to the point where one American in every 10 is a former Catholic." Immigration from Latin-American countries though (and the high birth rates among those groups) are more than making up for the decline. About a half of all American Catholics under the age of 40 are Hispanics, and that proportion will continue to grow. "Church of immigration" Luis Lugo of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says that is simply evidence of an old historical pattern repeating itself in a new community. "The growth (of Hispanic influence) has really been since the major changes in US immigration policy in the mid 60s, so it really would once have been very much a European Catholic church: Irish, Italian, German influence," he says. Clearly now, it's the Latino's turn to become part of the Catholic Church Luis Lugo, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life "Clearly now, it's the Latino's turn to become part of the Catholic Church which has always been a Church of immigration." The truth is that while Chimayo creates an awkward dilemma for the modern Church (several people there told me of miraculous cures, but there's no sign that the Catholic authorities intend to start to promoting or publicising them). On the one hand, it inspires claims that might be difficult to substantiate under the scrutiny of modern science. But on the other, there is a spirituality to the place that helps to bring a much-needed vitality back to a Church over which the priestly child sex abuse scandals of recent times still throw a long shadow. Damaged confidence The crisis created difficulties at many levels, chief among them, of course, is the trauma suffered by the many victims whose suffering was eventually publicised after years of secrecy and shame. [Church in Chimayo. About a half of all American Catholics under the age of 40 are Hispanics] For the Church, the cost of compensating those victims is crippling and will continue to be a drain on resources for years to come. But perhaps more importantly, it damaged the confidence of ordinary Catholics in their priests and bishops. Even Father Funtum, an engaging and convincing spokesman for the spiritual energy at Chimayo, had his story of being falsely accused of perversion by a parishioner who happened to see him pat a small child on the head at a church social. That charge was absurd but it is a demonstration of the extent of how almost every conversation about American Catholicism (like mine with Father Jim) ends up being dominated by the issue of abuse. We will know soon the extent to which Pope Benedict intends to address the subject, but it's highly unlikely that he will get through the visit without it being raised. We already know that the Pope won't be heading for Chimayo - not this time around anyway - and in a way, it's a shame. If he wanted to get a feeling for how the American Church will look in the future - more Hispanic, more charismatic, more populist and perhaps more mystical - he could do worse than to travel into New Mexico's mountains to see for himself. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7346032.stm The First Charter of Virginia 1606 "....We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to **** such People, as yet live in Darkness and ***** miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government: DO, by these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires;...." www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va01.htm Progress has been backwards....Babylon is back. With the US State Department decree that the New Testament is antiSemitic, I suppose the plan is to substitute the Bible with Kaballah. Pope Benedict visits synagogue, UN ... www.nydailynews.com/news/..._visits_synagogue_un.html ===================
The American bishops have been consistently outspoken in favor of legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants and expand legal avenues for immigrants to bring their family members from abroad.
President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913. History proved that on that day, the Constitution ceased to be the governing covenant of the American people, and our liberties were handed over to a small group of international bankers. - Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
#8. To: Hayek Fan (#6)
the belief in the two party fraud is still in full swing..even on 4um.
And by government, of course, I mean the two party fraud
#9. To: christine (#8) (Edited)
Amen to that! Of course the majority of illegal immigrants are catholic and the pope loves those FRN's being given to his churches by these illegals.
the belief in the two party fraud is still in full swing..even on 4um.
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