Thread: Catholic Church Changes Tactics

Bishops Change Tactics on Immigrants
Catholic Campaign Seeks Lay Backing

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 11, 2005; Page B01

U.S. Catholic bishops launched a campaign yesterday to change the country's immigration system, saying they would reach into the pews to build support for proposals that would grant residence to millions of people here illegally.

"Our immigration system is badly broken and needs repair," said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, speaking at a news conference announcing the campaign.


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McCarrick also said that the U.S. bishops were disturbed by a growing "anti-immigrant fervor" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which he said was expressed in TV and radio shows and in more restrictive immigration laws.

"Before we can change our laws, we must change attitudes, including those of many of our own flock," he said.

Catholics make up about one-quarter of the U.S. population. Officials with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the campaign is aimed at the roughly 30 percent of U.S. Catholics who do not have strong opinions about immigration. An additional 25 percent to 30 percent are likely to share the church's views on immigration policy, while the rest are firmly opposed, officials said.

Yesterday's announcement appeared to reflect a shift in tactics for the Catholic Church. For years, its leaders have supported proposals to give legal status to undocumented workers but the new campaign focuses on the grass roots by, for example, providing outlines of sermons to priests and enlisting Catholic lay groups to promote the church's message, officials said.

"Every diocese, hopefully, will have its own program," said McCarrick, who is a consultant to the bishops' committee on migration.

What effect those programs will have is unclear. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which is critical of U.S. immigration levels, said he doubted many Catholics would be swayed.

"When the political climate changes for other reasons, as it's now doing because of concerns for security, the law will change, and there's really not that much the Catholic bishops can do about that," he said.

He added that it was "unseemly" that the bishops were announcing their program just days before Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are expected to introduce sweeping immigration legislation, including a guest-worker program.

The bishops' statement "is clearly coordinated with this week's release of the Kennedy-McCain bill," Krikorian said.

Mark Franken, executive director of Migration and Refugee Services for the bishops conference, denied any such coordination, saying the church initiative had been in the works since last summer.

President Bush has urged Congress to establish a guest-worker program that would absorb at least some of the country's 8 million or more illegal immigrants. But many Republican legislators have resisted, believing it would reward people working without authorization.

The bishops' campaign reflects the dramatic change wrought in the U.S. Catholic Church by decades of high immigration levels. The church is about 40 percent Latino, including both immigrants and U.S.-born citizens. About 300,000 Catholics immigrate legally to the United States every year, according to the bishops conference. Tens of thousands of others move to the country illegally.

McCarrick said priests and Catholic organizations are being asked for help constantly by immigrants who lack legal status or who have been separated from their families for years because of delays in processing immigration applications.

"Our people have these problems every day," he said.

McCarrick, when asked about his view of Bush's immigration proposal, said that it provided workers with a route toward legalization but "doesn't go far enough" to help families divided because of immigration problems.

Asked whether it was realistic to think the church would succeed at a time when many Americans are wary of high immigration levels, McCarrick smiled. " Hay que soñar ," he said in Spanish. You have to dream.



The only thing that McCarrick said that made sense was that the immigration system was broken - duh. I guess because the illegals are Catholics, that makes it OK. This kind of boneheaded thinking drives me nuts.

The Catholic Church has disregarded our laws that protect our Nation and our People. The have an organization that assists immigrants and works with other organizations that we believe are part of the illegal criminal network that brings illegals into the United States. They are named in my article I posted about Open Borders.

I strongly suggest the Catholic Church mind its own business and abide with our laws in the United States.

If they see people in need in other countries, I suggest they dip into their pockets of huge wealth and assist these people in their homelands.

I will still attend church, but I will no longer place anything in the offerings. I will donate to other groups like the Salvation Army. I will also let my pastor know that I want the church to stay out of politics and stick to preaching.

82Marine--Good choice of action. This is very serious business and we need the Churches to stay on their track so we can stay on ours. If I find my Southern Baptist Church meddling in this matter....I shall do the same as you and speak loudly!! So far, I have not found the Southern Baptists involved in any of this illegal alien business. If you ever see anything, please let me know.

Judy, I am a Southern Baptist who belongs to a small church in North Carolina. Baptists typically act much more independently than many denominations and I have never seen a SBC Church promote politics. I will say that my fellow church members have expressed strong support when they have read letters to the editor I have written on the subject. Not one ever said anything other than "I support you 100%." For the most part, these are rock solid, traditional folks with a strong sense of patriotism.

The media likes to pick on Southern Baptists every time there is an internal squabble. We have disagreements because we are all independent and have no central authority. They of course never write about all the good things our churches do in thousands of missions, charities, hospitals and colleges and universities.

There are probably exceptions, but by and large I don't think you have to worry about the vast majority of Southern Baptists. They are on the side of what's right - our side.

Originally Posted by Judy

82Marine--Good choice of action. This is very serious business and we need the Churches to stay on their track so we can stay on ours. If I find my Southern Baptist Church meddling in this matter....I shall do the same as you and speak loudly!! So far, I have not found the Southern Baptists involved in any of this illegal alien business. If you ever see anything, please let me know.

I was born and raised Roman Catholic. The church has always had opinions on abortion and the death penalty. These are moral issues. Illegal immigration is the blatant breaking of laws. If these people stayed in their home country, they can still live.

This is not an issue for the church and I view it as a violation of their tax exempt status.

"Sorry, Father, I gave at the office."

Originally Posted by Judy

The Catholic Church has disregarded our laws that protect our Nation and our People. The have an organization that assists immigrants and works with other organizations that we believe are part of the illegal criminal network that brings illegals into the United States.

There's a split in the Church that occured since Vat II. With respect to some calling themselves Catholic, even here, they are not. And neither are these bishops. Many will not even confess the basic tenets of The Church, are are effectively auto-excommunicated as apostates and heretics. These renegades promoted a 'sanctuary' movement in the 60s and 70s, called for unilateral national disarmament, and now have to be drawn kicking and screaming, as it were, just to minimally oppose permissive abortion. So when McCarrick and Wenski and others speak of violating the law, they speak of violating a just law, for immoral purposes.

Catholics don't confess any of that. Catholics confess national sovereignty, and a just and ordered society. They will speak of opposition to unjust law, of social disobedience. But the UCCCB is doing just the opposite in opposing just law, and promoting injustice and national chaos. A nation without borders is no nation at all.

I was raised Catholic, just another reason why I am not any more. The Catholic church is as crooked as a 2 dollar bill. They want these Mexicans and other Latin Americans legalized for their own gain - the vast majority of these people are Catholics. I also believe they are part of a network to get these people into the US. They want to flood this country with as many dregs from the 3rd world as they can. But I believe many Americans have had enough.

Well, of course the Catholic Church supports illegal aliens. They have the same motivation as our dirty politicians and dirty businesses: money, lots of it. How many Methodists or Presbyterians come illegally from Mexico?