Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. – John 10:1
With the recent news that President Donald Trump has ordered an end to the Obama-era immigration amnesty program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the topic of illegal immigration is making headlines once again.
Advocates of an open-borders approach to immigration tend to focus on findings indicating
that the willingness of less-skilled immigrants to work at low pay reduced consumption costs — the costs to consumers of goods and services like health care, child care, food preparation, house cleaning, repair and construction — for millions of Americans. This resulted in “positive net benefits to the U.S. economy during the last two decades of the 20th century.” These low-wage workers simultaneously generated “a redistribution of wealth from low- to high-skilled native-born workers.”
Still, while studies on the topic vary in their interpretation of the data, whether you hear it from The Heritage Foundation or the New York Times, it seems fairly uncontentious to tally up illegal immigration costs for the American taxpayer at an amount totaling more than 50 billion dollars a year.
And when it comes to immigrant crime, it should be obvious to anyone that 100% of illegal immigrants to the United States have broken federal law. But what about other crimes? The statistics on the contribution of illegal immigrants to American crime are not easily found in any single location, and disputes over the data are common. But in a 2015 report, Fox News pieced together
a patchwork of local, state and federal statistics that revealed a wildly disproportionate number of murderers, rapists and drug dealers are crossing into the U.S. amid the wave of hard-working families seeking a better life. The explosive figures show illegal immigrants are three times as likely to be convicted of murder as members of the general population and account for far more crimes than their 3.5-percent share of the U.S. population would suggest. Critics say it is no accident that local, state and federal governments go to great lengths to keep the data under wraps.
Further,
Statistics show the estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. account for 13.6 percent of all offenders sentenced for crimes committed in the U.S. Twelve percent of murder sentences, 20 percent of kidnapping sentences and 16 percent of drug trafficking sentences are meted out to illegal immigrants.
There are approximately 2.1 million legal or illegal immigrants with criminal convictions living free or behind bars in the U.S., according to ICE’s Secure Communities office. Each year, about 900,000 legal and illegal immigrants are arrested, and 700,000 are released from jail, prison, or probation. ICE estimates that there are more than 1.2 million criminal aliens at large in the U.S.
With all of this in mind, I have long wondered why the Catholic bishops in this country are so vocally in favor of unrestricted — and even illegal — immigration, and against attempts to reform or restrict our dangerously porous borders. They seem not to care at all that we’re a nation of laws, and that open borders mixed with a welfare state creates a combination that is entirely unsustainable. For years, I assumed that this was to fill the pews in a Catholicism that has shown consistent decline since the end of the Second Vatican Council. In a controversial interview with 60 Minutes this week, former White House chief strategist (and Catholic) Steve Bannon lent his own voice to this theory:
“The Catholic Church has been terrible about this.” Bannon said. “The bishops have been terrible about this. By the way…you know why. You know why. Because unable to really to….to come to grips with the problems in the Church, they need illegal aliens, they need illegal aliens to fill the churches. That’s…it’s obvious on the face of it. That’s what the entire Catholic bishops condemning [Trump’s action on DACA]. They have an economic interest. They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration. Unlimited illegal immigration.”
The USCCB fired back without hesitation, releasing a statement in response to Bannon’s comments at surprising speed. The statement reads:
“It is preposterous to claim that justice for immigrants isn’t central to Catholic teaching. It comes directly from Jesus Himself in Matthew 25, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food…a stranger and you welcomed me.’ Immigrants and refugees are precisely the strangers we must welcome. This isn’t Catholic partisanship. The Bible is clear: welcoming immigrants is indispensable to our faith.
Caring for and about the ‘Dreamers’ is nothing more than trying to carry out that seemingly simple, but ultimately incredibly demanding, commandment. It is a commandment found throughout Sacred Scripture, reaching back to the Hebrew scriptures, including Leviticus, ‘when an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one’ (Lv. 19:33). In fact, the Church has been pro-immigration since God called Abram to leave Ur: ‘Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you’ (Gn. 12:1). To suggest otherwise is absurd.
The witness of the Catholic bishops on issues from pro-life to pro-marriage to pro-health care to pro-immigration reforms is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ rather than the convenient political trends of the day. We are called not to politics or partisanship, but to love our neighbor. Let’s reject the forces of division that insist we make a false choice between our safety and our humanity. It is both possible and morally necessary to secure the border in a manner which provides security and a humane immigration policy.
Our pro-immigration stance is based on fidelity to God’s word and honors the American dream. For anyone to suggest that it is out of sordid motives of statistics or financial gain is outrageous and insulting.”
The question I find myself asking, however, is that if the economic benefit illegals present to the nation is their contribution of low-wage, unskilled labor, are they really bringing enough to collection baskets in dioceses across America to justify the effort the bishops make on their behalf?
I don’t know the answer. Recently, however, a friend brought another economic incentive to my attention – the federal money being given to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities for the purposes of “refugee resettlement”. You’ll note that while they are not identical terms, in the USCCB statement above, immigrants and refugees are mentioned in the same breath. Refugees are defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act as “any person outside his or her country who has a ‘well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.'” Even so, it can be difficult to tell, depending on the case, where the category of “immigrant” ends and “refugee” begins. In a 2015 article for the Captial Research Center, James Simpson of Foundation Watch tells us
In December 2013, the Obama administration announced an in-country refugee program for Central American Minors (CAMs) that allows persons under 21 years of age from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador direct travel to the U.S. While those countries tragically suffer from high crime and poor economic conditions, merely being a member of an afflicted population does not raise a person to the definition of “refugee.” By offering this status, the Obama administration is deliberately expanding the definition, an action that has been called a “rogue family reunification program.”
