U.S. Catholic bishops are considering punishing Catholics who enforce Trump's immigration policy

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Ender said:
And this is a pretty good synopsis of why I so strongly oppose the involvement of the bishops in political issues:
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What would you suggest they do when a political issue is also a moral issue?
 
Whose emotional trauma is greater? the parent who is an adult who understands about assumption of risk? or the child who is being taken away?
And then once the child is taken away, what sort of care is he receiving? There was a published report of a child in diapers living in a cage being taken care of by a teenager (aka fellow prisoner)
If you were to keep your children in a cage in the manner that these children are being treated you would be charged with child abuse. That these are government officials who are doing this appears to be criminal if not bordering on criminal.
 
From the article.
Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, a canon lawyer, suggested “canonical penalties” for Catholics “who are involved” in the separation of families. Canonical penalties, which can range from denying sacraments to excommunication, “are there in place to heal,” Weisenburger said. “And therefore, for the salvation of these people’s souls, maybe it’s time for us to look at canonical penalties.” Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, suggested pastoral outreach for border agents struggling with their consciences.
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JimR-OCDS said:
Making a penalty keeping a Catholic from receiving the Eucharist or being excommunicated, is a dictortarial move and the USCCB’s should reject such an idea
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Don’t you realize the Church is a Dictatorship? I have had on occasion had at least 2 Priests tell me that. And in the last 10 years. The most recent was about 2 years ago during a homily.
 
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JimR-OCDS said:
The Sacrament should not be used to whip Catholics into line, per Cardinal Dolan’s reason for not prohibiting pro-choice Catholic Politicians from receiving.

The same is true in this case.

Jim
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I am sure you are going to get heat for that statement.
 
anikins said:
To those Catholics who cowardly rationalize supporting the policy to rip kids away from mothers—shame on you.
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Do you feel the same way when American children are ripped from their parents arms because their parent committed a crime? Children are taken from their parents in this country everyday, some for good reason, others for not so good reason. The parents who are detained, and have their children taken away, temporarily, are breaking the law. Period.
They are reunited with their children and deported, as it should be. We are a nation of laws and they need to be upheld.
I am not against immigration at all, it just needs to be done legally.
Try crossing into Mexico from the US illegally and see what happens to you.
 
Cruciferi said:
Sponsor an Illegal Immigrant… or else :man_shrugging:t2:
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I don’t think this is what they’re saying. I could be a lot more approving if they were. As usual, I imagine one or two USCCB spokesperson are going to tell us we are morally obligated to make our neighbor pay for a ridiculous immigration policy. That’s the usual, it seems, not something really involving person cost, like sponsorship.

When you pay for something yourself, that’s charity. When you force your neighbor to pay for it, that’s politics.
 
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pnewton said:
Otherwise, will continue to think that what our bishops are doing is trying to keep souls from going to Hell with this stance, which is their job.
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But do they equally insist that parents in this country who are charged with abuse or neglect or unrelated crimes not be separated from their children?

I have never heard that they do. It seems their real objection is to prosecuting the parents who drag their children thousands of miles and evicting them from the country. In other words, are they really supporting anything other than open borders and threatening Catholics who do not support that?

And if so, are they doing anything other than threatening me if I do not agree with them politically? My goodness, I thought we had enough of that with the IRS, FBI, DIA, DOJ. Do we have to get political oppression from bishops too?
 
Ridgerunner said:
But do they equally insist that parents in this country who are charged with abuse or neglect or unrelated crimes not be separated from their children?
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Of course not, because that doesn’t tug at your heartstrings like this does.
Those parents are bad, the parents illegally crossing the border are just doing what they feel is best for their children. :roll_eyes:🤨
 
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I have seen photos of central Americans crossing Mexico on the tops of trains. Undoubtedly some walk. Some probably drive. The entire way, they’re hassled by Mexicans, victimized by criminals. Sometimes their children are sexually abused. Then, instead of entering at ports of entry like they’re supposed to, they enter illegally knowing if they’re caught, their children will be put in separate care.

If an American did something even remotely like that, their children would be taken away and probably never returned.
 
I agree with you. I think you may be responding to the wrong person. 🙂
 
One thing that bothers me about cases like this is that they act like the officer knew he was a teenager. A lot of times the officers do not know the victim is that young

The officer considered himself to be shooting at a drug smuggler who was throwing rocks at the police.

As it turns out, in this case it seems that the victim was shot in the back, and that’s a huge problem. Hard to claim defense if the victim has his back to you.

(It could be that the officer was unable to tell, as this occurred late at night. If the victim had just turned, then that would be a factor.)
 
angel12 said:
What would you suggest they do when a political issue is also a moral issue?
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It has been my contention for some years now that there are only a handful of political issues that are in fact also moral issues, and that immigration is not one of them. With abortion, euthanasia and a very few others one can cite the moral choice involved in the issue: is it moral to support abortion - yes or no? What is the moral choice involved in the immigration issue? Is it moral to separate parents from their children? We may regret the necessity to do so, but the answer is unquestionably yes. In fact we do it all the time when someone is arrested for violating the law, which is exactly what is happening here. The parents are arrested for violation of US law and are incarcerated. The children, not being culpable for the sins of their parents, are not incarcerated but are taken care of by other agencies…exactly the same as is done today all over the US when parents are arrested.
 
Separating children from their parents for the sole purpose of creating emotional distress to deter asylum-seekers is a moral issue. I’m so sorry that whatever Catholic education you had has failed you so severely that you do not see this.
 
The parents are breaking the law. Period.
Children are removed from the custody of parents who break the law every day.
Why is this any different?
 
CilladeRoma said:
The parents are breaking the law. Period.
Children are removed from the custody of parents who break the law every day.
Why is this any different?
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Because it’s unnecessary – and unnecessarily cruel. It’s not required that we punish children to teach their parents a lesson. Reject asylum claims, deport those who arrive here illegally… But for crying out loud, if it’s possible to keep families together, do so.
 
This. Exactly this.

Anyone who does not see the immorality of purposefully separating young children from their parents with the sole purpose of creating emotional distress to discourage illegal border crossings has been failed severely by their Catholic education. If you support this, you are evil. The American bishops think so too.
 
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