Just what is missing from this document and all general statements made by the bishops on this
Indeed, many things are missing, Tigg – principally among them, accuracy and a view of reality which is current, and not based on a 30, 40, or 50-year-old model of immigration, or on a textbook-romanticized “vision” of an immigrant, which is in fact a stereotype, and does not serve to advance the needs of migrants.
Why do they never speak of morality and spiritual guidance to those who have broken the law and often times committed other crimes. Earlier church documents always stated that the needs of the poor should not be narrowed to material goods only.
Well, I don’t know about those who have committed crimes. The Church does engage in some kinds of prison ministries, in general. But yes, your second point in the section I just quoted is relevant (non-narrow needs of the poor).
Again, what troubles me about the general misinformation regarding this, within the Church, is that
the situation which most jeopardizes Hispanic family values and Roman Catholic Church family values is illegal immigration. Anyone who is intermarried and in touch with that culture (or those cultures, plural) has seen this, most likely, either second hand or first-hand. On many levels, illegal immigration, as opposed to legal immigration, threatens the Latino family’s moral core.
#1 - The nuclear family is usually separated by virtue of it, from the outset. That is the nature of the danger and the reality
#2 - The extended family is virtually ALWAYS separated, from the outset. It is the extended Latino family which provides the moral support of the household. Family is an integrated concept and practical reality, certainly in Mexico. Extended family members provide the supplemental moral framework for the growing child, and sometimes the only moral framework, depending on economic demands of the parents.
#3 - The reality of an American-born Latino child, or one raised here from an early age, is that a language barrier immediately results, between parents and children. That exacerbates, in large measure, the “translation” problem when it comes to moral guidance. The first language of the child becomes English, the first language of the parent never becomes English, and much too often whatever English is learned is thoroughly insufficient to bridge the cultural gaps between a child who comes to identify primarily with U.S. lifestyles/expectations, and the values of the parents. Those who come here illegally, from Latin America, are rarely quite literate in their own language, which magnifies the problem of learning an additional language, and also affects the motivation to learn an additional one. This is the reality of language-learning.
#4 - I posted earlier – about 10 weeks ago:
This is not a trivial matter, because the combination of language barriers and parental absence has a profound effect on the behavioral outcomes of children as they grow into adolescence. For example, Latina women in the States apparently have a much higher out-of-wedlock pregnancy rate than their counterparts in Mexico. (They also have an extremely high abortion rate in the States, second only to young black women.) And early pregnancy throws them further into poverty – an ironic result of the parents’ original intentions.
And in November of this year:
When one takes a look at Hispanic (especially Mexican) behavior in Mexico vs. after immigration into the United States, there are marked differences. One difference relates to a shift – from the genuine centrality of family and Church to a desperate focus on both survival on the front end, and on acquisition on the back end.
The culture of the United States is toxic to many immigrant groups, but none so much as to Latinos (overall, not including undoubted exceptions). Their choices in lifestyle and priorities, after immigration, are rather different than before, especially coming from poverty into now even greater poverty, given greater cost of living in the U.S. (now) than was true of their lives in Mexico. And that in itself is a marked change from just a generation ago.
The mindset of the U.S. does not prioritize family in the way that Mexico and some other Latin countries do. Even living for the most part not in similar communities as where they came from presents a culture shock. Coming to this country is disorienting and displacing, completely aside from any policies regarding immigration. It is a different value system here, and is becoming more distinguishable from (traditional) Mexico every day. When young women come here they behave differently than in Mexico. Here they engage in more promiscuity, casual sex, more desire for premature marriage than these same women would choose in Mexico.
The immigrant to the U.S. – but especially from Latin America – identifies much less with the U.S. now than it once did. The “allegiance” is not even, i.m.o., to their home country, but to the materialistic values which dominate American life. This is just my opinion, but one gleaned from quite a bit of observation and reading. That new allegiance supersedes allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.
In any case, another value which they absorb from the modern U.S. is that of pragmatism and utilitarianism, which includes a stronger component of self-interest than in previous times (as contrasted with adherence, previously, to traditional values).
As a Hispanic who was born here but lived in Dominican Republic for his childhood you have a grasp of what is going on with the Hispanic community. Specially for the 2nd generation here, materialism have captivated the young.
The pursuit of materialism is NOT a Catholic priority. No bishop has stated so.
Rob