Catholicism—the open borders lobby
The predominant political position of the Catholic Church is the way it uses its authority to push for open borders and mass Third World immigration into the West.
Pope John Paul II declared it a Catholic duty to be open to immigrants including illegal immigrants. The Catholic Church has an annual event called World Day of Migrants and Refugees. In 2002 John Paul II spoke under the title "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism."
Jim Kalb analyzed this speech at Frontpage Magazine:
[The Pope] speaks of "undocumented migrants" as among "the most vulnerable of foreigners," of "the Christian duty to welcome whoever comes knocking out of need," of "true acceptance of immigrants in their cultural diversity," and of "Christ, who through us wishes to continue in history and in the world his work of liberation from all forms of discrimination, rejection, and marginalization."
[...]JPII was followed by Pope Benedict XVI, and Benedict continued the tradition of a Catholic World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The last event he gave this speech.
First, it appears that every country should have open borders. If they aren't open, some migrants will be undocumented and therefore become the special objects of hospitality and care. But if we have to welcome and care for them anyway, why not make it official and give all comers papers at the border?
Second, the flood of immigrants should be welcomed by local communities just as they are, and truly accepted in their cultural diversity. No boundaries of any kind may be drawn, because even the hint of a boundary would be latent discrimination. The Catholic Church should use its vast resources to inculcate such attitudes, and work with others to spread them through society generally. That, as all "social concerns" bureaucrats agree, is the prophetic function of the Church.
To which Lawrence Auster commented:
Pope Benedict XVI, who I had once thought was a wise and intelligent man, echoed his lunatic open-borders predecessor: countries have a moral obligation to welcome and embrace all immigrants, with no notion that countries have legitimate interests that might be damaged by the mass immigration of people from different cultures and civilizations.
Fjordman and Robert Spencer have also commented on the open border position of Pope Benedict.An example of what this leads to in practice is shown by this breakdown by religion of the Senate vote on the former U.S. mass immigration bill (S.2611). The Catholic senators voted 19-4 in favor of national suicide.
5 comments:
The predominant political position of the Catholic Church is the way it uses its authority to push for open borders and mass Third World immigration into the West.
Pope John Paul II declared it a Catholic duty to be open to immigrants including illegal immigrants. The Catholic Church has an annual event called World Day of Migrants and Refugees. In 2002 John Paul II spoke under the title "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism."
Hogwash... You didn't even read your own linked article. It's not about politics, not about opening or closing borders, issuing passports, but about brotherly love to those in need. Plainly stated: charity to the cold, frightened, hungry, lost, bewildered. The same message of Christianity since its inception. There's not a single mention of indiscrimately flinging open borders. It is a Catholic duty to show kindness to everyone even jailbirds, abortionists, and pornographers.
As for the actual social message:
Understandably, as I urge Catholics to excel in the spirit of solidarity towards newcomers among them, I ALSO INVITE THE IMMIGRANTS TO RECOGNIZE THE DUTY TO HONOR THE COUNTRIES WHICH RECEIVE THEM AND TO RESPECT THE LAWS, CULTURE, AND TRADITIONS OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WELCOMED THEM. ONLY IN THIS WAY WILL SOCIAL HARMONY PREVAIL.
The Catholic Church is not responsible for the government policies of this or that nation that creates immigrants or refugees or of this or that nation on the receiving end that is terribly harsh or criminally lax (wilfully or not) in controlling its borders.
More plainly stated: If someone is hungry, you feed him, you don't check his passport. That's for the cops. If someone is hurt, you cure him, and you don't give a damned if he's a Hindu or a Jew.
The message is not about flinging open borders at all. It's not on that level. It's how to treat people and it's the same message of Charity since the year zero. It's not just about the small subset of people of your uni-purpose years 2002-2007 maniacal concern, but all people, including you if - heaven forbid - your car stalls in a snow storm while driving through Poland and you're mistaken for an illegal Ukranian.
Fjordman and Robert Spencer have also commented on the open border position of Pope Benedict.
