Diocese is becoming politically leftist

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The Good Samaritan is a spiritual tale about the inability of mankind to save themselves and the reliance on Jesus to save us, as he is the Good Samaritan…

When did Jesus ever suggest that as a governing policy anyway?

This is the problem with cherry-picking… You end up stripping a story of all it’s mystery and purpose and draining it of all the life until it is a dead tool to be wielded by, in this case, atheists with sinister motives.
 
ChunkMonk said:
The Good Samaritan is a spiritual tale about the inability of mankind to save themselves and the reliance on Jesus to save us, as he is the Good Samaritan…

When did Jesus ever suggest that as a governing policy anyway?

This is the problem with cherry-picking… You end up stripping a story of all it’s mystery and purpose and draining it of all the life until it is a dead tool to be wielded by, in this case, atheists with sinister motives.
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Where did he say it shouldn’t be a governing policy, and it strikes me the parable has more than one meaning, and the surface meaning is clear, “Love thy neighbor”.
 
Like I said, it was just so great when the Good Samaritan built the wall between himself and the traveler.
 
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the traveler was in extremis. The context suggests he would have died but for the intervention of the Samaritan. It wasn’t as if the Samaritan just raised the traveler’s standard of living a bit.

But let’s think for a moment about an immigrant from Mexico. Mexico is not “third world”. The average income there is about 13th highest in the world; higher than any eastern European country, for example. It’s not Haiti. People don’t starve to death in Mexico. It’s just “better” in the U.S., particularly since U.S. currency has a very high value in Mexico.

But Lichtenstein, for example, has a higher average wage than the U.S. Are Lichtensteiners, then, obligated to allow free immigration from the U.S.? Would I be “just” in claiming a right to live in Lichtenstein?

A very high percentage of our illegal immigrants (and legal ones) are from Mexico. Many are from Central America. Central America isn’t as well off as Mexico by quite a bit, but it’s still not an “in extremis” situation, even in Guatemala.

Most immigration into the U.S. is not really a “Good Samaritan” situation. It’s more a “comparative advantage” situation.
 
Oh, well. We were kind of focused on those who have legal permission to be here or not. Top 10 countries of origin for illegal immigrants in the US for 2012 (the most recent year I could find):
  1. Mexico
    6,720,000
  2. El Salvador
    690,000
  3. Guatemala
    560,000
  4. Honduras
    360,000
  5. Philippines
    310,000
  6. India
    260,000
  7. Korea
    230,000
  8. China
    210,000
  9. Ecuador
    170,000
  10. Vietnam
    160,000
 
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I think we might have a moral obligation to get our immigrants to Canada, then.
 
There is a sad tendency on this forum to conflate Catholicism and the Republican Party. They are not the same thing. I have said it before and I’ll say it again…as a non-American former Evangelical visiting these forums, I have seen a lot of Evangelical influence in the thinking of politically conservative American Catholics. While abortion is a grave evil, the bishops have and do oppose many aspects of the Republican platform. The Church is not “right wing” nor “left wing”. Both American parties are at odds with the Church at the end of the day. Faithful Catholics outside of America don’t share this fear of “the left”…especially when it comes to issues of social justice where the Church, in Europe and South America, has found herself often (though not always) aligned with “the left”.
 
According to author Barry Clark, “Leftists claim that human
development flourishes when individuals engage in cooperative, mutually
respectful relations that can thrive only when excessive differences in
status, power, and wealth are eliminated”.

Is that focus on eliminating the differences in status, power and wealth is a true Catholic ideal? This intersection of leftism and Catholic diocesan policy is objectionable. I agree that there are parts of the Republican platform that are not consistent with Catholic teaching. However, I don’t see bishops out there praising the death penalty the way they they praise these sayings about wealth and status. After all, Pope John Paul Il fought against communism, which parrots these same ideas, which of course, are difficult to achieve in real life.

“It would be simplistic to say that Divine Providence caused the
fall of Communism. In a certain sense Communism as a system
fell by itself. It fell as a consequence of its own mistakes
and abuses. It proved to be a medicine more dangerous than the
disease itself. It did not bring about true social reform, yet
it did become a powerful threat and challenge to the entire
world. But it fell by itself, because of its own inherent weakness.”

Pope John Paul II
 
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There are 2 extremes we should avoid here. One extreme is for Catholics to focus almost all our social and political attention on abortion. Catholic social teaching includes prolife, and much more.

My impression is that a few Catholics fall into that mistake. Far more Catholics fall for the opposite extreme, to regard abortion as 1 out of 100 social issues, so it deserves exactly 1% of our attention. Many Catholic newspapers, religious orders and social apostolates fall for that mistake.

