There is an old saying that those living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
The Catholic Church is in such a position.
For years, the church has taken a pro-illegal immigration stance (for the religious and non-religious alike, this actually means that the church supports breaking United States law). Recently, it has stepped up its efforts by aggressively lobbying Congress to provide amnesty and citizenship to the 12 to 20 million foreigners who currently reside in America illegally.
Fine. It's a totally misguided policy that is detrimental to its flock, but within its right to do so.
What is completely unacceptable and hugely hypocritical is the church's launching of a program whereby churches will actively give sanctuary and shelter to illegal aliens, protecting them from deportation. Mind you, by doing so they are willfully breaking the law, but they are betting that INS agents won't enter a church to arrest such lawbreakers, and therefore, the government won't prosecute the church for harboring criminals.
Hopefully, they are wrong.
There are other religious denominations that also engage in flaunting the law, but it is THE church - my church -that has taken the leadership role in orchestrating such a policy.
I hate to appear cynical, but is this a calculated effort to deflect attention away from another situation where church leaders willfully broke the law? Ironically, both instances are quite similar, given that the church also provided sanctuary to another group of criminals. Instead of illegal aliens, the perpetrators were priests who had molested defenseless children. Many members of the church hierarchy had full knowledge of such transgressions, but rather than bring the guilty to justice, they instead protected them, in many cases transferring them to other parishes to, of all things, teach children.
If that's not bad enough, the church to this day refuses to come clean about its complicity in the matter, and in many cases, mounts aggressive challenges to lawsuits, fights to keep records sealed and defends its past actions.
That's not exactly a stellar record when it comes to breaking the law for a cause.
Church leaders, especially Cardinal Mahony, of the Los Angeles Archdiocese (the largest in the country), have noble intentions, but are simply not looking at how harmful illegal immigration is to America, from jeopardizing our national security to the loss of American jobs to the skyrocketing taxes paid to cover illegals' health care, education and welfare. To advocate amnesty is to slap the face of every immigrant who came to America and gained citizenship the lawful way.
And the moral way.
Americans are sick and tired of hearing their anti-illegal immigration views chastised as "immoral," with Cardinal Mahony going a step further last year by calling commonsense federal legislation "blameful and vicious."
Blameful and vicious? Putting children at risk to avoid "exposure" of sick priests is vicious. Illegally crossing the border to murder American soldiers at Fort Dix is vicious.
Protecting the most compassionate and generous people the world has ever known is not.
The majority of Americans agree that the country should have well-protected borders. They also believe in immigration. Despite the rhetoric to the contrary, these two concepts are not mutually exclusive. The United States was built on the backs of immigrants, and legal immigrants today provide an immense boost to the stability and economy of the country. They are an integral part of our society, and should be commended for their choice to act within the law.
Being "defenseless" or "poor," or even "Catholic" does not give one an automatic, God-given right to be in this country, let alone become a citizen. If American citizenship is your goal, great. We'll welcome you with open arms - just do it the right way.
The church is engaging in socialistic "class warfare" by attempting to take resources away from law-abiding citizens and giving it to those who are lawbreakers, doing so under the guise of "charity."
If the Cardinal wants to be charitable with illegal aliens, let him do so with his own treasury, for charity begins at home. But before he does, he would be wise to take a poll of Catholics from across the country on the issue, not just those in L.A.
Based on the poll results, he shouldn't be surprised when his donations go the way they did after the clergy sexual-abuse scandal.
Instead of focusing its fire on issues that actually protect Americans, perhaps the Church would be better served by aggressively fighting injustices around the world - in places like Venezuela, China and the Archdiocese of Boston.