An example of what this leads to in practice is shown by this breakdown by religion of the Senate vote on the former U.S. mass immigration bill (S.2611). The Catholic senators voted 19-4 in favor of national suicide.
What does "Catholic Senators" mean? Ted Kennedy and his pro-abortion policies? IS THERE a unified Catholic political policy? Does it include Pat Buchanon?
http://www.crisismagazine.com/may2003/feature1.htm
(May 2003)
Since the early 1980s, the upper chamber has been a veritable graveyard for pro-life legislation, culminating in last year’s failure to ban all forms of human cloning.
Throughout this time, about a dozen pro-abortion senators have been Catholics, or at least publicly identify themselves as such. Today there are 15. Five are women. Eight come from the Northeast. Two are Republicans; the other 13 are Democrats.
Okay, yeah, sure, they're Catholics... nominal to say the least.
So keep trying... What's interesting is this blame of the Catholic church... I guess it would not be chic to blame the Jews... so blame Rome for preaching charity instead of focusing on the civilizational downfall caused by the atheist/Rationalist barbarity that has taken hold and of which Anglo/American culture is one of the greatest propagators.
Egalitarianism... pornography... moral relativism... sodomite marriage... abortion on demand... birth control... fast food... drug culture... Gramscian universities... sensitivity lessons... militant atheism... morally blank entertainment... and the list goes on.
Poor America becoming a bit too Mexican? I can agree. But did you ever think "poor world becoming a bit too American?"
Go for the real targets and the real causes of civilizational corruption... and the downfall of decency and communities.
It's not about ragtag people crossing borders, but very wealthy and intelligent people trained in marketing who have made ecstasy rave parties the big thing (and now every mother and father has to pray)... who made piercing and tattoos hip... or turned marriage into a love festival regardless of gender. Before the AIDS/STD scare they were also trying to make trans-generational-intimacy acceptable too. Try to figure out who took the education out of education and successfully turned the mere mention of Judeo-Christian values into "hate speech." Who wages wars to hand over one corrupt Muslim regime to another? Who supports Red China, caring only about profit. Is there anything western society cares about that trumps profit?
Yes, the Catholic Church is so soooo guilty for preaching charity. Now people are getting desperate and they want her to preach guns! She won't.
The Pope's opinion on such matters aren't orthodoxy. You don't understand Catholicism, you probably reckon that the Pontiff's every burp and fart has to be taken as dogma.
Not even Pope Benedict's speech in Regensburg "What did Mohammad bring that wasn't murderous and evil" is dogma.
CS: In 2002 John Paul II spoke under the title "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism."
Steven: Hogwash... You didn't even read your own linked article. It's not about politics...
This is indeed a highly ironic comment from someone who obviously didn't even read the title of the article. Read the title Steven: "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism", and then say to me with a straight face that it's not politics: "racism", "xenophobia", "exaggerated nationalism". Or are these words so integrated into your terminology of Christian charity, that you consider them fully unpolitical nowadays?
Steven: More plainly stated: If someone is hungry, you feed him, you don't check his passport. That's for the cops.
Be a good Christian: hide the illegal aliens from the authorities!
That's completely unpolitical according to Steven too, of course. Just Christian charity. Good deeds as we know them since year zero.
CS: In 2002 John Paul II spoke under the title "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism."
Steven: Hogwash... You didn't even read your own linked article. It's not about politics...
This is indeed a highly ironic comment from someone who obviously didn't even read the title of the article. Read the title Steven: "To Overcome Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism", and then say to me with a straight face that it's not politics: "racism", "xenophobia", "exaggerated nationalism". Or are these words so integrated into your terminology of Christian charity, that you consider them fully unpolitical nowadays?
Yes xenophobia, racism and exaggerated nationalism are problems. They were even a problem when immigrants were Europeans among other Europeans, or even southern Italians moving to Northern Italy. Or years back Europeans: Jews, Italians, Slavs, Irish moving to the United States. Problems galore, crosses to carry... but mostly at the personal level. Today they ARE fully POLITICAL and not PERSONAL. A guy got arrested in Asti for calling a Moroccan: "Hey Marocco!" That was hate speech. For a Catholic, taunt and all, that's love speech.
