The Catholic Immigration Flim-Flam Has Got to Stop (Guest Post)

 
Open Borders: Where is That in the Bible, Exactly?

In October 2016, the Sharia TipSheet published “‘Refugee Resettlement’ a Cover for Muslim Colonization of the U.S.? Nobody’s Talking” (archived here).  The story was based on questions put to a government official and a representative of Catholic Charities after a pro-resettlement presentation at a Catholic church in Arlington, Virginia.  The story pointed out that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is a big government contractor which rakes in tens of millions of taxpayer dollars every year for refugee services.  The Migration and Refugee Services arm of USCCB is 97 percent government-funded.  One of the questions put to the representative of Catholic Charities was: “do you inform Catholic clergy and parishioners that Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington is 29 percent government-funded….?”  There was no response.

In January 2017, the TipSheet published a second article copiously documenting how the Catholic Church works with Muslim Brotherhood front groups that have ties to terror, but the Church is not the least bit apologetic for doing so.  The second article was re-posted at Gates of Vienna (without links).

Now comes an article from the Catholic-oriented publication and website Our Sunday Visitor entitled “Catholics respond to border wall, travel ban” (January 30, 2017). The article expresses disgust with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies as contravening “the teaching of the Church on human dignity and other principles of Catholic social teaching.”

This is quite a pronouncement, but it’s baseless.  Several of the Catholic figures interviewed in the article made appeals to the Church’s teaching on “human rights” and “human dignity” but those vague terms don’t get you very far on specific policy questions.  They don’t get you anywhere close to the proposition that enforcing immigration laws that have been on the books for decades – laws ignored by the previous administration – is somehow inhumane or an affront to human dignity.

One figure quoted in the article was even more ethereal: “We believe that now more than ever, welcoming newcomers and refugees is an act of love and hope.”  The declarant, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, and chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, is not just any bishop but one directly involved in raking in the dough for the Church from huge resettlement contracts from the government. ‘Love and hope’ – is that Bishop Vásquez or the money talking?  Funny how a few hundred million dollars can warp your perspective and lead you to make silly arguments.

Another figure quoted is similarly financially self-interested.  Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops whose Migration and Refugee Services arm, as noted above, is 97 percent government-funded.  So when Cardinal DiNardo trots out the tear-jerker that increased immigration enforcement will “tear families apart,” the same question arises: Is it the money talking? How can you be sure it’s not?

Another contractor employee argues in the article, “The large-scale ramp-up of immigrant detention and erosion of asylum protections … directly contradict Catholic social teaching.”  Ashley Feasley is director of policy for Migration and Refugee Services of the USCCB. USCCB – here we go again.  She should be asked the same question that should be asked of the others from USCCB: Why should we believe a word you say when hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake?

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey was also quoted in the article as saying, “Closing borders and building walls are not rational acts.”  In other words, countries that attempt to control their borders are crazy and the only rational policy is open borders.  Unless you believe in open borders, you’re crazy.  But when did this country every have open borders in modern times?  And, by the way, the gaslighting is not appreciated. Tobin goes on in hyperbolic fashion in the article about “mass detentions and wholesale deportation” as if such things were actually occurring. Hmm… Out of touch with reality. Who’s the crazy one?

Finally, Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies (CMS) in New York, was also quoted: “Catholics sensitive to the teaching of the Church should be alarmed with where the administration is going,” Appleby said. “[T]his doesn’t conform to Catholic teaching or the teaching of Pope Francis.”

However, everything Appleby says is suspect because of his ties to Bible-flavored government resettlement contractors.  On CMS’ board of trustees we find Linda Hartke, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).  Moreover, prior to joining CMS, Appleby himself “served as the director of migration policy and public affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for more than 16 years.”  USCCB again.  USCCB and LIRS are both among the top refugee resettlement contractors, according to the government’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Another huge problem with Appleby’s position as outlined to Our Sunday Visitor is that he contradicted himself elsewhere. In a November 2016 post at the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN), he was asked, “Is the Pope showing support for illegal immigration?”  Appleby answered no. In answer to another question, he said: “the church does not support open borders.  In fact, church teaching acknowledges the authority of governments to manage and control their borders.”  Further, despite exhortations in Church teaching to accommodate migration, “This does not mean that nation-states, to preserve the well-being of its citizens, cannot regulate immigration and control their borders, particularly if it is for national security reasons,” Appleby said on that occasion.  Quite a switch from when Appleby was telling Our Sunday Visitor what it wanted to hear.

So, if a country’s desire to control its own borders is crazy as Cardinal Tobin maintains, then the official teaching of the Catholic Church is crazy.  There is NO support for open borders in official Catholic teaching, despite the misimpression Our Sunday Visitor was trying to create.

Hundreds of millions in government dough, not disclosed to unsuspecting congregants while the collection plate goes around.  Close and unrepentant cooperation with Muslim Brotherhood front groups. And now the blatant falsehood that being Catholic requires supporting open borders.  One may reasonably conclude from the TipSheet’s three articles that the Church has lost its way and it’s time for the flim-flam to stop. It’s time for the Church to level with congregants as to just how dependent it has become on government contracts. Time to stop the lies about how Church teachings require lax immigration policy. Time to stop pretending that sanctuary cities square with the Rule of Law or that refugees and illegal aliens haven’t caused real problems in communities forced against their will to take them.  Time to stop believing that Catholic-oriented news sites haven’t been captured by the political Left for the purpose of leading the faithful astray.

And it’s time to stop advocating the deliberate importation under the rubric of ‘love and hope’ of people who mean us harm.  Why should we welcome more Muslims who hate us and want to kill us?

It’s time for Catholic clergy and parishioners to educate themselves on the Islamic doctrines of taqiyya, hijra, and dawa – the religious duties to lie, colonize, and prepare the ground for jihad.  No immigration discussion is informed unless those duties are taken into account. No one can pretend to know anything about Islam unless they acknowledge that the Koran advocates jihad more than 100 times.  No amount of airbrushing can ever fix that.

And it’s time for Catholics everywhere to start asking some hard questions of their spiritual leaders about how those leaders have sold their souls for a mess of pottage and become corrupt.  This has gone on long enough.  Real damage is being done to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.  It’s time for some answers and reformation. It’s time to throw the merchants out of the temple.

Originally published in the Sharia TipSheet at Liberato.US