Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Update: Immigration Talk at St. Matthew's Cathedral on July 26th.


On July 26th, Mr. Kevin Appleby (formerly of the Maryland Catholic Conference) spoke at St. Matthew's Cathedral.  He is currently the Director of Migration Policy and Public Affairs at the USCCB.

Here is a first hand account from a particpant.  Thank you.

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This is a series, and in this first talk, he focused on the biblical and papal injunctions to care for migrants and the view of the bishops on US immigration policy.

The facts on which the bishops were operating, as he described them, were largely CIR propaganda--we don't need more enforcement because Obama is already deporting more illegal aliens than any other President, the best way to stop illegal immigration is to admit them all legally, not allowing immigrants to bring their brothers, sisters, etc. is "separating families", etc.  He also claimed that most economists agree that over the long run immigrants are net contributors (he evidently was unaware of the Jordan Commission report).  He did admit that Americans without a high school degree were probably "hurt."

He said that there was "work to do" in getting many Catholics to understand all of this, although he admitted that during Mass might not be the best time.   This was the basis of my own question, which was, more or less:  "The opposition of myself and other Catholics I know to the pushing of CIR by the bishops is not our failure to understand the issues, but our doubts that the bishops are competent to take positions on complex issues such as which family members should be admitted, how best to deal with illegal aliens already here (the example I gave was giving them a 2-year work permit if they committed to return home versus offering them a "path to citizenship"), etc. He expected the bishops to remind us to show charity even to illegal immigrants, but they should stay out of the weeds of immigration policy.  
His response was that the bishops may not have time to become immigration policy experts but they had staff like himself who did and that the bishops intervened in other policy matters such as abortion laws.  I was not offered a rebuttal opportunity.


One woman politely questioned whether the policies he supported would make it harder for the black teenagers she worked with to get a good job.  I don't recall how he answered.

There were two "hostile" questions about why the Church was supporting "open borders," but the questioners were incoherent and didn't do us any favors.  The speaker asked "did someone send you here":  both said they had read about the meeting in their parish bulletins. He didn't ask me that question.

 There were a few softball questions.  One interesting question came from a woman, with a heavy Asian accent, who said she had overstayed her visa because she could make more money here than at home and wondered why she would not be eligible for legalization.  He misunderstood the question and didn't really answer it, so I intervened to inform her that visa overstayers would also be eligible for legalization.

    Everyone was very polite to me, but when I got up to leave I could see in the faces of many in the audience that I was the devil incarnate.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

You really have to wonder about Cardinal McCarrick....

Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick offered Islamic religious phrases and insisted that Islam shares foundational rules with Christianity, during a Sept. 10 press conference in D.C.
“In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate,” McCarrick said as he introduced himself to the audience at a meeting arranged by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. That praise of the Islamic deity is an important phrase in Islam, is found more than 100 times in the Koran, and is akin to the Catholic prayer, ”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
McCarrick next claimed that “Catholic social teaching is based on the dignity of the human person… [and] as you study the holy Koran, as you study Islam, basically, this is what Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, has been teaching.”


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/11/catholic-cardinal-mccarrick-embraces-islam/#ixzz3DLAPVdK3

Friday, September 12, 2014

RIP Truett Cathy - Founder of Chick-Fil-A

Earlier this week, it was reported that Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A, passed away at the age of 93.

I discovered Chick-Fil-A a number of years ago by accident and fell in love with their product.  Each time I go into a Chick-Fil-A, I am always amazed at the following:

  • Cleanliness of the store
  • Quality of the product
  • Friendliness and courtesy shown by the staff
  • How nice everyone is who eats there -- never shouting, foul language, etc. 

Although we are of different faiths, Mr. Cathy upheld a certain moral stance that we as Catholics should look for and, when appropriate, work with groups such as this.  The amount of hate targeting him and his company, was outweighed a million times by those who bought his product. 

And so, I take this moment to say:

Eternal rest, grant unto him O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon him/her.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
 
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

How to Obtain A Papal Blessing.

Ever go to someone's home and notice that they have a Papal Blessing to commemorate an anniversary, a birthday, etc.? 

Did you know that you can go directly to the Vatican to obtain one?  

If you are interested in learning more about this, please click here.

 

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Msgr. Pope's Blog Posting Taken Down!

I am really not keeping up with things these days and missed this entirely...


But let me that I agree with Msgr. Pope (which will probably not makes things better for him).  Cardinal Dolan is wrong and Cardinal Wuerl should be ashamed of himself.  The gay crowd is celebrating this one. 

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From Brietbart News:

Monsignor Charles Pope put up a fiery response to Cardinal Timothy Dolan's decision to allow organized LGBTs to march in the Catholic St. Patrick's Day Parade next year. Just as quickly, the angry column was yanked by his superiors from the official website of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. 

Pope, a popular and well-connected priest, called for the end not just of the St. Patrick's Day Parade but the annual Al Smith Dinner, which is also the scene of anti-Catholic politicians being feted by the archbishop of New York and other New York Catholic swells.
Read the entire posting here:  http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/07/DC-Priest-Punished-for-Calling-for-End-to-Gay-St-Pat-s-Parade-in-New-York-City

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His blog was posted on Sept. 3rd and has been taken down.  As Msgr. Pope, a classmate of Bishop Knestout, has taken a vow of obedience to his bishop, he has posted the following:  http://blog.adw.org/2014/09/what-happened-to-the-st-patricks-parade-post/

It really is shameful that we continue to see this over and over with Cardinal Wuerl.  Only another two years to go.  Thank God!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Thank You Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC)! Now please quit your jobs!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC), the Justice for (Illegal) Maryland Immigrants and the Archdiocese of Washington. 

They, and those who have supported the illegal aliens entering the country, have just cost the taxpayers of Maryland an extra $68,000,000 of tax money to educate them.  This of course does not include the health care and other services to be provided.

When taxpayers are fleeing the State of Maryland due to higher taxes, and putting an extra burden on those who support Catholic education, there is only one thing that I can say to the Archdiocese of Washington: 

DISBAND THE MCC NOW!