Steven: More plainly stated: If someone is hungry, you feed him, you don't check his passport. That's for the cops.
Be a good Christian: hide the illegal aliens from the authorities!
Be a good Christian and give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God. That is civilization, remember? Are Catholics hiding illegal aliens any more than construction companies, restauranters, gardening franchises, fruit and vegetable farms that would fold in Permanent BOOM-TOWN USA and elsewhere if those immigrants were NOT somehow hidden / semi-tolerated?
If you want permanent BOOM TOWN you're gonna have permanent immigration, legal and/or illegal. Otherwise hurry up with those damned robots!
Blame the economy, not the Catholic Church. Or do you want personal kindness to go completely out of fashion and everybody reduced to passports, nationality, social and political status?
That's completely unpolitical according to Steven too, of course. Just Christian charity. Good deeds as we know them since year zero.
According to Conservative Swede, inter-personal relationships are COMPLETELY POLITICAL! I understand, you want to save civilization! (more on that in another post on another thread).
I prefer "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God." I'm not really interested in any other type of civilization... because it wouldn't be civilized.
BTW this does not mean open borders. You're confusing the atheist/rationalist/barbarian meaning of zenophobia with the church's truer meaning. Half of what the church preaches is hate speech these days. Catholics aren't even allowed to hold EU positions because they're "phobic" about fundamental human rights, like Bruce and Joe getting married and adopting children. The Church isn't captaining THAT love boat... but another in which love means love and not what happens in those wonderfully civilized Berlin parades.
And you continue to confuse the Church's year one mission to the world with your own mono-maniacal, mono-theme 2002-2007 concerns. The Pontiff was also speaking to Croats and Serbs, the Chinese, and the Japs (who don't seem to be very fond of their filipino imports - or any imports for that matter.) It might not be a bad idea to tell them: Say hello! Talk! Share! Work it out!
That does not mean favoring any particular legislation or swinging doors open to Muslims. There is no Catholic position on Japanese immigration policies, but a wide range of positions from different Catholics (most nominal). Not even the Pope's opinion on such matters is an official Catholic stance.
But perhaps you have difficulty in understanding the separation of church and state and the separation of sin and sinner. Perhaps only the state exists for you. And you want your problems solved fast, presto bingo - and to hell with the cultural malaise underneath them all.
Take my advice; for the most effective solutions, never mind the balderdash about Wotanic tribes and the old Roman Empire (too difficult to get those really old horned-headed and/or togaed spirits going again). Instead, study modern-day marketing techniques so brilliantly used by the left to turn once honestly popular reactions into knee-jerk acceptance of anything and everything.
They turned "queer" into "gay," "pedophilia" into "inter-generational-intimacy"... you have to find soft and fluid terms to bring back Wotan, Caesar and the sacredness of borders guarding undeniably superior cultures. I'm sure it can be done. All the best and reality speed!
But in the meantime - and let us not fool ourselves one nano-second - I also suggest that when the FED announces that the economy - all that really matters these days - has gone up a whopping 3,2%, instead of automatically rejoicing and gushing "WUNDERBAR!" (as we've been paper-trained), to start thinking... Do we really need all that crap? Could we possibly be worshipping false idols?
If we're so rich and civilized how come every mama has to work? How come we're eating crap, reading newspapers with all the same bottom-line opinions, how come our kids are taught to scoff the very notion of sacredness in new cartoons that make even the sarcasm of the Simpsons incredibly tame? Shouldn't life be happier?
And good luck with Judeo-Christian values without God! No wonder you're hankering for the Wotans and the Ancient Romans. Far easier to worship many gods (especially those of war).. and worse yet, no wonder you're hoping for miracles from ueber-macht America, when the ethos coming from there is precisely half the problem, if not more.
Why am I so much happier in supermarkets the size of airport terminals full of workers on rollerskates, when I'm really not? Why am I "luvin' it" when I'm really not? Why am I having such a bad and unloving time at the love parade? Why can't I express my honest and taunting xenophobia without getting arrested for hate speech? The Pope just said be nice, play fair. I figure he'd say something like that, but he didn't say anything about moral relativism, in fact, by "work it out" he meant encounter/clash and not brooding political silence. It has nothing to do with the enforcement of "right" ideas... like forced integration.