Simpson also reveals that
Left-wing grant-makers have embarked on a campaign aimed at overwhelming America with unprecedented levels of immigration. These foundations underwrite a universe of liberal organizations that are devoted to bringing in ever more people from all over the world, and the organizations’ motives include money. These groups, known as “Volunteer Agencies” (VOLAGs), don’t just receive private dollars from liberal foundations; they also are richly rewarded with your tax dollars when they collaborate with federal government agencies.
[…]
Primary funding for the VOLAGs comes from the federal and state governments. But many secondary immigrant/refugee advocacy and assistance organizations are supported by wealthy state and national foundations whose assets total tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars. Most of these well-established foundations are the Left’s primary source of support outside government.
After revealing the names of over a dozen such progressive foundations — including George Soros’ Open Society Institute and the Media Matters bankrolling Tides Foundation — Simpson goes on to list the nine primary “Refugee Contractors” whom the “federal government pays …. to resettle refugees and asylees.” Among the nine is “CC/USCCB: Catholic Charities/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops”.
According to the table provided — with figures from USAspending.gov — We see that from 2008 to 2015, the Catholic Charities/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shows funding received for refugee resettlement in an amount totaling over $2 billion dollars.
In a story from LifeSiteNews earlier this year, Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch gave a different number, saying that “Over the past nine years, the USCCB has received a total of $534,788,660 in taxpayer dollars for refugee resettlement programs”. It’s difficult to say which figure is more accurate, or how they’re being tallied. But If either number is correct, the USCCB is receiving — at the very least — hundreds of millions of dollars, all to bring refugees from other countries into America.
Simpson goes on:
Because they [the contractors on the above list] are non-governmental organizations (NGOs), they can and do lobby for advantageous changes to immigration law and build allies in Congress and the bureaucracy, all fertilized by an open spigot of taxpayer dollars. While six of the nine contractors are affiliated with religious groups, the false notion that they are charitable organizations just doing the Lord’s work needs to be corrected. They are federal contractors, relying on the government for most, and sometimes all, of their income. This is big business. They do the government’s bidding, whether it honors religious principles or not.
OnePeterFive asked the USCCB if they could verify how much money they are receiving for these services, and how the money given to them for refugee resettlement is allocated. They did not respond to our inquiry.
Curious about what information is publicly available, I did my own search of USAspending.gov, and found $635,250,759 of government funding directed to the USCCB and its various agencies. After playing with the spreadsheet to remove all the other categories, I discovered that of this total amount, $452,108,508 was received for programs under the umbrella of Migration and Refugee Assistance, for contracts with start dates ranging from 2011 to 2016.
That’s a lot of money for a bishops’ conference to be receiving from the federal government. Enough that one might wonder how it impacts the USCCB’s view on public policy issues. Which is exactly the concern that Deal Hudson, a former advisor to President George W. Bush on Catholic issues, expressed in the aforementioned story from LifeSiteNews:
“Just how dependent have both agencies become on taxpayer money to cover their annual overhead, apart from special programs and services?” Hudson asks. “What percentage of annual receipts does this federal money represent?”
Hudson says he is concerned that an over-dependence on government funding could threaten the Catholic identity of both the USCCB and CRS, and their social justice work.
“How can either institution call itself ‘Catholic’ when they have created financial dependency of the federal government?” he said. “Doesn’t this level of funding make the USCCB hesitant to publicly criticize the Congress and the administration on abortion, same-sex marriage, fetal stem cell research, and euthanasia?”
In light of these staggering figures, the USCCB’s sputtering indignation that anyone would suggest that their work on these matters is for “sordid motives of statistics or financial gain” rings hollow. However much they want to present their work on immigration and refugees as a Gospel issue, it’s difficult to see altruism at work when so many other issues that should concern them go ignored — and so much cash is at stake.
Fantastic research! Well done. 🙂
They would prefer to import replacements to keep the money flowing than to return to the orthodoxy and reverence that has always proven fruitful, and which could re-evangelize fallen-away Catholics. Steve Bannon was right on.
He IS right on. And he stood manfully as the temporal arm of the Church and put the Bishop’s College where they ought to be: in matters of piety, religion, faith and morals. That clericls are this involved in amassing power and money is outright clericalism, corruption of the very calling they’re supposed to embody!
The temporal arm of the Church must be strong to stand up to this corruption.
The Funny Fat Man said the suggestion was “insulting” and needed no further comment.
Such a response amounts to demanding we take his word for it and in light of that only solidifies the justification many have for believing support for immigration by the USCCB is financially motivated, especially at a time when the Church is struggling to recover from {ongoing} payments for rewards to abused victims, rewards that have bankrupted dioceses.
The context of Matthew 25 is also something that should be examined. In it the Lord is speaking to the nations about how the nations treat His followers. That’s WHY the nations are confused about why He is going to bless them. They don’t remember doing it!
