Cardinal suggests UK amnesty for illegal immigrants (Catholic Illegal Alien Amnesty)

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, has called for the government to consider an amnesty for illegal immigrants in the UK.

Speaking at a colourful and moving May Day Mass for migrant workers at Westminster Cathedral, the Cardinal said that while the Church did not endorse entering the country illegally, it could not ignore the plight of people without legal status.

He also used the occasion to back calls for a ìliving wageî for Londonís lower-paid workers.

The plea for a significant change of tack on immigration by the government has already been welcomed by the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia, by a leading citizensí organisation and by migrant workers themselves.

More than 3,000 migrants from the three Dioceses packed the aisles of the Cathedral, bursting into applause after the Cardinal's homily and at various points in the Mass, according to Independent Catholic News. Many were in tears. . The Archbishop of Westminster concelebrated the Mass with the heads of the other two London dioceses, Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark and Bishop Tom McMahon of Brentwood.

"We hope that this Mass will communicate to you that, as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, you are Londoners," the Cardinal told them. "We want you to feel welcome in our parishes and our schools and our ethnic chaplaincies. We want you to know that you belong."

"While our nation benefits economically from the presence of undocumented workers, too often we turn a blind eye when they are exploited by employers," he said.

"Is it not time to consider, as other countries have done, ways of regularising their situation ? those who are working in the country and do not have a criminal record - to the benefit of our economy and to enable them to play a fuller part in society?" continued the Cardinal.

ìThis is a brave and necessary call for compassion and sanity in the face of unpleasant anti-immigration rhetoric on the part of the main parties, as well as extremist groups like the BNP,î commented Simon Barrow, director of Ekklesia.

The multilingual Mass on the Feast of St Joseph the Worker was supported by London Citizens, a community-based alliance of 85 institutions which seek to strengthen London's public life.

The Mass began with a procession of parishes and faith groups, and included music from Africa, Latin America and Poland. Intercessions were read in six different languages, including Malayalam, Lebanese, Spanish, Lithuanian and Chinese. The First Reading was read in the Philippino language Tagalog.

At the end of the Mass the vicar-general of Brentwood Diocese, Mgr John Armitage, announced that the chair the Cardinal was sitting on was the same one Cardinal Manning was using when he signed the agreement bringing to an end the Great Dock Strike in London in 1889.

"At the beginning of our campaign for a Living Wage, that chair was empty," Mgr Armitage said, before adding to applause: "Now, we are proud to say, it is occupied."

Writing in last week's Tablet, the Cardinal likened the current influx of migrant workers to the arrival of poor Irish labourers in London following the Potato Famine. Cardinal Manning's call then for just wages was influential on the Church's first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891).

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor and the other bishops joined the London Citizens rally afterwards, sharing the platform with the deputy general-secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, Jack Dromey, to call for a "living wage" for London's workers.

The Mayor of London's Living Wage Unit has recommended an hourly rate of £6.70 an hour to ensure a minimum human standard of living in the capital. The rally also saw the launch of the London Citizens' Workers' Association.

Neil Jameson, Director of London Citizens, told the BBC's Sunday programme that the Association would offer "solidarity, some protection for groups of workers, legal advice and English classes so that the vast number of people out there who are currently unprotected can get some protection, with a view to them joining a trade union when they are ready."

"We wouldn't be asking the question of whether they were illegal or not," Jameson said. "We don't take a position on that."

The three London bishops have commissioned a major study into the social, economic and pastoral needs of migrants, thought to be the first of its kind in Europe.

The 'Ground of Justice' project is being carried out by the Von Hugel Institute, a Christian think-tank in Cambridge.

The research, which will be published in September, is being coordinated by Francis Davis, senior researcher at the Institute. He told the BBC that there may be more than 250,000 migrants in the capital who are baptised Catholics working in the lowest-paid jobs in the capital as cleaners and caterers.

He said he had spoken to a Sri Lankan shop worker who was paid £4 an hour for a 74-hour a week on condition that he rented a room in his employer's house for £80 a week plus £20 for meals.

"The Church in England and Wales needs to dig deep into its historical memory and moral reserves to meet these new pastoral and political challenges," he wrote in last week's Catholic Herald.

In an interview with the BBC Sunday programme, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor answered criticism from Migration Watch UK that he was encouraging illegal immigration.

"It is for the Government ? and we would support the Government ? to ensure that illegal immigration is not allowed. That is their responsibility. But once they're here, as a Christian I have to say: 'I stand with you.' Even if they're here illegally, it's not for me as a Christian to say, 'I am going to make sure you're deported tomorrow.' It's for me to say: 'what are your immediate needs? How can I stand with you and help you?'"

He added: "If the economy, if the conditions in Europe and worldwide mean that there is going to be greater immigration of peoples, that is a fact The situation demands a closer look at the kind of Britain we are, with great ethnic variety. I've said to the Prime Minister that the Catholic community in the parishes where I go are a microcosm of what London is and is going to be more and more."

