Open the Borders!

 Oaxaca, Mexico, Mar 8, 2021 / 11:41 am MT (CNA).- A group of feminists taking part in a women’s rights march in Oaxaca City on Sunday attacked Ss. Cosmas and Damian parish, as well as other buildings, both public and private.

As part of the protests organized in Mexico for International Women's Day, masked women armed with stout sticks broke open the outer doors of Ss. Cosmas and Damian March 7, smashed the windows of the inner doors, gained entry and stormed inside to tag the interior with graffiti, destroy glass cases, windows, pews, and a confessional.

A statue of Saint Jude was also destroyed, and one of the pews was damaged and thrown out onto the street.

As they passed through the city, they also damaged the Oaxaca Cathedral, the state Ministry of Health, and other private and public buildings.

According to the Mexican news agency Quadratín, the women were protesting commonplace sexual harassment, rapes, killings, and disappeared women, and called for "an end to femicide and transfemicide."

Dear Sister Donna...Butt Out

Washington D.C., Jan 28, 2020 / 01:15 pm (CNA).- A Trump administration rule defining more low-income immigrants as a public burden may go into effect, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week. Catholic leaders decried the ruling, saying it will harm families’ ability to secure basic services and that it represents a radical departure from American traditions.

“We implore the administration to reconsider this harsh and unnecessary policy and rescind it in its entirety,” Sister Donna Markham O.P., president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, said Jan. 27. “By allowing this harmful policy to go into effect, the administration imposes a chilling effect on access to basic services, creating fear among eligible individuals threatening family unity and stability.”

“We will be judged on how we treat the hungry, the homeless and the stranger among us and this decision signals a watershed change of course from the best moments of our American heritage of welcoming immigrants and refugees,” Markham said.

I'm Starting a New One .. The Problem with Open Borders, Chapter 1

Washington D.C., Jul 16, 2019 / 01:05 pm (CNA).- The president of U.S. bishops’ conference issued a statement on Tuesday condemning a newly-announced rule on asylum eligibility at the southern border, suggesting that countries like Mexico are not a safe final destination for asylum seekers, and encouraging the Trump administration to change the policy. 
“The rule adds further barriers to asylum-seekers’ ability to access life-saving protection, shirks our moral duty, and will prevent the United States from taking its usual leading role in the international community as a provider of asylum protection,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, in a statement released July 16. 

Meanwhile....

Santiago, Chile, Jan 6, 2020 / 06:50 pm (CNA).- A mob of masked protesters set fire Jan. 3 to a Catholic church dedicated to serving the national police in Santiago, Chile, while an anti-government demonstration was in progress in nearby Plaza Italia.
According to local reports, a group of masked individuals surrounded Saint Francis Borgia Church, located two blocks away from the plaza, around 8 p.m., setting fire to a vehicle parked outside and then starting fires inside the church and an attached building.
Three companies of firemen arrived at the scene, but the masked mob blocked their passage and they were unable to put out the fire in a timely manner, according to reports.
The church was built in 1876 and was originally the Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel of Saint Borgia Hospital. In November 1975, it was set aside to serve the spiritual needs of the Carabineros, the national police force.

Just When You Think He Can't Get Worse

The recently unveiled cross carrying the life jacket of an unknown migrant, now hanging in the Vatican, raises serious questions and concerns, as the Crucifix for Christians knows only one occupant: Jesus Christ.

On December 19, 2019, Pope Francis met with 33 asylum-seekers from the Greek island of Lesbos, who were brought to Rome by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. To mark the occasion, a cross was unveiled in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican to pay tribute to the migrants who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. The cross is quite unusual, to put it mildly: the body of the cross is transparent, like water, and is encircled by an orange life jacket exactly at the place where Christ would be placed on the cross. The orange life jacket belonged to an unknown migrant who lost his or her life at sea in July 2019.

That nameless migrant, emphasized Pope Francis, was a victim of injustice. “It is injustice that rejects them and causes them to die at sea,” the pontiff said. 

It might appears as if the cross is “wearing” a migrant’s life jacket. In fact, the migrant’s life jacket occupies the place of Christ Crucified; the jacket is the substitute for Christ on the cross. The unusual cross is controversial, with some Italians wondering if this is Francis’s message for Christmas—making them feel guilty for not helping and caring enough for migrants. Is the unusual cross a tool to guilt the faithful, especially at Christmas?

It certainly raises serious questions and concerns, as the Crucifix for Christians knows only one occupant: Jesus Christ, who is the center and the summit of the Christian faith. “The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 618), and the Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (The Liturgical Press, 1994) explains that the cross is the “most solemn and significant symbol of the Christian faith…” In 2,000 years of Christian history, Christians have never had any Crucifix other than the Redemptive cross carrying the lifeless body of Christ crucified for humanity’s sins. Christ’s cross is indeed not replaceable or substitutable with any other image, because only one death on the cross is a Redemptive and Salvific Death—a death that cannot be compared to any other death or any other suffering, neither by metonymy (life jacket substituting for Christ) nor by a metaphor.

Cardinal DiNardo - Attorney-at-Law

Washington D.C., Jul 16, 2019 / 01:05 pm (CNA).- The president of U.S. bishops’ conference issued a statement on Tuesday condemning a newly-announced rule on asylum eligibility at the southern border, suggesting that countries like Mexico are not a safe final destination for asylum seekers, and encouraging the Trump administration to change the policy. 
“The rule adds further barriers to asylum-seekers’ ability to access life-saving protection, shirks our moral duty, and will prevent the United States from taking its usual leading role in the international community as a provider of asylum protection,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, in a statement released July 16. 
Cardinal DiNardo also said that “initial analysis raises serious questions” about the new rule’s legal soundness.  