4 realities need to be faced:
  1. Not all social issues are equally big. Abortion is extremely common.
  2. Not all social issues are equally damaging. Abortion ends a human life.
  3. Not all social issues are equally defineable in terms of good vs evil. Many problems allow for different kinds of solutions, compatible with Christianity. Abortion is, however, well defined.
  4. Not all social issues have powerful opponents. Prolife faces enormous opposition from the established political, media, educational, and social service industries. The job of the prophet is not just to teach the truth, but to emphasize specifically that truth which, at the moment, is most forgotten, or most unpopular.
 
I think we could quibble about exactly where Mexico, or other countries are on the list of richest countries. The question for me is, is it a teaching (or an ideal) of the Catholic Church today that people can ignore / skirt / flout immigration law? Why is that acceptable - - where do we draw the line - - how does the US provide justice to the people who have been waiting for years to immigrate legally? Why does it seem that the bishops are accepting of people flouting the law, and encouraging it with “social justice” organizations?
 
You misunderstand me. It is all well and good to give $5 to a bum on the street, but if that $5 was originally going to feed your own children, and now they go hungry, you haven’t just done something unwise, you’ve actually done something wrong by neglecting your natural responsibilities to your family.

Likewise, it is all well and good to crow on about saving the poor, huddled masses of wherever, but one should at least determine what the cost to one’s own citizens is going to be before one begins putting up signs saying “Come on in! All are welcome!”

I’m not inherently opposed to the idea of immigration, nor am I so uncharitable as to think that all immigrants must necessarily have an instant economic benefit for consideration, but I also want all the bleeding hearts to calm down for a minute with the tears of compassion and try to hammer out a rational game plan for how best to help them and ourselves, and to realize that stealing food from your own brothers mouth to give to a stranger isn’t in any way what God demands or wants.

I see a lot of platitudes about neighbors and Good Samaritans and social justice and I don’t see a whole lot of actual, concrete plans of action. The same goes for any social or economic theory anyone, including the Church, puts forward. If they want a place at the discussion table they need to leave the mewling tearful faux-compassion at the door and bring some cold, hard facts.
 
Thank you. How many Catholics do you think have heard of “Universal Destination of Goods”?
 
If we’re going to play “race to the bottom”…

As an American born-Catholic I see a lot of secular Enlightenment influence on the thinking of non-American Catholics, especially those on the political left.

Europe and South America are two of the least Catholic places on Earth if we’re talking about actual culture and political life and not just identification. I would hardly hold them up as a good example.
 
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Loud-living-dogma said:
Well, that’s the problem. Since the bishop has instituted this “Social Justice” office and now “Solidarity Network”,
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“Social Justice” - sigh. I cringe when I hear that phrase along with the phrase “Social Media.” It always implies (at least in my mind) an “I’m better than you mindset.” My church has a Social Justice group as well. Sometimes I wished they would just stick to saving our individual souls and not try to save the world by picking and choosing “hip” issues.
 
Cath13 said:
There’s nothing wrong with walls. They keep out a lot of bad stuff. Heaven has gates and a vetting system!
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And entry is determined by the only worthy judge in all the universe…
 
Shakuhachi said:
How do you feel about this?

U.S. Catholic Church Calls For Week Of Prayer And Action In Solidarity With Migrants And Refugees As Part Of The “Share The Journey” Campaign
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Here’s how I feel. Back in the 70’s our church sponsored a family from Vietnam and gave them a house to live in and free Catholic school education. Now as a poor, white family we had to pay our own mortgage payments and none of us five kids could attend Catholic school because of the cost. The church never helped us out and instead our measly five dollar offerings a week supported its refugee program. That Vietnamese family then moved to California and last I heard were quite rich after attending free Catholic college. Boy I wish my family had that advantage.

Ok. People will say you are just jealous, and I guess I am. Sometimes I wish I could move to Poland as a refugee and receive refugee assistance from the Catholic Church. I bet I could make something of myself there.
 
  1. Institutions in host countries must keep careful watch to prevent the spread of the temptation to
    exploit foreign labourers, denying them the same rights enjoyed by nationals,
    rights that are to be guaranteed to all without discrimination.
    ***Regulating immigration according to criteria of equity and balance [643] **
    is one of the indispensable conditions for ensuring that immigrants are
    **integrated into society with the guarantees required by recognition of their **
    human dignity. Immigrants are to be received as persons and helped, together
    with their families, to become a part of societal life.[644] In this
    context, the right of reuniting families should be respected and promoted.[645]
    At the same time, conditions that foster increased work opportunities in
    people’s place of origin are to be promoted as much as possible.[646]
So, we are supposed to regulate immigration (according to the Vatican), but how can we if people ignore the laws?
 
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Yeah - - before the 1920s (or so). Are we not talking about today?
 
Deacon Jeff - - you can think that if you like. I believe that the immigration of minorities has increased exponentially since the changes of 1965.

Deacon Jeff - - Just curious if you think that illegal immigration and the employment of the illegals who work under minimum wage hurts our own citizens who are low-skills / low-education, who may also be minority?
I would love to see your answer! : )
 
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