Catholic Church facilitates Mexican invasion of US

[SwordOfTheVistula]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080111/...immigration_dc

At a Catholic-run shelter just across the border from Laredo, Texas, dozens of Latin American migrants say grace and tuck into a hearty meal of sausages, beans and rice, before trying to swim across the Rio Grande into the United States.

migrants on their journey north often recharge their batteries at a network of similar shelters run by the Roman Catholic Church -- a lifeline sanctioned by the Vatican

"Migration is a human right and migrants are some of the world's most vulnerable people. It is the church's obligation to help them," said the Rev. Francisco Pellizzari, an Italian-Argentine missionary who runs the Nazareth migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo.

The Nuevo Laredo shelter has been granted a papal blessing in a Vatican certificate that hangs proudly on the wall.

Many Catholic Churches in the United States have welcomed Hispanics, with some seeing their congregations double in size. They set up soup kitchens and offer support to families hit by workplace raids and deportations.

"It is time for some compassion in the immigration debate," said Sister Christine Feagan, who ministers to Hispanics at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Iowa. "Welcome the stranger.."

Many religious conservatives in the United States take a sharply contrasting view of immigration from that of the Catholic Church.

Some are angry that the Catholic Church helps people who break the law. Others accuse it of using support for immigration as a way to win back members as the church loses ground to evangelicals and secularism in Latin America.

"The Roman Catholic Church is aiding and abetting the criminal invasion of America from Mexico," wrote Ralph Ovadal, pastor of the Pilgrims Covenant Church in Wisconsin, in a booklet sold on the church's Web site.

[Northern Paladin]

The Catholic Church isn't the problem, they are doing what they can to help their people, how can you blame them for that?

It's the US government, that is the problem. If the US had tighter border controls, wetbacks wouldn't dream of getting into America in the first place.

[Drakkar]

As the Church and it's actions are clearly separate from the government, and have nothing to do with their voluntary migration patterns, they are obviously not facilitating illegal immigration. They are just doing their duty as clergy. Would you rather have them aid the government and their laws? Wouldn't that be in a theocratic direction?

[Northern Paladin]

As the Church and it's actions are clearly separate from the government, and have nothing to do with their voluntary migration patterns, they are obviously not facilitating illegal immigration. They are just doing their duty as clergy. Would you rather have them aid the government and their laws? Wouldn't that be in a theocratic direction?

Europe was Theocratic once. That was over 500 years ago. Come to think of it that was a better Europe than todays "progressive" secular Europe.

[GroeneWolf]

The Catholic Church isn't the problem, they are doing what they can to help their people, how can you blame them for that?

That is indeed true. Since the Roman Catholic Church is in itself a transnational organisation it makes sense that most of the clergy wouldn't make that much of a difference between Catholics of different national backgrounds. Alto wether or not we should approve of their actions is a different matter al together.

[SwordOfTheVistula]

The Catholic Church isn't the problem, they are doing what they can to help their people, how can you blame them for that?

So do jews, mosques, and international corporations, and we still point out when something is done by one of those groups which is detrimental to us.

It's the US government, that is the problem. If the US had tighter border controls, wetbacks wouldn't dream of getting into America in the first place.

Yes, but the Catholic church is part of the problem in this case, especially since they make up a large

nothing to do with their voluntary migration patterns, they are obviously not facilitating illegal immigration.

That's not what the article says.

Would you rather have them aid the government and their laws?

Why should churches be exempt from the expectation that everyone follow the law?

Wouldn't that be in a theocratic direction?

A theocracy is when the government does what the church tells it to do. Here, the idea is that church officials respect the same laws that everyone else is expected to follow.

[Janus]

Of course, the Catholic Church loves that immigrant and the reason is simple. Mexicans are usually catholics whereas the other inhabitants of those areas usually aren't. The Catholic clergy is just helping other Catholics to spread their religion.

[Æmeric]

The Catholic Church in the US has been historically in favor of immigration. They don't care if it's legal or not.

As the Church and it's actions are clearly separate from the government, and have nothing to do with their voluntary migration patterns, they are obviously not facilitating illegal immigration.

If they are providing aid to illegals, they are facilitating illegal immigration.

They are just doing their duty as clergy. Would you rather have them aid the government and their laws? Wouldn't that be in a theocratic direction?

Is it their duty to help turn the US into a Mestizo Catholic state? Maybe they should encourage the immigrants to obey US immigration laws.

Some of the more prominate proponents of immigration, legal & illegal, have been Catholics, who have a grudge to bear over their White ethnic status. Maybe it is because of their advocacy on behalf of immigrants - the majority, nominal Catholics from Latin America - that the Catholic Church overlooks the pro-abortion policies of Catholic politicians like Ted Kennedy & Nancy Polosi.

There are liberal Protestant Churches involved in the refugee industry -resettling non-Whites from Africa or IndoChina in the US, such as the ECLA (Evangilical Lutheran Church in America) but none are nowhere near as large or as active as the Catholic Church in assisting illegal immigrants.