Judy Garland's tribute to the USCCB.


 

GEEZ! I Almost Missed It!

The stalemate over the border wall continues amid the USCCB's National Migration Week, taking place Jan. 6-12. The week's theme this year is “Building Communities of Welcome”.

Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, said Jan. 4 that “In this moment, it is particularly important for the Church to highlight the spirit of welcome that we are all called to embody in response to immigrant and refugee populations who are in our midst sharing our Church and our communities.”

Migrant is a Synonym For Invader

Denver, Colo., Nov 1, 2018 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Catholic agencies along the U.S.-Mexico border are bolstering refugee aid efforts as thousands of people in multiple migrant caravans continue to trek north through Mexico to the border.
Thousands of migrants, primarily from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, started multiple caravans to the United States border earlier this month in order to seek asylum. While the caravans are still weeks out, Catholic charities along the border are preparing for an increased influx of refugees.
Teresa Cavendish, director of operations for Catholic Community Services in Tucson, Arizona told CNA that while they are monitoring the caravans, the agency is accustomed to receiving and helping large numbers of migrants with food and clothing, and then connecting them to their family in the U.S.

 Cavendish said that CCS provides those in their care with information about their legal rights, as well as on resources 

In other words, provide those here illegally with information on how to steal form the American Taxpayer. Gee thanks.

And the Border Wall!

 

 

Pope Says He Will Address Sex Abuse Scandal Once He’s Finished Talking About Climate Change

Cardinal Dolan...Secret Jesuit?

Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Friday fired back at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for using the Bible to defend the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border, which he called "unbiblical."

The archbishop of New York issued a harsh rebuke of the policy, telling CNN’s Chris Cuomo that it is “un-American.”

“I don't think we should obey a law that goes against what God intends that you would take a baby, a child, from their mom,” he said. “I mean, that's just unjust. That's unbiblical. That’s un-American. There could be no Bible passage that would justify that.”

“God’s law trumps man’s law,” Dolan added, citing a Bible verse to support his counterargument.

Enforcing the law is no "un-American"?

OR...

1) Change the law

2) Stop arriving illegally.

Either way, problem solved.

You Keep Using That Word...I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means

U.S. Catholic Bishops Blast “Immoral” Trump Immigration Policy

This comes as more than 300 Catholic bishops blasted the Trump administration’s immigration policies, calling for an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents and condemning Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s policy of ending the right of domestic violence survivors to seek asylum in the United States.

Monsignor Brian Bransfield: “Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral.”

That’s Monsignor Brian Bransfield, reading a statement issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops during its spring meeting this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Monsignor Brian Bransfield: “This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives, particularly in cases that involve asylum seekers who are persecuted by private actors.”

The administration insists the new rules are necessary to send a message to immigrants.
"Look, I hope that we don't have to separate any more children from any more adults," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last week. "But there's only one way to ensure that is the case: It's for people to stop smuggling children illegally. Stop crossing the border illegally with your children. Apply to enter lawfully. Wait your turn."

Another Murdered Mexican Priest

Mexico City, Mexico, Apr 20, 2018 / 03:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Cuautitlán Izcalli, México, was stabbed to death inside a church Wednesday, local reports said.
The death of Fr. Rubén Alcántara Díaz, judicial vicar of the diocese, makes 22 priests who have been murdered since 2012, the Catholic Multimedia Center reported. 

 I wonder what the USCCB has to say.... 

The Catholic Church in the United States is an immigrant Church with a long history of embracing diverse newcomers and providing assistance and pastoral care to immigrants, migrants, refugees, and people on the move.  Our Church has responded to Christ’s call for us to “welcome the stranger among us,” for in this encounter with the immigrant, the migrant, and the refugee in our midst, we encounter Christ.

Maybe this is the USCCB's plan to get rid of all our excess priests.

Shut Up, The Pope Explained

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis issued a warning to Catholics who criticise his calls to welcome migrants with open arms, in a much-awaited text published Monday.

The Argentine pontiff has put the plight of people fleeing war, persecution and poverty at the heart of his five-year papacy, putting him at odds with a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in many parts of the world.

In the third apostolic exhortation of his pontificate -- a guideline on how Catholics can strive for "holiness" -- the 81-year-old unexpectedly hit out at his critics.

"Some Catholics consider the situation of migrants to be a secondary issue," he wrote.

"That a politician looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable, but not a Christian for whom the only proper attitude is to stand in the shoes of those brothers and sisters of ours who risk their lives to offer a future to their children."

Undocumented Immigrant Jesus

Washington D.C., Apr 7, 2018 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishops in both the US and Mexico have criticized the Trump administration’s plan to send National Guard troops to the southern border of the United States.
“The new measures on the border US-MX. Once again a senseless action and a disgrace on the administration,” tweeted Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio April 5.
“These measures manifest represion, [sic] fear, a perception that everyone is an enemy, and a very clear message: we don’t care about anybody else. This is not the American Spirit.”

 

Opined the Mexican born Bishop, who has been an American citizen since Bill Clinton was elected in 1992.

The Mexican bishops' conference tweeted against the militarization of the border, expressing concern that the move may put more Latin Americans at risk.
“It is extremely risky for our Mexican and Latin American people, to have a semi-militarized border. #JesusChrist #migrant, could be executed again for trying to cross #frontier.”

I have no idea what these fellas are talking about. Jesus was a migrant? When? I guess they are talking about when the baby Jesus was taken to Egypt to avoid being...what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh yeah. KILLED. But once the coast was clear, He and his family went back. Which doesn't fit the Merriam-Webster definition. 

mi·grant

[ˈmīɡrənt] 

NOUN

1. a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions.