Posted on 06/30/2007 8:27:21 AM PDT by hardback
WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. bishops decried failure of immigration reform and its implicit exploitation of millions of people.
The position was voiced by Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, California, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.
"As a nation, we cannot continue to employ an immigration system that leads to the exploitation of millions of our fellow human beings," bishop Barnes said.
"We cannot accept the toil of a large underclass which does not have full rights in our society. This strikes at the very character of our nation and lessens us as a people."
Bishop Barnes called on "Congress not to abandon this issue and to return to it as soon as possible." "The status quo is morally unacceptable and should not be allowed to stand," he said. "The U.S. bishops shall continue to point out the moral deficiencies in the immigration system and work toward justice until it is achieved."
The June 29 statement follows. On behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I am deeply troubled that fair and comprehensive immigration reform legislation has failed to move forward in the U.S. Senate.
I applaud those U.S. Senators of both parties who showed courage in working for comprehensive reform legislation and encourage them to continue their efforts to fix our broken immigration system.
As a nation, we cannot continue to employ an immigration system that leads to the exploitation of millions of our fellow human beings. We cannot accept the toil of a large underclass which does not have full rights in our society. This strikes at the very character of our nation and lessens us as a people.
I urge our elected officials in Congress not to abandon this issue and to return to it as soon as possible. The status quo is morally unacceptable and should not be allowed to stand. The U.S. bishops shall continue to point out the moral deficiencies in the immigration system and work toward justice until it is achieved.
SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Nervous Tick wrote: “ We cannot accept the toil of a large underclass which does not have full rights in our society.
“You are absolutely right, Mr. Bishop.
“We should send them home, pronto.”
Agreed. Roman Catholics who believe in nationhood and borders should talk to their bishops and other priests just as you have responded. There should be no more inordinate fear of the clergy. The clergy really can determine nobody’s eternal destiny.
The illegal aliens are no more isolated in a subclass than are tourists, those on business visas, or foreign students.
What would be wrong would be to convert them from a group of foreign people (with rights elsewhere) into a subclass of Z-visa holders with limited rights, and quite possibly NO RIGHTS IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES as a consequence of having a Z-visa.
Several candidates for public office in Baja California (a quaint Mexican state located on the shores of the Pacific, just south of California) discovered that even though they were full citizens of Mexico, they'd failed to file a certain form 10 years before, and as a result their accidental births in the United States prohibited them from running for office.
Same sort of thing could happen to people tricked into Z-visas. This issue wasn't discussed in the public hearings of course, so none of us knows what Mexico will do when a Z-visa holder wants to come back home.
The Bishop should have been objecting to the CREATION OF A SUBCLASS, not the existence of one.
BTW, does this guy have an uptodate visa or not.
Guess they did not pray hard enough.
So, does Pope Bennie have a problem with the Mexicans and Central Americans streaming across our borders ILLEGALLY, or is he like the Opus Dei folks that I knew who considered them foot soldiers in the “renewal” of America?
I was about to say the same thing.
Stop them from coming.
We dont need to build a fence we need to lock them up place them on a ship and send them down to the most southern part of Mexico and unload the, Just like Ike did, they will soon get the message
I just figured it out.
Bishop Barnes is a standard bearer for the church, ...
whereas Fred Barnes is the “weekly standard” bearer for Rinos.
Both Barnes have trouble recognizing that a rule of law and the enforcement of the rule of law plays an important role in providing for compassionate orderly, beneficial, thriving society of which they should be thankful recipients.
Let's do even more than build the fence!Let's demand from the good bishop that he issue a statement decrying Mexico's corruption.
Let him further issue a statement urging America's adoption of Mexico's immigration policies. Yeah!Most important of all, let's urge our Congress to pass REAL immigration reform. For starters, let's make illegal USA entry a FELONY, and let's make it retroactive for those illegals still remaining in the USA after a one-year grace period of getting the heck out of here.
For another starter, let's end the misinterpreted anchor baby provision. Let's also end the practice of chain migration and unlimited welfare for legal applicants as well. If they are going to be wards of the states, they're going to have to prove up a sponsoring family who'll support them instead. Now, about those employers, including subcontractors, a mandatory five-year prison sentence ought to send them into a sweating spiral.Regards . . . Penny
Does that include King Abortionist Edward M. Kennedy, Mr. Bishop? Some of the Bishops continue to give Ted Kennedy the Abortionist a wink and a nod (tacit approval). King Ted Kennedy has been personally involved in the abortions of 45 Million unborn American Children and all of their descendent's. (Not to mention the foreigners that are forced by Kennedy to abort their kids if they want foreign US aid.)
For the life of me, I will never understand why Bush and the Bishops are so in love with King Ted Kennedy the wasted drunk.
I think the USCCB should shut the hell up. This is the kind of rot that afflicts the American Catholic Church.
Coming from a state with less than a million inhabitants and a county with about 85,000 (overpopulated by Montana standards) I’m with you. We have enough problems without a million poor illegal day laborers flooding in.
I’m a non-practising Catholic and fools like these
commie bishops is one reason why.
If the church cares so much about these illegals, why don’t they pay real estate taxes on their churches to help pay for the ever-increasing cost of the illegals to the beleagured American tax payers?
Why don’t the bishops worry about the priests who like to prey on teenage boys? They should clean up their own house FIRST, before they criticize others.
That’s the second time I have seen that! Beginning to think I need to be doing some research.
Always keep in mind that as a "eternal" institution chartered by God himself, the RCC likes to see itself as pre-National and pre-State, viewing states as temporary human creations. As an anti-Nationalist American patriot (there is a HUGE difference between nationalism as an ideology and love of one's country), I can respect that position.
I have a feeling that while many in the Church hierarchy intellectually respect the rule of law within nations, they nevertheless have their hearts with the poor (and Catholic/Christian) folks who cross our borders. The same is NOT true when it comes to Muslims pouring into Europe (for good reason).
A nice improvement, thanks.
“The Catholics think this is a good way to get more cash, because most are Catholics.”
We have a winner! Unlimited latino immigration and their rabbit like birthrate will make the country much more Catholic over the next century.
This was dealt with in the past when the church imposed or tried to influence government.... ask Becket about religious government arguments.
>> The U.S. bishops decried failure of immigration reform and its implicit exploitation of millions of people.
Bishops,
Don’t blame us. Blame the business that exploits them and redirect your comments the gov’t of Mexico. In the meantime, why don’t you focus on the killing issue of abortion and let the Conservatives focus on the balance of immigration. And if you’re still feeling your oats but not yet satisfied, pick up the cause of Christians assaulted and murdered by radical Islam. Come to think of it, your voice of condemnation regarding Christian persecution is a bit silent these days, or at least not loud enough to excite the media.
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