Matthew 25 does NOT speak to the establishment of borderless nations and hundreds-of-millions of dollars spiffs to Bishop’s organizations.
The Catechism teaches us:
2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
NO ONE IS SAYING WE NEED TO CEASE ALLOWING IMMIGRANTS INTO THE USA. NO ONE.
The notion that the current discussion of immigration is about banning immigration the central LIE being spewed and promoted by those on the Left and implied by the statements of the USCCB.
The truth is, there is absolutely no plan afoot to ban immigration into the USA and Trump’s recent overview of DACA does not involve such a policy, either.
What there IS, is a move to examine and regulate immigration for the preservation of peace, security and economic health of all Americans, new immigrants included.
The USCCB is acting like a cynical cadre of sophist Leftists who are poorly informed about the Bible but quite well-informed about revenue to the institutional Church.
ALL the current Administration is doing is following the directives of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2241: Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
That’s IT. Nothing more, nothing less.
The USCCB should be applauding the work of this President who though not a Catholic is acting more like one than the Bishops are.
The moral corruption of the hierarchy is so deep and wide as to need a divine intervention.
It’s coming, so stay in the state of sanctifying grace.
I am saying we should ban all immigrants until further notice. We have too many people in our Country. And we have many people either unemployed or under employ.
In 2016 I asked the Diocese of Portland Maine about the costs and sources of the funding for the Immigration Resettlement in the Diocese. I was told the figures were unavailable and that I had to contact the USCCB. I did and I am still waiting for an answer.
God bless
” I was told the figures were unavailable and that I had to contact the USCCB. I did and I am still waiting for an answer.”
It’s in the stack of outgoing mail right underneath the Pope’s response to the Dubia.
Ooh…you really pack a (virtual) punch.
I’m not sure if I 100% agree with the bishops, but I get the arguments for loosening boarder restrictions (even to the point of open boarders). Reasonable people can disagree there. But advocating for defying the law? I thought submission to the rule of law from legitimate authority was supposed to be a Catholic thing.
And this isn’t the case of an unjust law — a nation has the right to control its borders, and to define who its citizens are.
We need to have more restrictions.
If the argument in favour of open borders is an economic one–i.e. that people working for low pay under the table ensure that commodities cheaper for “the rest of us”–whatever happened to the whole “just wage” or “living wage” thing from Rerum Novarum? First, why should the bishops encourage people to enter illegally when the net result is they will be economically exploited? Second, won’t this phenomenon end up driving wages lower for *everyone else* in the working poor/lower middle class? Leo XIII was calling for the exact opposite.
That went out with the deep sixing of discussion on the previous encyclical from Leo XIII Quod Apostolici Muneris AKA On the Evils of Socialism {1878}.
This is exactly what has happened with immigration in the UK. Importing cheap labour has been marvellous for company profits which have been boosted by lowering costs rather than hiking prices. Hence exploitation of immigrant labour has also helped to keep inflation and interest rates down. The real winners have been the boards and shareholders of major corporations and those with mortgages who have seen their repayments kept low.
This has all been achieved off the backs of people who are desperate and who will work for wages which are below the legal minimum. The main losers in the native population have been the low-skilled, manual workers who have seen themselves just priced out of the market. They have seen their wages decline in real terms over the last 10 years and it has become more difficult to get jobs when they are competing against eastern europeans with no overheads here and who are prepared to work for a relative pittance knowing that the money is worth far more to them when they “send it back home.”
I am not anti-immigration per se, but the current state of affairs is exploiting the poorest and the weakest for the benefit of the richest.
Excellent observations.
“Thou shall not steal” is from the 10 Commandments. People who come over here ILLEGALY are stealing from the Tax Payers and they themselves do not pay tax. So the USCCB is rejecting the 10 Commandments! I should tweet this to the USCCB.
Indeed, as referenced in my comment below: CCC 2241 “Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”
How does an ILLEGAL alien respect the laws of a nation when they BREAK that law just to enter?
The absurdity of the argument by the USCCB is manifest.
Encourage the government to police borders and establish an ordered immigration policy, and, in obedience to Matthew 25, emphasize caring for the persecuted and suffering Christians first.
BRAVO!!! ????
My paternal grandparents came here LEGALLY. They came through Ellis Island like the others.
My paternal grandfather came to the U.S. in 1906. He knew 11 different languages and was a corporal in the Austro-Hungarian imperial army. He was a major’s aide and knew that another war would be coming soon, so he fled to the U.S. The imperial secret service was looking for him in the U.S. for 2 years. Eventually they gave up on him. Then he sent for my grandmother. She was 17.5 years old, he was 35 (that’s NOT a typo). They got married 2 weeks (!) after she arrived because young ladies of 17 bad to be provided for lest they fall into sin. They had 5 children, the youngest was my late father – and he was born on their 14th wedding anniversary!
Awesome story!!
We have such stories, too {tho nobody that spoke 11 lingos!!!} and we all should remember that SO DO THE PROSPECTIVE MEXICAN AND LATINO IMMIGRANTS.
Praise God for them.
BUT LET THEM ENTER LEGALLY UNDER A SYSTEM OF LAWS AND CONTROLS THAT PREVENTS CHAOS AND ABUSE OF OUR LAWS AND TAX DOLLARS!
