Something to think about...

[golfer999]

In recent years, my parish and diocese along with other parishes and dioceses throughout the country have seen a great deal of Immigrants that have come from several countries, many of which are here illegally.

I look back at the past 100 or so years when Immigrants from all corners of the world came to this country and did what they had to do in regards to obtaining citizenship, paying taxes, finding legitimate work, and subsequently flourishing as a result of doing that.

As of lately, it seems that the churches go out of their way to provide services and protection for people who have no legal right to be here in the first place. These individuals pay no taxes, make no effort to obtain citizenship, and fraudulently cheat the entire system as a whole. Furthermore, they are committing violent and non violent crimes against both illegal immigrants and citzens alike.

In mass I am constantly observant in all elements of it. When the collection goes around, I see these individuals contributing either no money at all or the loose change in their pockets…Which is more of an insult than giving nothing as far as I am concerned. However, the churches are bending over backwards for them and giving them services left and right that my hard earned dollar has paid for.

As we all know, our faith is a smorgasbord of ethnic heritage who over the years have made a life for themselves all over the world. As a result, a great deal of these individuals have gone about things the right way and fulfill their obligations and repeatedly do the right thing time and time and time again. However, It angers me to see how so many people abuse the system and take advantage of things and take our principles for granted.

I have been watching this take place for quite some time and was wondering if people feel the same way I do. Please feel free to comment.

 

[rwoehmke]

Think a little harder. Many of these folks would become more integrated into our society if it weren’t for the fear of being arrested and deported or worse. The system is not set up to handle the illegal immigration of peoples who justly seek a better life for their families.

My Mother, dead now, was never financially able to contribute more than a dollar a week to her parish. She did it by hunting for bits of change in the chairs, in pockets, and dresser tops. Be blessed that you have enough that you don’t have to scrimp to feed your kids and can be generous to the Church.

Yes, indeed think about it and expand your feelings for those less fortunate than you. Think about how God has blessed you with health, money, and a decent country to live in. Not everyone is so fortunate.

 

[wasmit]

OP, you sound like a racist.

 

[promethius]

OP, you sound like a racist.

I disagree entirely. The OP is correct. Illegal immigrants share one common thread: they are all criminals. Their country of origin, faith, race, gender, and the like have nothing to do with it at all.

We are bound to “give unto caesar what is his.” The state has determined the proper bounds for accepting entrance and citizenship to the nation. When local parishes and even dioces violate their authority to countermand the rightful law of a state to make (and immigration law doesn’t seem to contradict God’s law at this juncture), then the local authority is superceding its position in order to supplant a rightful government decree… in other words, the church is acting against its own precept.

Instead, the charity of the church should be directed at placing illegal immigrants on the path to establishing citizenship and therefore exiting a state of sinful disobedience to law.

 

[xyneshia]

OP, you sound like a racist.

Golfer, you do not seem like a racist. It is amazing how people seem to throw around that word anytime someone complains about illegal aliens. You are totally correct. My husbands grandparents came here legally from Ireland 50 years ago–I have no problem with that kind of immigration. The type we most often see though, is a slap in the face to people who came here the right way, and it is illegal. I dont like the fact that it is hard to get a job without knowing Spanish. I am fluent in ASL but employers seem to care more about communicating with illegals than our own disabled citizens.
Xyneshia

 

[anon5216]

Watch the film: “A Day Without a Mexican”.

This issue isn’t as simple as most people make it out to be.

 

[Joe_5859]

In mass I am constantly observant in all elements of it. When the collection goes around, I see these individuals contributing either no money at all or the loose change in their pockets…Which is more of an insult than giving nothing as far as I am concerned. However, the churches are bending over backwards for them and giving them services left and right that my hard earned dollar has paid for.

Do you know that these people you see at Mass are here illegally, or are you just guessing?

 

[golfer999]

I know for a fact that they are. I wouldn’t write on any post without factual knowledge.

 

[Joe_5859]

I know for a fact that they are. I wouldn’t write on any post without factual knowledge.

