Thread: Catholic Church Weighs In

BISHOP WENSKI’S OP ED:



To those who accused Jesus of breaking the laws of his day, he replied: “The Sabbath was man for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2: 27) This teaching underscores the point that positive law, even Divine positive law, is meant to benefit not to enslave mankind. The patriots, who broke the law by tossing tea into Boston harbor, understood this – as did Rosa Parks, who broke the law by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. When laws fail to advance the common good, they can and should be changed



Our Immigration laws need to be changed: they are antiquated and inadequate for the promotion and regulation of social and economic relations of 21st century America. On this point everyone is seemingly agreed. However, the solutions proposed should not make the situation worse. Outdated laws, ill adapted to the increasing interdependence of our world and the globalization of labor, are bad laws. However, proposed changes must take into account both human dignity and the national interest: otherwise, bad laws will be replaced by worse ones.



For this reason, the U.S. Bishops and a broad bi-partisan coalition ranging from Unions to Chambers of Commerce have supported broad comprehensive immigration reform that, while addressing future needs for labor by providing for a legal guest worker program, also offers an “earned” path to legalization for those 10 million or so workers already in the country as well as fixing the unacceptable backlogs for family reunification visas that keep families separated for intolerable lengths of time.



A narrow, restrictive legislation focusing on solely “enforcement” will only make matters worse. Indeed, a billion dollars has been spent on border enforcement over the past ten years – and yet illegal immigration has increased because the labor market has demanded willing and able workers. Illegal immigration should not be tolerated – for it leads to the abuse and exploitation of the migrants themselves; and, ultimately, businesses which rely on their labor – and, in doing so, help fuel the growth of the American economy - would prefer and benefit from a reliable and legal work force. But, fixing illegal immigration does not require the “demonization” of the so called “illegals”. America has always been a land of promise and opportunity for those willing to work hard. We can provide for our national security and secure borders without making America, a nation of immigrants, less a land of promise or opportunity for immigrants.



Victor Hugo’s 19th century novel, Les Miserables, tells how pride and neglect of mercy represented in the bitterly zealous legalism of Inspector Javert ultimately destroys him. Today, modern day Javerts, on radio and T.V. talk shows, fan flames of resentment against supposed law breakers equating them with terrorists intent on hurting us. However, these people only ask for the opportunity to become legal – to come out of the shadows where they live in fear of a knock on their door in the dead of night or an immigration raid to their work place. Like Jean Valjean, today’s migrants only look for the opportunity to redeem themselves through honest work. This is the point of the massive demonstratives that have taken place throughout the country.



Today, many take umbrage at the Catholic Bishops’ advocacy on behalf of these “illegals” – but, in doing so, we stand in a proud moral tradition, like the novel’s benevolent Bishop Myriel, who gave his candlesticks to the desperate Jean Valjean and protected him from arrest by Javert. For this reason, we call upon the legislative branch of our government to seize the opportunity for a comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system. We backed the bi-partisan McCain-Kennedy proposal – and, while the Martinez-Hagel compromise needs work, it moves our nation in the right direction and should be passed.



A nation that honors law breakers like the patriots of the “Boston Tea Party”, a nation that can allow the dignified defiance of Rosa Parks in her act of lawbreaking to touch its conscience, is a nation that also can make room for modern-day Jean Valjeans. We can be a nation of laws, without becoming a nation of Javerts. As Jesus reminded the embittered zealots of his day, laws are designed for the benefit – not the harm – of humankind.



Bishop Thomas Wenski

Diocese of Orlando

May 1, 2006

Outdated laws, ill adapted to the increasing interdependence of our world and the globalization of labor, are bad laws.

Sounds to me like the Catholic Church is promoting a one world order.

It does sound like that doesn't it. Funny, I read Hugo's Les Miserables and I think the story applies but not in the way he used it.

They are promoting the emergence of a One World Religion, can you guess which one it will be? There are many theologians who have studied the Book of Revelations and have said they BELIEVE the false prophet will come from the Catholic Church. This false prophet will pave the way for the Anti-Christ (there's a difference when you capitalize it, it means Satan incarnate). Thus paving the way for a "One World Religion". It will come under the guise of making peace between the nations, those fighting because of differences in religions (i.e. Islam vs. Christianity).

This church will impose it's laws on people, and anyone attempting to avoid the "Mark of the Beast" (Bible says it will be in the hands and the forehead, hmmm....retinal scans are in your forehead and infrareds to identify a person are done on your fingerprints, your hands, and some say it will be microchipping under the skin) will be killed.

If you see how much of a world power the Catholic church already is and how much influence it already has over governments, then it seems plausible (this dies not mean there are not good folks inside the Catholic church, but it has become corrupted to the nth degree thus the reason for scholars to see this possibility).

As well we ARE headed to a one world government, one which will destroy all dissenters, all political activists (like us), anyone with a different viewpoint than that of the government. I personally think the UN is the precursor to this.

It figures I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school. I gave up on them when they tried the harboring pedophiles thing, this just cemented the fact they have received there last penny from me. Separation of church and state if they are going to be involved in politics then they should pay taxes!

Translation: We want more members in the US.

If the churches, Catholic and all, were doing the job they should be doing, poverty would not be rampant in Mexico or anywhere else.

Originally Posted by American_made

It figures I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school. I gave up on them when they tried the harboring pedophiles thing, this just cemented the fact they have received there last penny from me. Separation of church and state if they are going to be involved in politics then they should pay taxes!

I was also raised Catholic. And I gave them up for the same reasons you listed. I have found many other churches that I enjoy attending. So, who needs them!

I too was raised Catholic and went to church six days a week until 9th grade. I left the Catholic church because all I really remember is my knees hurting and having nuns smack me with their fists in grade school. They weren't the nicest bunch

They just want more numbers in the Parish.

This is and explanation of the PAN Party of Mexico (Formerly the Catholic Party)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_A ... ty_(Mexico)

The National Action Party (Spanish: Partido Acción Nacional), known by the acronym PAN, is a conservative and Christian Democratic party and one of the three main political parties in Mexico. The party is led by Manuel Espino Barrientos (2005).

Mexican Roman Catholics, together with other conservatives, founded the PAN in 1939 after the cristero insurgency lost the Cristero War. They were looking for a peaceful way to bring about change in the country and to achieve political representation, after the years of chaos and violence that followed the Mexican Revolution. The turning point in the Cristero War was when the Catholic Church reached an agreement with the National Revolutionary Party – the forerunner of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that dominated power for most of the 20th century – whereunder it turned a blind eye to the lack of democracy in the country and stopped supporting the Catholic rebels, threatening its members with excommunication if they disobeyed the government.

The PAN spent its first years since its foundation in 1939 in opposition, as all presidents since the end of the Mexican Revolution were from the PRI or its variously named predecessors. Despite an absence during the 1976 elections due to internal rivalries, the party saw its support grow during the 1980s and 1990s, leading to the first non-PRI governor in 1989 in Baja California.

In the 2000 presidential elections, the candidate of the Alianza por el cambio ("Alliance for change"), formed by the PAN and the PVEM, Vicente Fox Quesada won 42.5% of the popular vote and was elected president of Mexico. In the senatorial elections of the same date, the Alliance as part of the 46 out of 128 seats in the Senate of Mexico. The Alliance broke off the following year and the PVEM has since participated together with the PRI in several elections. Three years later at the last legislative elections, the party won 23.1% of the popular vote and 153 out of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.