When I was at college, I had to take Women’s History as part of my concentration (History). We had to interview our oldest living female relative – in this case, my oldest paternal aunt – and write a report about it. The story I posted was part of my report. 😉
Actually, it gets even better. I brought my dad’s Ukrainian Catholic prayer book with me to college. I used part of it in another assignment for my Women’s History class. The lady professor was VERY upset that I used religious material for my assignment. One of my classmates – an atheist at the time – spoke up on my behalf. She remonstrated with the professor, essentially saying that I had the right to choose my own material for my assignment. My classmate got the last word. ????
Beautiful!!
You’re welcome. ????
You are correct that the bishops advocate the breaking of the commandment of thou shalt not steal.
This is a mess. But a simple one. Remember that ole rigid Jesus sayin something like this: “Render to God what is God’s and render to Caesar what is Caesar’s”? Immigrants must obey the law of the land. Bishops must obey God’s Law. Simple.
I’m frankly shocked to see anyone condoning this vast rush into the US by people flouting the law by telling us it’s cost effective. Shame! Embracing the world? Poor Bishops!
This is all so apropos, esp the Bishops Conferences having ZERO jurisdiction. It’s one of the post-Vat2 “developments” that has emasculated bishops and should be removed.
But we live in Laodicea. What can we expect?
RC
The bishops are running their dioceses like big corporations, sad to say.
The bishops should take up farming. They’ve got plenty of manure available.
Gospel values apply only if one is helping the immigrant with one’s own money and/or sheltering the immigrant under one’s own roof. Charity has to cost something. It demands sacrifice. The USCCB is simply acting as another NGO which is distributing “Other Peoples’ Money”. It’s distributing money forcibly confiscated from the tax-payer.
Bishop’s Conferences and the USCCB in particular, are awful organizations which stifle a bishop’s ability to govern his own diocese as he deems appropriate due to the collectivist mentality which pervades these group-think bureaucracies.
Agree a hundred times over!
And this whole Catholic Church hierarchy support of the Democratic Party, because the Dems are so big on “charity”, narrative is grotesque, because as Kiwi says, “forced” charity isn’t charity at all! It’s theft, breaking on of the Ten Commandments. (And of course abortion, which the Dems support pretty much 100 percent now, at least their leaders, breaks another Commandment.)
We’re just in an awful situation with this Laodicean Church we have to live with.
RC
NAILED IT.
We have a system in the Catholic Church that has morphed into a socialist confiscatory rape of some people’s money in order to hand it to somebody else…for political favors.
Yeah, to buy votes for what has become the Democatholic Party!
I think it is blind of Bannon or others to ignore that Protestant churches probably have this going , as well. I doubt this HispanicLatino/Chicano/What have you Protestant churches popped up out of nowhere. The low-income areas have been played like a fiddle by more than “Democatholics”. I don’t know why the USCCB, though, would play ball with any bunch that has painted all their priests as pedophiles, like leftists have, unless it’s government goodies.
Of course, Protestant Republican nativism is around, too. Anne Coulter apparently made slurs about the Church always having been pedophilia or something like that. I don’t think much of Raymond Arroyo getting cozy with Republican politicians on his show any more than if he did with Democrat ones.
The death-spiral liberal mainline Protestant groups ARE in the thick of it.
But we must remove the log in our eye first, before we reach for the 2×12’s in theirs.
We must police our own.
I wasn’t just talking about the mainline one. I was talking of how they are all so eager to point to The Church as their enemy, while having skeletons in their own closet. It gets kind of old. Like liberals, unconcerned about the feelings of those around them, they rudely just take shots at Catholicism out of the blue and I think they need to be taken to task by reminding them of their errors.
Many storefront Pentecostal and Evangelical churches have signs in Spanish or started by people from Ghana. The Bishops thinking they’re going to refill the pews with Hispanics ain’t going to work in the long-term.
Trump needs to ban money being sent to churches or other groups that help make illegal immigration workout to see if that is a factor. Maybe they are collectively dense about all these illegals from wherever love America and, if from Latin America, are all real practicing Catholics. None of these illegals from there could ever be gang members and/or running drugs, slaves or guns in here, right?. Even some legally entering ones should be checked. For example, I have heard of pregnant Chinese legally entering to drop off future questionably loyal future citizens on our islands, if not California, or jihadists (Al Shabob has been seen around those parts) sneaking through. Trump should end the anchor baby legislation immediately.
There are nativists, who just don’t want certain immigrants, but it gets credibility when so-called moderates think so irrationally for whatever reason and even point fingers at all who are upset in a condescending an insulting manner. We Catholics in the ground are stuck having to answer for this weirdness coming out of the Vatican to Evangelicals, secular nativists, etc. in addition to what we faithful are happy defending, like the Eucharist and Marian devotions.
What follows speaks to immigration, per the clear teaching of the Church on obedience owed to JUST laws in accord with the moral order for the sake of the common good.
No one is against LEGAL immigration, a bedrock of America. But to be for ILLEGAL immigration is to invite anarchy. My wife was an immigrant from Scotland who, prior to getting a visa from the U.S. consulate in Naples, Italy to enter the United States, had to undergo six months of investigation to the point of proving that she had never been in an Italian prison. At the time I was a member of the U.S. Navy stationed on a tenant unit at a U.S. Air Force Base near Brindisi, Italy. Post entry into the U.S., my wife had to undergo a naturalization process over a period of time to become an official U.S. Citizen.