Asked what he meant by "regularisation" of illegal immigrants, the Cardinal said he wanted the Government to consider how people who are working in Britain for many years and do not have a criminal record can be legalised for the benefit both of them and of the country.

"These are our fellow citizens, who have a right because they work to decent wages and decent conditions," he said.

The Cardinal said he wanted to know more about migrant workers in order to stand with them. He said he wanted to use the research to inform people in the Church as well as wider society.

Concluding his homily at yesterday's Mass, the Cardinal said he was happy that migrants were here.

"We are grateful for the vital role that you play in our economy. We want you to play as full a role as possible in the life of our Church. We want our Catholic people to see in you the face of Christ. We want you to be welcomed such that you are strangers no longer."

He said: "And though you may be far from your homes, we want you to know that here, in the Church in London, you have a home."

...............................the Cardinal said that while the Church did not endorse entering the country illegally, it could not ignore the plight of people without legal status.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Publicly the church does not endorse illegals entering the country, BUT in the USA, much of the civic aid for illegal Mexican aliens is organized, funded and administered by Roman Catholic Agencies. This allows illegals to connect with relatives, get jobs and have food and shelter waiting for them when they arrive in the USA. It also hides illegals from Immigration authorities, a modern version of the underground railway.

The chuirch actually has two faces on this, and NO POLITICIAN has the courage to call the CHURCH on this fact.

Without the surreptitious support of the Roman Catholic church, there would be NO illegal alien problem in the USA, nor likely much of one in Britain.

Liberal Socialist Roman Catholics support illegal immigration both in Britain and in the USA.

Browse this list of supporters of illegal alien migration demographic warfare in the United States, you will see what I mean:

National Organizations:

Anti-Defamation League

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Congress

American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA)

B’nai B’rith International

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)

International Catholic Migration Commission

Irish Apostolate, USA

Islamic Circle of North America

Jesuit Conference

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Jubilee Campaign USA

Justice for Our Neighbors Immigration Clinic Network

La Ermita - The Hermitage

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office

Mexican American Cultural Center

National Council of Jewish Women

National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Union for Reform Judaism

United Jewish Communities

United Methodist Committee on Relief

United States Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart

Women In Islam, Inc.

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism

World Relief

*********************************************

Local Organizations:

Baltimore Jewish Council

Building Bridges: Hispanic Outreach Project Community of St. Anthony Church in Canton, Ohio

Cabrini Immigrant Services, Dobbs Ferry, New York

Cabrini Immigrant Services, New York, New York

California Province of the Society of Jesus Capuchin Province of St. Joseph, Detroit, Michigan

Catholic Charities Diocese of Des Moines

Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego

Catholic Charities Hawaii

Catholic Charities Health and Human Services, Diocese of Cleveland

Catholic Charities Housing Opportunities (CCHO), Youngstown, Ohio

Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia

Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington

Catholic Migration Office of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York

Catholic Social Services in Anchorage, Alaska

Clerics of St. Viator, Chicago Province

Commonwealth Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia

Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio

Congregation of Holy Cross, Southern Province

Congregation of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, Huntington, Indiana

Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

En Camino, Migrant and Immigrant Services, Diocese of Toledo, Ohio

Family Unity & Citizenship Program of the Diocese of Las Cruces

HIAS and Council Migration Services of Philadelphia

Hogar Hispano - Catholic Charities, Falls Church, Virginia Houston Dominican Sisters

Human Concerns Commission of the Diocese of San Jose

Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries of Illinois

Jewish Community Action, St. Paul, Minnesota

Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona

Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania

Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan

Lutheran Social Services of New England

Lutheran Social Services of Northern New England

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota

Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area

Marianist Province of the United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, New York

Migration and Refugee Services Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey

Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Province of the Immaculate Conception, Paterson, New Jersey

Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Stella Maris Province, New York, New York

Missionhurst-CICM, Arlington, Virginia

National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Des Moines, Iowa

New Albany Deanery of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana

Northern Indiana Ecumenical Multicultural Ministry (NIEMM), Morocco, Indiana

Organización for Latino Awareness of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago

Priests of the Sacred Heart (SCJ), Hales Corners, Wisconsin

Provincial Council of the Province of St. John the Baptist of the Order of Friars Minor, Cincinnati, Ohio

River's Edge Community Church, Oella, Maryland

Saints Peter and Paul Church, Savannah, Georgia

Society of Jesus (Jesuits), New York Province

Society of the Divine Word, Chicago Province

St James Faithful Citizenship, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St James Parish Council, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St James Parish Social Ministries, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St. Benedict's Abbey, Benet Lake, Wisconsin

UJA-Federation of New York

Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John's University, New York

Western Dominican Province, Oakland, California

Wider Church Ministries - United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio

Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus

*************************************************

Individual Faith Leaders:

