The Catholic Church's anti-HR4437 smokescreen (no soup kitchens here)

Posted Mon, Mar 20, 2006 at 1:09 am
The article "Whether to aid migrants may be question of faith", although generally portraying the San Antonio diocese of the Catholic Church in the best light, does have a little contrary information, like this:
Opponents' "criticism of [HR 4437] is a smokescreen for their attitude that they don't really want to reduce illegal immigration," [Rep. Lamar Smith] said "Nobody is going to jail if they're innocently trying to provide food and water."
Cardinal Roger Mahoney and others have complained about the possibility that HR 4437 would interfere with soup kitchens and other emergency or necessary services for illegal aliens.

But, is that all that the Catholic Church provides to illegal aliens, or does it go a bit further than that? What if members of that church in San Antonio are providing non-emergency services to known illegal aliens?
In a tiny house on the West Side, two nuns provide a daily break for Mexican immigrant mothers struggling to raise families in a foreign culture.

The nuns teach English, computer skills and arts and crafts. They celebrate birthdays and invite residents to the local Catholic church for Masses. If requested, they give advice on applying for citizenship....

It's free. No questions asked. Not about religion. Not about legal status.

But the work of the 7-month-old Presentation Ministry Center and similar organizations could be in jeopardy, according to opponents of a bill approved by the U.S. House in December...

For nearly three hours a day weekdays, [Sister Quijano] and Sister Dina Potter give sewing lessons at a fold-up table in a former living room. On the walls are hand-made Christmas wreaths and a wooden cross engraved with racially diverse images.

One room serves as a computer lab with four stations. Another room has a marker board and chairs around a table used for English classes.

The house is rented from a family whose grandmother was gunned down by mistake during a drive-by shooting two years ago. Community renewal is the ministry's ultimate goal, Quijano said. The sisters work in a zip code where only 3 percent of its residents have college degrees and more than one-third live below the poverty line.

On a recent morning, Alicia swung open the screen door entrance along with her youngest child, Jasmine, who is 19 months old. Alicia is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, who declined to give her last name, and stays at home to care for four children...
Computer classes? Sewing lessons? What happened to the emergency food and water that we've been told this was all about?

I was unable to find out exactly who runs that House, but they're definitely part of the Catholic Church. Considering what they're doing, isn't it clear that they're actively encouraging known illegal immigrants to stay here?

Would that House - just as an example - try to encourage an illegal alien to return to Mexico and seek help at their church counterparts in that country? Wouldn't that be best for all concerned? Rather than bringing poor people into a rich economy and an unknown country, why not encourage them to stay home and build up their own country, or at least emigrate legally rather than illegally?

Is the Catholic Church simply trying to set immigration policy and hiding behind a "compassionate" smokescreen to do so?

Comments

Maria (not verified)

Thu, 03/23/2006 - 19:17

i thought that we were suposse to help the people in need and not give them the boot to a place that isn't pleasing them. Put it this way if we go to Romania or to the Vatican and we break one of their rules Americans wouldn't like to be send to jail with out trial or simply being in it. Bush is full of it, if our ancestor can't return to a land that was their in the first place,why should American be able to go to other places inn the world.

Mary Sok (not verified)

Thu, 03/23/2006 - 12:48

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Say no to the King Bill (HR4437)! It's a ridiculous bill that does not to pass. It will ruin everything America is about. Everyone only thinks about the border hoppers, but what about students? I'm 22 and I have a lot of college friends and collegue. If the bill happens to get signed, any students who come here on a visa and commits any type of crime, say he was drinking all night and gets in a fight. Well the new bill says he does not get a hearing. He will be transported from jail and deportated back to his country. I think everything deserves a second chance at life. No one is GOD and therefore, should not act like one. We stole someone else's country and now we're trying to control the borders around this so called democratic country of ours. Life is beautiful; diversity is beautiful. It should be appreciated and not used as a weapon. Please support the opposition for HR4437.

There's a mass march in Los Angeles, CA
on March 25th, 2006
meeting at Olympic and Broadway at 10am.
Also there's a link to sign a petition online:
http://new.petitiononline.com/HR4437/petition-sign.html.
Please forward to anyone else who are interested. It's not only illegal immigrants, it includes STUDENTS!!!

D Flinchum (not verified)

Mon, 03/20/2006 - 02:52

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this operation is a part of Catholic Charities. Not only does the CC receive millions of dollars in government money for its charitable work, including helping immigrants and refugees settle into the US; but as a religious organization, it is tax exempt, which means that all of us who do pay taxes subsidize it by paying higher taxes than we would have to otherwise. This includes property taxes and sales taxes.