Why should the playing field be different for those who are encouraged, sadly by some high-ranking Catholic clergy, to publicly flout the law? I repeat, it is NOT Catholic teaching to disobey JUST laws!
Jesus NEVER said, “Render NOTHING to Caesar.”
Holy Mother Church cannot circumvent the just laws of a country or state in which the faith is practiced. The mere suggestion that she can is an assault on both faith AND reason, which cannot contradict each other since the All-Omniscient, All-Good God, Who is Perfect Truth, gave us both, and God is not a liar, i.e., He cannot contradict Himself!
Please give me chapter and verse where it is even slightly inferred by Catholic teaching that the just laws of the country or state in which we live are not to be obeyed?
It is not there in ANY CHURCH teaching.
Certainly, no group of bishops has the authority to make such an unlawful decree on their own. And Catholics are obliged by their faith to OBEY just laws. In particular, they are required to be OBEDIENT to LAWFUL authority, i.e., obedient to authority only insofar as that authority conforms to the Teachings of Holy Mother Church.
No Church authority can lawfully tell Catholics that they are not required to obey the just laws of their country, given the clear teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. (See the specific excerpts from the Catechism below.) Moreover, these teachings echo traditional Catholic teaching on these matters from the time of the Church’s founding upon the Rock that is Peter in the aforementioned words of Christ Himself.
“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
There is no difference whatsoever between what is Caesar’s and what is God’s in these matters when we are talking about just laws that must be obeyed.
1880 A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them. As an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual, a society endures through time: it gathers up the past and prepares for the future. By means of society, each man is established as an “heir” and receives certain “talents” that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop.3 He rightly owes loyalty to the communities of which he is part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good.
1881 Each community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules; but “the human person . . . is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions.”4
1884 God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.
1897 “Human society can be neither well-ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all.”15 By “authority” one means the quality by virtue of which persons or institutions make laws and give orders to men and expect obedience from them.
1898 Every human community needs an authority to govern it.16 The foundation of such authority lies in human nature. It is necessary for the unity of the state. Its role is to ensure as far as possible the common good of the society.
1899 The authority required by the moral order derives from God: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”17
1900 The duty of obedience requires all to give due honor to authority and to treat those who are charged to exercise it with respect, and, insofar as it is deserved, with gratitude and good-will.
Pope St. Clement of Rome provides the Church’s most ancient prayer for political authorities:18 “Grant to them, Lord, health, peace, concord, and stability, so that they may exercise without offense the sovereignty that you have given them. Master, heavenly King of the ages, you give glory, honor, and power over the things of earth to the sons of men. Direct, Lord, their counsel, following what is pleasing and acceptable in your sight, so that by exercising with devotion and in peace and gentleness the power that you have given to them, they may find favor with you.”19
I am against legal immigration until unemployment numbers drop to almost zero. And our country is over crowded as it is.
Indeed, I had heard ‘inklings’ of the USCCB accepting money from the Obama Administration when the refugee crisis hit several years ago. And so as it usually goes, keep digging deep enough and you begin to see just how widespread and DEEP the corruption is. I’ve seen information such as this elsewhere, and figures of ‘to date’ income to the Bishops seem to vary, but regardless, they are being ‘paid’ handsomely. One figure I saw ‘estimated’ to date from I believe 2008 they have received one billion + but ? The point being, why in the world do they have to fill the pews with anyone when they are basically just another ‘arm’ of the Federal Government? The money they receive in the collection baskets is just pocket change. And more importantly, why ‘bite the hand that feeds you’ by protesting abortion, the gay issue, or anything authentically Church teaching as it all goes against the grain? No way they are going to bring the hammer down on the social issues that conflict with the establishment! And……..I believe this ‘arrangement’ goes all the way to ROME.
This is exactly the scenario you have with the church in Germany, and they are the ones who are bank-rolling Rome. There is a good reason why God forbade the making of covenants with non-believers in the OT. The worldly relationship and dependence for money ends up displacing the relationship with God and the mission of His Church quietly falls into desuetude
I may be naive but I have a few questions. If many immigrants are fleeing the violence caused by drug wars and gangs, why don’t we secure our borders in order to cut off these drug lords main source of income, US consumers? Less money to them, less power over the natives, less violence, less need to emigrate? Perhaps increase legal immigration under the rule of law but cut off illegal immigration.
Also, would our money allotted for charity not be more useful serving our Catholic brothers and sisters in Latin America in their own countries? For example, personally I would rather see a Franciscan mission serving the poor in a poor village in say Guatemala, then having the Guatemalans coming to live here. The faith is typically stronger among those in the villages. In a matter of a generation or two, their faith will likely be watered down here. Hunger and destitution can be very bad, but mild poverty is often an environment that is good for the soul. When I went to the Latino Mass at a local church, I recall seeing a 2-3 year old watching a video on his mom’s smart phone for the entire mass right inside the church. Somehow, I think that perhaps his poorer relatives in his parents native country may be living a happier lifestyle in an environment more conducive to passing on the faith. My sister-in-law came here legally and she tells me of all of the rich religious traditions in her country. Although, the Latino community at the local church has a strong community, and the families are strong. If they could afford to eat well enough there and take care of their basic needs, what benefit do they have from being here? They have an SUV, a little bigger home, smart phones, tablets and a few more clothes? Of course, for those who literally had nothing to eat, I do understand the need to emigrate. But what percent of our immigrants were in that situation?