Pamela Beech, Archdiocese of Detroit, Lay Leadership and Formation

Rev. Dr. Clive Calver, Walnut Hill Community Church, Bethel, CT

P. Adem Carroll, 9/11 Relief Director Islamic Circle of North America USA (ICNA Relief)

Patrick Gilger, SJ, Loyola University Chicago

Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn

John E. Dister, SJ, Detroit Province Jesuits, Loyola of the Lakes Retreat House

Bob Dunden, SJ, St Benedict the Moor Parish, Omaha, NE

John C. Fickes, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago

Michael Higgins, C.P., Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province of the Passionists, Chicago, Illinois

Daniel Idzikowski, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse, Inc., La Crosse, Wisconsin

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh, Port Wentworth, Georgia

Dr Khurshid Khan, President of the Islamic Circle of North America

Most Reverend Gerald Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson

Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church-USA

Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, Subiaco, Arkansas

Reverand John S.Korcsmar, CSC, Austin, Texas

Sister Larraine Lauter OSU, Owensboro, Kentucky

Reverand Msgr. Ronald T. Marino, Brooklyn, New York

Peter Vander Meulen, Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action, Christian Reformed Church

Carrie Monnette, Detroit Province Jesuits, Assistant for Social and International Ministries

Allan Parker, Pastor, Quitman Church of the Nazarene, Quitman, GA

Sylvia Romero, Hispanic Ministry at Grace United Methodist Church, Olathe, Kansas

Most Reverend Carlos Sevilla, S.J., Bishop of Yakima, Washington

Secretary General, Rashid Siddiqui, Islamic Circle of North America

Michael Simone, SJ, Weston Jesuit School of Theology

Most Reverend Jaime Soto, Auxiliary Bishop of Orange, California

Madonna Della Strada, Jesuit Residence

Professor Elie Wiesel, Boston University

Most Reverend Thomas G. Wenski, Bishop of Orlando

I believe that the church should be the sole supporter of the illegals it so strongly advocates for>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Its about social order and current,sporadically enforced US immigration law.

Those who choose their "beliefs" over their nation must either change the law to fit their beliefs, and if they fail, must support their country.

Illegal immigrants in the USA have no intention of assimilating and becoming a part of the "melting pot" of traditional US culture. They seek to create, and promote a "cultural mosaic" in which various states will become "bi-lingual" . This would be a disaster for the USA. I have experienced the same dynamic as a resident of Canada and the dynamic involving French Canadians and the so called Quiet Revolution in Canada.It was and still is horrible.

Illegal immigration has one purpose, to establish a Latino Nation within the USA, and to conquer what is promoted as " our traditional Hispanic Lands," to wit: all territories of the USA formerly claimed and later removed from Spain and Mexico.

I have no problem at all with Latinos who want to become US citizens legally, and culturally. I have a problem with illegals who want to initiate a conquest of our nation, using the very freedoms and rights which make our nation free.

For that reason many US citizens want current immigration laws to be enforced absolutely, until every last illegal is deported to their native lands. I support that approach.

My beliefs will have nothing to do with it because patriotism to my country, and its social order of freedom, and dedication to uphold the constitution of the United States takes precedence over my beliefs. I was an immigrant from Canada, and now I am a US citizen.

Secondly, I do not believe we need a modern equivalent of a socio-economic "slave class" of people in the United States, to benefit the huge land owners of agricultural operations, and highly labor intensive industry such as clothing manufacturing. It represents a path to illegal wealth for too many who have no loyalty to their country, but only to the accumulation of illicit wealth, through cheap, uneducated, unpatriotic labor who wish to colonize our nation demographically.

Thirdly, the illegal alien population has brought with it the deviants of their own various countries, sexual deviants, drug runners and gangs and the Latino mafia organizations. They prey on their own people and on American citizens who get in the way. This makes formerly safe, peaceful communities into barrios where one must keep a cocked gun handy at all times, day and night.This is not the "more perfect union" planned by the founders of our nation, nor should the destruction of our union be tolerated, regardless of what you and others have as "beliefs." Our founders put their "beliefs" behind them to form a nation which is free for the benefit of all who were citizens, no matter what their "beliefs." If our government does not enforce our current laws on illegal aliens, they fly in the face of the will of the people of the United States, which will result in social disorder and later, civil war.

A pox on your beliefs and all who "believe" as you do. And a pox on all religious organizations who place their religious community before the preservation of the very nation which has guaranteed them freedom of religion. They cannot and should not break our laws in pursuit of "beliefs." Imagine what will happen when Chinese or Islamofascist agents begin distributing illicit arms and explosives in the USA, for use by the illegal alien community and their "supporters with "beliefs." Northern Ireland will be remembered as a cake walk by comparison.

Well, how does that play out socially? The tyrannical "religious" chest area of your daughter's, sisters, nieces or mother's next boyfriend:

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