Thursday, July 29, 2010

AZ Bishops: Confused and Wrong

One expects silliness from Bishops' Conferences, and one gets it.

Arizona's Catholic bishops commended a July 28 ruling that blocked enforcement of the most controversial sections of the state's contentious immigration law a day before it takes effect.

"We know that in practically every parish there are families that have been living with the fear and anxiety generated by S.B.1070 that they might be torn apart," said the bishops' statement, issued by the Arizona Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the bishops.

"The situation of these families might be that one parent is a citizen and that the other is not in our country legally. Or, the situation might be that some children in the family are citizens and that a brother or sister is not here legally," they said. "Our hearts go out to these families. We know them to be good people who work hard and who contribute to the economy and to the quality of life of their communities.

The four Arizona bishops include: Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson; Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares of Phoenix; and Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, N.M., whose diocese includes part of northern Arizona.

What the Bishops would like to ignore is reality. "Mixed-citizenship" families do not have to remain in Arizona.

They can go back to where the parents ARE citizens.

Problem solved!

8 comments:

Faithful Catholic said...

How do you decide which Catholic teachings are good and which ones are bad? Obviously you disagree with the Catholic hierarchy regarding the rights of immigrants. How are you not a cafeteria Catholic, as the coinage goes, or would you confess that you are one along with basically every other Catholic on the planet.

Badger Catholic said...

FC, the USCCB does not define Catholic doctrine(the pope does). ie, USCCB supports federalized healthcare(without abortion), whereas Catholics of either political persuasion are free to disagree on proper course of political action in Good Faith. I recommend http://www.caaction.com/pdf/Voters-Guide-Catholic-English-1p.pdf to understand the distinction.

Dad29 said...

Another suggestion for Faithful "Catholic" is to read JPII's letter on the topic of immigration, wherein he makes it CRYSTAL CLEAR that 'the laws of the country are to be observed..'

But then, who is the more weighty teacher? The Pope, or a bureaucracy?

Anonymous said...

The more weighty teacher would be the Lord.

"Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

It sounds as if some brothers of Christ rank lower on your scale than others.

Dad29 said...

Anony, you could profit from Logic 101.

But then, distinctions are not important for FFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLings, eh?

Anonymous said...

Pray tell, Dad29, how is Anony 2:40 p.m. being illogical by quoting Scripture???

Could not one infer that God would want Christians to look out for ALL people? As a global institution, does not the Catholic Church play an important role in advancing humane responses to the issue of migration and its impact on the human dignity and basic human rights of the person?


This from a Vatican official...

www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=6538

Dad29 said...

For openers,

You will note that NONE of the Beatitudes are addressed to Governments.

NONE.

You do understand the difference between Governments and individuals, no?

Anonymous said...

Get real. The Vatican official is calling for immigration reform is addressing our government AND the officials who consist of it, when he says:

“One also has to realize that not workers will arrive, but human persons, with all its consequences, like living with their families,” he continued. “In order to achieve this, the necessary POLITICAL WILL is required to address humanely undocumented migration.”


Mmmm, officials, who are individuals, have the political will to make decisions in our government.
Our government, therefore, is being addressed, perhaps indirectly.