Good people are needed in these countries to make change there, not to come here to become better consumers. I think one of the best things that we can do for the poor in Latin America is to consider what we do here and how it affects them. The change that allowed ethanol in our gas, for example, affected the Guatemalan subsistence farmer. The demand for corn increased in our country because of the ethanol, and the Guatemalan peasant was forced off his land in order that corn could be grown for the American market. With the advent of NAFTA, the US still subsidized the American corn producers, but the Mexican government stopped subsidizing the corn producers in Mexico, which impoverished them and was another cause of immigration into the US. We need to contact our congressmen to end illegal immigration, and the total disregard of the law, but perhaps to possibly increase legal immigration and also to consider the effects of their moves on our poorer neighbors.
I have wondered about that too. Why doesn’t the Church publicly support them more in their own countries, and help them improve their own societies so that they can become more self-sustaining?
WHY DOESN’T THE CHURCH SUPPORT ARMING SYRIAN CHRISTIANS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN LANDS?
I can tell you if the SHTF here I want to stay put on my own ranch and would fight to defend it. Last thing I want to do is go to some other country and learn their lingo and ways.
But the Church hierarchy is made up of gutless worms who would rather got the route of least resistance {for them}.
What cost is there for a Catholic Bishop to lobby for the pick-pocketing of their fellow countrymen?
NONE.
There needs to be.
Great point RodH!
You are correct that we should help the immigrants in their own countries.
If you want to know what your diocese has received from the feds, go to usaspending.gov. Also, considering that both Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services receive some where around 70% of their funding from the federal government, is it any wonder that they have sold out the Almighty God and His Church for the almighty dollar and the church of man?
Well, it is nice that our good Bishops found a reason to speak up. For the past eight years with infanticide on demand, selling of aborted baby parts and we might hear a token word of disapproval here and there. Religious liberties under attack as never before, again a couple of murmurs are whispered. But now someone simply “states”
something directed at THEM and both barrels are cocked and loaded. This selected outrage is the epitome of hypocrisy. How about some outrage in defense of the unborn? How about those in our own Church stomping on the teachings of our Lord? This outrage almost wreaks of “the truth hurts.”
Touché.
And it isn’t just immigration. The bishops are deeply involved in getting federal monies for nursing homes and group homes for disabled individuals and halfway houses, among other programs. They will take a buck wherever they can get it, and it’s all cloaked as charity. In my old diocese, about two thirds of their budget was federal and/or state dollars for the programs they managed for the agencies. They are so tied up with various government agencies it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. Charities are big business. These are not private, Church run, parish run, local charities. They are federal and state programs that the Church manages on behalf of these agencies. When a diocese uses the old school, parish hall or even Church from a closed parish, it adds insult to injury. To top it off, many parishioners are constantly hit up for private dollars for these programs, thereby being tapped twice…once as a taxpayer and once as a member of a parish.
Good point.
The Church should not receive any government funds to run the charities.
The bishops continually violate the Catechism itself. Bishops: why don’t you look up the Catechism of the Catholic Church section on “national sovereignty”? You’d find some earth-shattering surprises. Oh wait you probably already know, you and the Pontiff just want the $$$. It’s so obvious, no wonder they flew into a fury when it was casually pointed out by Bannon.
It’s interesting to consider how the same mentality underlies the Bishops’ manifestly unbiblical immigration stance, and Jorge Bergoglio’s manifestly indefensible apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. People who invade another country illegally instead of applying for admission, and people who go ahead and get “remarried” instead of petitioning for an annulment, are then supposed to be regarded as hapless, helpless victims of “exclusion” rather than as accountable persons who–like the rest of us–need to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. And as for the so-called “excluders”? They are the ones made to pay the price–economically, culturally, and in every other way–while being roundly excoriated at the same time. What a deal!
What can you expect since most of those bishops were ordained in the 60’s and 70’s??
Thanks Steve for putting numbers on this latest scandal. If only the Bishops cared more about souls than money.
Excellent article. You might be on the low side with your $635 million total – Catholic Relief Services along gets ~500 million a year from the feds. And there are literally hundreds of agencies in dioceses everywhere, many of which do not have “Catholic” in their names (e.g., “Little Flower Center”) that receive grant money from HHS, DoS, AID, and other agencies. It’s untraceable and the USCCB is tight-lipped when asked for totals.
Remember, Abp. Gómez wants a “Next America” that is Hispanic. Remember how Mahony said, “Abortion isn’t my issue – immigration is my issue?” (back in Obamacare days)? Well, that goes for the whole bishops conference now.
After all, opposing abortion doesn’t get them any money.
Great contribution. Thanks, chrisinva!
It is gut-wrenching to contemplate, but it appears Pope Francis, and what must be considered his regime, is colluding with the US government. Over the top you say? Then is it not collusion when the Vatican partners with George Soros and his surrogates on population control and so-called man made climate change? The Catholic Church has been hijacked by the globalist agenda.
