DHS has requested the help of the Catholic Church in California. The request is for the Church to clothe, feed and shelter these immigrants until 2016. It is not apparent how many adults and/or children will be part of this agreement, but since the media narrative is about the “humanitarian crisis” of the children, I think it is fair to talk about the Catholic Church and its relationship to children.
Neil Munro reports for the Daily Caller:
The Department of Homeland Security has asked Catholic churches in California to temporarily house and feed groups of Central American migrants until 2016, according to an official at the diocese of San Bernardino.
But any unpaid cooperation is legally questionable, because it may be intended to bypass Congress’ authority to fund — or to not fund — federal agencies’ new practice of distributing the flood of migrant families to homes across the country.
In a July 3rd letter, Bishop Gerald Barnes offered his help:
Please join me in prayer for these immigrant brothers and sisters of ours as they make their difficult journey. This is firstly a humanitarian issue that transcends political opinions and dispositions. I ask you to reflect on how you can answer the call of the Gospel to come to aid of the stranger in this situation. Our diocese pledges to help these migrants in whatever way is most effective and we will be asking the Catholic communities of faith in our diocese to help raise needed resources and to volunteer
their time.
It appears that DHS is answering an offer to help rather than blindly soliciting that help. Nevertheless there are legitimate questions that have been raised already. For instance, Susanne Hamner recently wrote:
What a slap in the face to the Christian community. Christians have been deemed as terrorists by this administration. This administration then turns around to ask Christians to provide shelter, food, clothing, etc. to these illegal alien invaders for free, which as it turns out may be a violation of law. Fiction writers couldn’t make up better plots than this.
I feel the need to address a point that seems to be forgotten and my hope is that it turns out to be future fiction rather than future fact. It is a done deal that the Catholic Church will help. The Diocese of San Bernadino may be joined by others.
Is it really the best idea to send these kids to a Catholic diocese that has been documented with 21 accused or convicted pedophile priests? It is a fair question.
For anyone who wants to see the proof, go to bishopaccountability.org and click on California and then the San Bernadino diocese. A list of 21 priests who have been accused or convicted of sexual abuse will pop up, complete with documentation in the form of numerous articles and reports on each case.
I was born and raised Catholic and I mean no disrespect to the great people of the Church. But if you can not acknowledge that the leadership has had problems, that have not been adequately resolved, then you are simply not paying attention.
There are some 600 priests in San Bernadino and 21 is a relatively small percentage (slightly over 3%). Some of those 21 have retired, gone to prison or been terminated. But this has been a pattern with the Catholic Church and it is a legitimate concern for a “humanitarian” effort. Just because one priest has retired it does not mean there are not other pedophiles waiting in the wings to take his place.
I suspect that putting these kids in 600 random homes might produce in excess of 21 wannabe molesters, but that is not the point.
These are the types of decisions that should be heavily scrutinized and it is fairly obvious that this was a move made out of desperation.
That is exactly why we should seal our borders NOW.
We can’t be making split-second decisions that effect our country, or these children, in a permanent way.
Ask yourself an honest question.
Would you trust the Catholic Church to care for your children for any extended period of time?
I wouldn’t and I was born and raised Catholic.
There are just too many unresolved issues at the top.
I realize this will make some angry but the leaders of the Catholic Church are human beings. They make mistakes and they have yet to regain my trust. That is not a reflection upon the people of the Catholic Church.
They aren’t that much different than our political leaders.
We must endeavor to hold all leaders accountable when they fall short.
