Posted on 07/11/2014 4:42:44 AM PDT by NYer
"In order to avoid future clashes with the citizens of Murrieta, Calif., over attempts to transfer illegal immigrants there, the Obama administration has turned to an unusual bedfellow: the Catholic Church. Deacon Luis Sanchez of the Diocese of San Bernardino tells National Review Online that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent approached the diocese on July 2, 2014, and “expressed his desire for the Church to help in helping these families reach their destination.” Since that time, he says, diocesan officials have spoken on the phone with ICE, and they held a planning meeting on Monday.
John Andrews, the diocese’s director of communications who attended the planning meeting, tells NRO that the idea is to set up “transitional centers” where volunteers and representatives from Catholic Charities would provide food, medical, and spiritual care for families who have been processed at a Border Patrol station. He says he hopes to help the people pushed out of Murrieta, and would need to accommodate 140 people arriving every three days. Andrews says he expects the centers will house mostly mothers and their children for one or two days. But if there’s a situation where a family needs to stay longer than a day or two, he says that placing illegal immigrants with a local family would represent a “very viable option.”#ad#
Andrews says several of the parishes within the diocese might be used as part of the plan, but he would not provide details about the locations he disclosed at Monday’s planning meeting. He has withheld such details, he says, because he does not want to invite the “type of folks who gathered in Murrieta to protest” to disrupt their plans. “They [the Murrieta protesters] don’t see the immigrant in the same way we do, which is as a human being that’s created in God’s image with dignity, just like everyone else,” he says.
Some Church officials appear to take the view that the “type of folks who gathered in Murrieta” must be seen differently from the immigrants. In her blog, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that images of the Murrieta protesters recalled the “fire hoses and snarling police dogs in Birmingham, Alabama, used against African-American students protesting racial segregation.” The images also reminded her of a picture of a “little girl in North Vietnam running terrified and naked with burning skin after South Vietnamese planes accidently dropped napalm on Trang Bang” in 1972. Walsh referred derisively to the “mob in Murrieta,” and wrote that she awaits a “moral conscience moment” similar to what occurred with the passage of civil-rights legislation 50 years ago and the moment when the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam.
Parishioners in San Bernardino do not uniformly share Walsh’s view of illegal immigrants flooding into their community, however. One couple who attended the planning meeting called into Rush Limbaugh’s radio show to offer an alternative position. Eddie, a caller identifying himself as a retired doctor, said he’s concerned about the spread of illnesses that might result from the plan put together by the Obama administration and the Catholic Church. “We’ve got FEMA facilities that can provide medical care, housing, nutrition and clothing, safety and transportation, and stabilize the situation so that these people can be reintegrated or be dealt with,” Eddie said. “But to put us and subject us to health-care problems, risk, whatever you want to call it, seems to be an incompetence on behalf of the government when they themselves, these different agencies are not talking to each other.”
It may come as a surprise that government officials are collaborating with the Catholic Church, given recent conflict between the two. The Little Sisters of the Poor faced hefty fines when they challenged the Obamacare contraception mandate. While the Obama administration objects to the kind of health care the Little Sisters would like to provide their employees, it is working on a plan with the Diocese of San Bernardino to allow Catholic Church officials to provide medical attention to illegal immigrants, according to Andrews. And though Massachusetts state government officials have shuttered Catholic Charities’ adoption service, churchgoers in California may soon be permitted by federal government officials to house entire families in their homes.
The Los Angeles ICE office did not return requests for comment about the plan, and Sanchez and Andrews would not disclose the name of the ICE official who has worked with the diocese. But if the plan described by Andrews comes through, the Obama administration may begin using the Catholic Church to shepherd immigrants all over the country.
Bravo. Appreciate what you've been saying.
Thank You, I appreciate your appreciation. I really do. :)
Well said. God bless you, glennaro.
Very much appreciated, bonfire.
The most obvious corporal work of mercy would be to:
honor God's commandment to honor thy mother and father
and hence return these children ASAP to their mothers and fathers back in their home countries!
By taking them in, Catholics play RIGHT into Obama's hands. Insane!
“but they didn’t. They are here. “
There’s another way to look at a compassionate response.
You poor thing.
Let’s get you washed and fed.
Let’s get you some clean clothes.
And let’s help you go find your parents. They must be terrified that you are gone!
And for those over 18:
Go home. You have your own country. Fix it.
Did you mean to say that he's putting politics before faith?
That has been his consistent modus operandi and he's certainly far from alone among the hierarchy.
As part of the Catholic choir, I would prefer that Church leaders defend the Faith rather than serve as political tools for the New World Order.
I don't direct this at you but for those who want to stomp their feet and make it go away. Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first.
How about working the problem. Can we do that?
To them: I know there are two eternal truths, there is a God and I am not him! I mistyped. SUE ME!
Wait a minute! Mothers and their children? I thought all these folks were children unaccompanied by their parents. Where did all the Mamas come from?
Don't tell me the MSM is LYING to us about just who is coming over the border! /S
Oh yes we will. Catholic Charities provides many of its services to the poor through government grants.
Excellent letter!
Also it is important to remember that you are talking about only CCUSA, We have a world fund as well and I am certain they will be asked to kick in.
Bammy wants to hire 20,000 more feds. The church will get volunteers.
Pretty tired of the bashing and snide remarks.
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Amen...I definitely agree. I happen to know several really good folks from the San Bernadino diocese and they are good people and patriots. They are very aware of the horror of Obama’s abortion agenda.
I just get sick of the Church getting beat up over everything.
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Me too. There is a good amount of ignorance behind a majority of that though.
Thanks for all of your good posts on this subject. ;-)
The problem with this is twofold:
</rant off>
Thanks for the post. It helps me keep going!
Bishops need to be really careful when these chose to deal with politicians. The Bishops motives may be pure, but politicians not so much. I think much of the vitriol on this forum about our clergy is because people don't understand our clergy. They are different so they get picked on. We just know that a priest is not one dimensional. I imagine some think he just sits in the confessional all day waiting for us horrible Catholics to show up and spill the beans. LOL I can't recall the last time I used a confessional. I see no reason not to go face to face. But I'll save that for another day.
I digress. I admire don-o's letter. That is a great example of a strong but respectful protest. I believe the Cardinal will actually read and think about that letter. Really well done.
That was Mrs. Don-o's letter. Although I sometimes serve as an editor for her work, she did all of that one by herself.
My mistake. It was an awesome letter. Struck the right tone and was respectful. Unless he’s a dunce it will make him think.
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