This article and its research ought to be on the front page of every Diocesan newspaper (fat chance). “Rank and file” Catholics, the “pewsitters”, ought to know. Thanks Mr Skojec and everyone digging out the truth. All the Comments here are so apropos.
And you know, this desperate attempt by our Laodicean Church is fool’s errand “religiously”, as well. I mean, once these illegals (and it works for legals, too), that once they’re here for a while, they’ll leave the Church. It’s still a tasteless sort of thing with little “spirituality” in its worship services. indeed, it seems often clueless about things spiritual; Ed Morrissey in a column about Bannon wrote that the U.S. bishops have a “Rediscover” program. It’s to “re-evangelize” backsliding Catholics into regular Mass attendance, and to “shore up enthusiasm among current regular or semi-regular attendees.”
Can anything sound more banal? The Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist – the pulling back of the veil between Earth and Heaven and the Lamb coming forward in Revelation 5:6 “And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a Lamb standing as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes: which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.” – that’s reduced to “shorn up enthusiasm” among “attendees”? (Even that word “attendees”, not “worshippers”, in itself is just hyper-insulting.
But that’s our “Laodicean Church” in these latter days.
RC
Along with the two categories of “refugee” and “immigrant” there should be a third: “invader.” The lack of discernment on the part of our political, corporate, and religious leadership takes a heavy toll on all Americans, on our economy, society, safety, and national security, and is one major reason why Donald Trump was elected.
A number of commenters quote the Ten Commandments.
The American bishops’ official policy is that they have the authority to give themselves permission to commit mortal sin.
In “Catholics in Political Life,” adopted by majority vote, the bishops say that a bishop may “legitimately” allow pro-abortion politicians to receive Communion.
Unfortunately, doing so is a mortal sin, each and every time.
Within the past several months, Elizabeth Yore did an extensive, in-depth study of this topic for the Remnant, with leads to the key players such as Soros and the Gates couple. These ‘investors’ are very political and want abortion allowed in all Latino countries, as well as free (forced) birth control. Some African countries are on to their program and refuse their ‘help’, but how long can they hold out when they are refused even basic needs during drought and famine? And of course, it explains why our bishops are so quiet on the controversial topics: it is all part of the deal.
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/fetzen-fliegen/item/3405-money-trail-revisited
For ease of access, here is the Elizabeth Yore article from September 2016. Between these two there is much information to digest!
The bishops are expressing their loyalty to an entirely false gospel, one that no Christian for art least the first one thousand nine hundred years of the church would have recognized as their own. Time to toss the whole lot of them overboard.
Excellent! I have been observing this too! I hate to say this as a faithful Catholic, but it also makes me wonder how many of the individuals who are working at the lower levels are also involved in human trafficking. I mean, who is really keeping track of all of these immigrants, especially the young ones who came alone?
https://spectator.org/dianne-feinstein-and-the-anti-catholic-bigots/
It is true that immigrants, especially from Latin America, do not tithe at very high levels on average. But even were they not to tithe at all, it is no small incentive for certain churchmen to have them in the pews anyway. It helps mask the dismal failure of the last five decades of Church leadership and praxis in the United States.
Of course, their children will end up drifting away to evangelical and even unchurched status over the next twenty years (as indeed they are starting to already) at the same rate as Catholics of European descent have done before them; eventually the pipeline will run out. But by that point, those bishops will be safely retired. “It didn’t happen on my watch.”
I’ve known about this for a while (when the big influx of “refugees” flooded Europe, I found out that one source alone was paying the Church $70K per immigrant in the U.S.), and I’d like to add that the figures you found are in addition to funds being given to each diocese/archdiocese.
Filling the pews is nothing to sneeze at … there’s a good deal of positive “optics” when you show pictures of churches filled on holidays, big groups of people out to see the Pope or the bishop, etc. Perhaps parishes receive additional funds from the chancery if they need to have translations or new services for people who don’t speak Spanish? I know in Los Angeles, back when the State government allowed illegal immigrants to obtain licenses, parishes were sponsoring workshops to help them complete the paperwork and to study for the written test. Where did that money come from? It went on for weeks, and I presume it was available in many parishes.
I read about the USCCB taking huge sums of money from Obama & Soros. It sure takes the guess work out of trying to figure out why so many bishops pushed for the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual union, anti-Catholic candidate Hilary Clinton for U.S. President.
According to Matthew 6:24 & Luke 16:13…
“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The bishops should not be allowed to accept government money or money from anti-Catholics.
I am sorry but all too many of the bishops and cardinals are moral sluts, who hypocritically abuse Church teachings to benefit from paltry tokens granted to them by ideological advocates of nihilistic secularism.
Well, that is cutting to the chase.
How is the money spent? What is the real “profit”. How much is kicked back to the bishops conferences or the bishops themselves. How much is spent on spreading the Gospel? Is anybody alert to trafficking especially of young boys which I can’t but think is always part of this illegal immigrant movement. How complicit is the Church with the dark underbelly of Democrat policy that celebrates and promotes perversity.
Well that would explain why a Wall is unChristian but abortion is just unfortunate.
Well that would explain why a Wall is unChristian but abortion is just unfortunate.
“OnePeterFive asked the USCCB if they could verify how much money they are receiving for these services, and how the money given to them for refugee resettlement is allocated. They did not respond to our inquiry.”
Nor will they. Ever. This is a gravy train. Money talks and, well, you know the rest.