Glad to hear. Not every poster is as conscientious as you are, which is why I asked.

 

[promethius]

Watch the film: “A Day Without a Mexican”.

This issue isn’t as simple as most people make it out to be.

That film is horrible: an insult to all the races involved, including the mexicans portrayed in it.

Further, no one is saying that Mexicans shouldn’t be allowed to enter the United States… just that ALL immigrants should be held to the same standard: entering the US legally in order to follow the moral and just laws of the nation.

 

[BillP]

It never ceases to amaze me that the same people who rail against unjust laws permitting abortion strenuously defend unjust laws limiting immigration.

Its a “seamless garment of life” people. Individuals have the right to work to feed their family.

As far as all illegal immigrants being “criminals” no more than all speeders are criminals. Illegal immigration is a misdemeanor, like a traffic violation, not a felony.

So all you folks that have never, ever, exceeded the speed limit, failed to fully stop at a stop sign, changed lanes without signalling or slid through a yellow light just as it changed to red, you folks get your rocks. The rest of us…not so much.

 

[golfer999]

Bill:

These people know very well what they must do in order to be legitimate citizens. There is a right and a wrong way to do things. Unfortunately, I see more wrong than right.

People do have a right to work to feed their family. But they also have an obligation to obtain their visas and eventually their full citizenship. There is a right and wrong way to do things and what I see is flat out wrong. Illegal immigration is in fact a felony and so are many of the crimes that come with it. We can start with possession of fraudulent documents and identifications, tax evasion, insurance fraud. The list can also go on and on. The last time I checked, crimes along that line would be violations of the commandments as well.

I think the churches should play a more active role in assisting these people in obtaining citizenship and advising them on the proper way to conduct themselves. There are many resources that the churches have; especially in ethnically diverse areas where they can effectively communicate with these individuals and show them the way. That is really all I ask. Instead I see blatant disregard and people making no effort to go about things the right way and instead taking the easy way out and cheating the system. It is a sad regression that the country and church has seen in the past century that has to be corrected.

 

[promethius]

It never ceases to amaze me that the same people who rail against unjust laws permitting abortion strenuously defend unjust laws limiting immigration.

please explain to me how the failure of our law to protect unborn babies from murder is at all analogous to ensuring the safety, both cultural and physical, of the nation from massive illegal immigration?

Its a “seamless garment of life” people. Individuals have the right to work to feed their family.

By all means this is the case. However, an abortionist does not have a moral right to abort babies to feed his family. A hitman does not have the moral right to murder to feed his family. A theif does not have a moral right to steal to feed his family. A prostitute does not have the moral right to peddle herself to feed her family. And an illegal immigrant does not have the moral right to criminally enter a nation, willfully disobey it’s just laws, and to remain in a continual state of criminal activity (as continually choosing not to enroll in the naturalization process is) in order to feed their family.

As far as all illegal immigrants being “criminals” no more than all speeders are criminals. Illegal immigration is a misdemeanor, like a traffic violation, not a felony.

you are correct. Speeding is an illicit activity because the state has the moral right to make laws regarding the safe passage of vehicles on the road. When you are pulled over you are ticketed. You are then expected to pay the fine assessed by the state. Further, one could confess as a venial sin if one was willfully violating speeding laws. When you are caught as an illegal imigrant you get deported. That is the just solution the state has settled on. It is not the right of local churches acting on their own POLITICAL rather than moral views to countermand the action of the state in this regard in order to sanction criminal activity.

So all you folks that have never, ever, exceeded the speed limit, failed to fully stop at a stop sign, changed lanes without signalling or slid through a yellow light just as it changed to red, you folks get your rocks. The rest of us…not so much.

No one is judging illegal immigrants as to the status of their salvation here. What we’re saying is that local parishes need to stop superceding their authority in allowing said people to continue in criminal existance in direct violation of just laws of the state. Instead, our churches need to get off of their political stance and help immigrants to obtain proper visas, green cards, or citizenship in order to be in keeping with both the secular and moral law.