You don't have the guts to face the real problem. If we've become vulnerable to the weakest, most uneducated and least organized, it can only be us and not their merit. Is it just marvelous coincidence that in the meantime from proud cultures with religious values, we've gone whole-hog secular?
So now you worship strength and harshness and knock down the very softness that allowed our civilizations to blossom. You don't want them preaching anymore. But you're really barking up the wrong tree. You're picking on the little guy who at present is frazzled, confused, and undoubtedly tainted with the world... still reeling under the negative effects (for Europe) of Vatican Two... which was only an attempt to create a sort of "Catholicism for Dummies" badly required in the Third World to limit the damages of Socialism and Communism.
Now there too, the Church gets the rap because she's not flying planes over cities and dropping condoms.
Quick quick! Solve the problem! Drop rubber! Never mind teaching chastity, family, responsibility, patience, community! And when the Church is over-powered 1000 to 1 by the forces of carelessness, greed, hedonism... blame the AIDS epidemic on the church!
In all this I even DO blame the church for having assumed too many positions of the "world," for having gone too ecumenical and for tolerating and even trying to cover up both scandalous positions and scandalous behavior.
The first battle is for the heart and soul of the church... which at least still has one. And then an activism which despite the incredible cultural and economic forces presently arrayed and in power, will begin to resonate. Because the best things in life ARE still free and every man DOES have a unique soul, and you really CAN'T take it with you, and "love thy neighbor" CAN mean "kick his ass" but will NEVER mean "ignore him." And there IS a huge moral dimension in each and every man. And marriage really IS an institution centered on child-rearing. And nothing at all can EVER substitute loving families. And the Universities truly ARE indoctrinating and teaching us to despise one another. And there truly ARE things that big Corporation capitalism are stealing from us.
And we really shouldn't all be having melted hearts for Knud the Berlin Polar Bear (probably an environmentalist scam in the works), and we truly ARE living too vicariously, being too maneuvered, welfared.
The list is endless. And as can only be expected is open to Daffy Duck mockery (today's N°1 attitude, even mine!). We've forgotten the very notion of sacredness, save for births and funerals. Only the beginning and end. The trick is to spread it right through... and to do it without plunging back into paganism. Not Might makes right, but Right makes Might.
Amen!
Steven,
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's" means that as a good Christian you're supposed to report the illegal alien to the authorities. He has broken the law so he belongs to Caesar.
It's because you have been brainwashed by post-modern values that you have forgotten the true meaning of this. And thusly we also get the typical liberal overreaction: "According to Conservative Swede, inter-personal relationships are COMPLETELY POLITICAL!" As a conservative speaking to a liberal I can only answer this with a major yawn. Liberals always come up with these bromides, such as "we cannot deport 12 million, dragging women and children in the middle of the night..." Yaaaaawn....
Instead think before you speak, and this discussion would be more interesting. Look at your own assumptions from the outside. Don't come with these knee-jerk reactions, as: "Or do you want personal kindness to go completely out of fashion and everybody reduced to passports, nationality, social and political status?" Think first.
There no reason for me to answer this because it is you, confused, by post-modern humdrum, that has misunderstood the whole meaning of "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's"
What's interesting is this blame of the Catholic church... I guess it would not be chic to blame the Jews...
It's worthwhile to notice that in these articles I have focused on Catholicism as the theme, which means that I have focused on issues regarding Catholicism. It was your own comments that put Catholicism on the agenda. Furthermore, my focus on Catholicism does not mean that I only put blame on the Vatican, it simply means that I had Catholicism as the theme in these articles. If you read other articles in my blog it will be abundantly clear to you that I criticize many representatives of our civilization, not only Catholicism.
It's also worthwhile to notice that the article I linked to, which rendered your comment above, put proportionally more blame on the Jews then on the Catholics, since 100% of the Jewish Senators voted in favour of the Kill Bill.
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