When the CNA reported on this and the bishop’s response, the clear majority of the comments were negative towards the bishops on this.
Why hasn’t the USCCB or our government ever disparage Mexico, et al, for not taking care of their own citizens? Why is the US supposed to support the Southern Hemisphere?
The Monroe Doctrine I guess.
Most of the Fast Growing Dioceses have been fueled by Immigrants. Bishop Soto told me straight forwardly that.
How many “Dreamers” get far with their education and does anyone care? Ok. I did see a true story movie where 4 or 5 won an engineering competition (“Spare Parts”), though I didn’t see help, beyond the Hispanic community, being involved with that by bishops or NGOs (maybe the principal was white). Maybe they have Fr. Phlaeger types at their churches doing social work so the people are just able to make a living and play victim doing it. So, it could be done, but it was one of those rare situations. Of course, the filmmakers want it to seem like a big case for keeping the kids of illegal aliens here and one character takes shots at those against it. One character does do what he must to get legalized and fights in the military. I thought that could be a method to legalization for those who were taken in here by their parents, as I do feel bad they have been made into political chess pawn pieces, but one article said that was one step to the fall of Rome, because of divided loyalties. Here’s a crazy idea. The USCCB could send volunteers to make towns in Mexico succeed or make new ones all these educated “Dreamers” we already have could make work. I don’t think the globalists want that and neither do their stooges (you can fill in names) on both sides of the border, who preach to us how to treat immigrants, while Mexico will enforce its borders and, I hear, do look down on those South of their border.
This is what needs to be suggested to Trump: end funding to those NGOs that fund legislation for and the education of future indentured servants…I mean, “Dreamers” (No, I don’t), as well as ending the anchor baby program (which non-Latin-American countries are abusing, in order to bring up children with questionable loyalties, as well). This is not 100 years ago, where most immigrants became productive members of society, if only because they had to to survive (I admit, who amongst our native poor, which most all of us would become after an emp attack, would trouble themselves if we had bleeding hearts or pockets innoculating us against the law?).
All incentives must be stopped and legislation must have the reverse lever broken off at the base, as Trump has well done after reversing some Obama executive orders! You would think gangs shooting people who are trying to get to the wall would he enough. Maybe those parents would love America, but they would have to get with the “progressive. program to make it or their kids would happily get with the program, so all incentives must end. Do that and I think we could probably let the Dreamers go on with their lives, here.
Thank you so much for writing this! And thanks to Bannon for putting it in the spotlight. Everyone wanted to watch him, the great white supremacist, taken down by Charlie Rose, so all eyes were on him. Personally I don’t understand why Huckabee goes on the View or Bannon agrees to 60 minutes, since any conservative will be torn to shreds one way or another. Still, I applaud this accidental fallout of Bannon’s interview. BUT…I think he got it wrong. USCCB could care less about empty pews. I don’t give them enough credit to think they are actually looking for souls, bringing immigrants, or anyone, to the faith. I really wish that were so! I think the story is about the Refugee Resettlement monies. This is a monumental disgrace. When I first learned the extent of their involvement I was gobsmacked. From that point on they had no credibility on immigration in my book as this was a clear conflict of interest. Further, they don’t care what the religion of those they ‘handle’, or if they have one. If they were resettling our vulnerable Christians who are undergoing genocide at this moment, I would say Hurrah! They have never spoken up for them, or asked for any help for them. A bigger disgrace! Just like all our Catholic universities and colleges, devastated by Land’O Lakes, government money has obliterated anything Catholic about them. I would love to see what part of total USCCB $ comes from the government. I have a feeling it far exceeds anything coming from the empty pews, or from the faithful.
Kudos also to Ann Corcoran at Refugee Resettlement Watch where I learned a lot about this.
Very sad to see the church giving in so easily to easy money. They’ve sold their souls.
Its odd and hypocritical that Charlie Rose would mention Cardinal Dolan who for the past several year’s now, has defended Sodomy, marched in Gay rights parades, has rolled out the ‘Rainbow’ carpet in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the Sodomites, has without shame, given his ‘thumbs up’ to them and, just a couple nights ago, appeared on a secular news channel about the life of Martin Luther where again, Cardinal Dolan came in defense of Luther and degraded the Catholic church..! The secular media will give legitimacy to heretics and apostates like Dolan, Bergoglio and others while acting as if they are appalled by someone like Bannon. The Truth will never be accepted by the godless!
It just seems around here the goal is to keep the brown people out. As far as DACA goes, you are punishing children who had no choice. I know I won’t change anyone’s mind, but this website is one of the most hateful ones on the internet that lacks Christ’s compassion for fellow man. I find it more compatible with certain Protestant prosperity theology than I do Catholicism. You all call yourselves religious and holy and pretend to be better than everyone else with your fundamentalist nonsense, but when it comes down to it, you are the Pharisees. Nothing more than bullies behind the pulpit propping yourselves up with I’m better than everyone else dogma. May God have mercy on your wretched hateful souls. Blessed be the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. May God judge you as you truly deserve to be judged. I’m sure this will be deleted because this is the most truth you will ever face, and in the face of truth you cowards will run, hide, bully and shame. May God have mercy on your souls.
You can’t help people by breaking God’s commandments. And we can help people in their own country by charity.