THE CATHOLIC CHURCH & IMMIGRATION

   I read an article recently regarding the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who are pushing for Congress to pass a comprehensive  immigration bill.  Their plan is to mount a full throttled campaign with their parishoners to lobby Congress en masse, applying pressure via multiple forms of communication to reach each and every member of the House of Representatives.  This is, apparently, a very important issue to the Church which considers immigration a matter of 'human rights'.  Having been a practicing Catholic for many years, I was somewhat surprised at the fervor attached to this particular endeavor.  I also learned that the Catholic Church is a major provider of support services for immigrants and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network is the largest non-profit legal network for immigrants. 

 

Bishops and priests have been encouraged to deliver sermons  urging their members to participate in this 'campaign'; churches in at least 19 cities have hosted pro-immigrant masses and events and many more will do the same in upcoming weeks.  Parishes are expected to host pilgrimages and public forums while bishops and other church officials plan on meeting with House members.  To learn more about this movement, you can go to http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org for more detailed information. 

 

One statement in the report I read was: "When U.S. bishops work together on an issue, they wield a great deal of influence." 

That left me with this question:  with this kind of combined influence where were they on the issue of abortion and on the issue of 'same-sex marriage' when we could have used their pressure to reach members of the state legislatures who were fighting a war against these two obvious violations of the Catholic teachings? 

 

But more to their current goal - immigration - I don't think they are fully cognizant of the folly of their position to make millions of illegals legal while American citizens suffer from the effects of an unstable economy, high unemployment (particularly in the black community), increased welfare, disability and food stamp recipients, rising energy and food costs  and an overwhelming debt burden that will leave our children and their children in poverty for decades to come.  We do not need to add more people to our rolls when we are unable to take care of the ones who are already here and in need.

 

Will Catholic parishoners heed the call from their Bishops or will they have the common sense to know that now is not the time to add more responsibility to an already over-burdened nation?  We must take care of our own needs first.