Catholic church should fund immigration?

Question

Well some of you may say I should burn in hell for my remarks BUT I am a catholic, Not a practicing catholic, I believe that if the catholic church and the pope are so pro immigration than they should use their own money to pay for all the benefits that illeagle immigrants recieve.They can afford it. They dont pay taxes. All that money collected on Sundays and all the wealth in Rome could take care of every person who wants to come here from Mexico.Let them feel the burden of the cost that they want to pass on to us tax payers and I am sure they would sing a different hymm

In answer to Veritatium 17s question on how I can be catholic but not a practicing catholic. I was baptized Catholic. I went to a Catholic school.I was an alter boy.all in the 1950s.I was slaped around by nuns, Punishment by Father Superior for climbing a fence and playing base ball in a play ground was a fist in the mouth.I believe in God and prayer but the rest of the crap that goes along with the catholic church can go to hell.

Answer 1

*Is Catholic*

The main problem is that you are thinking of everything as related to the United States. The Vatican and the Pope are not always talking about US issues, they simply are not.

If you think that the Pope is all pro-immigration you should look at what he has to say about immigration in Europe as well as the whole issue of Turkey joining the EU.

The immigration issue needs to be looked in context of the whole of Catholic theology. Certain American bishops are not doing that. You need to be better than them and look at the immigration statements from the Vatican (not simply some Vatican official who shoots his mouth off) but official statements and look at these in context of Catholic theology.

If you do, you will find that the Vatican position is very balanced, and does not look kindly on simply having tax payers pay for benefits for anyone who wants them.

BTW, the Church doesn't have much money. The "wealth" is in property that, if taxed, the local parish couldn't dream of paying for. Try some day serving on a parish finance committee, then you will know how little money there is. Most years the Vatican runs in the red.

Answer 2

I can tell you're upset, and while I understand the logic behind your argument, I don't agree for the same reasons.

The Catholic ethic that believes in free immigration is not from the perspective of the recipient nation but from the perspective of the immigrants, that these are people escaping oppressive conditions and should be free to move.

The problem with the Catholic ethic on this (and I am a practicing, faithful Catholic who disagrees with the Church on this point) is that while free movement may save lives, it does not change what is happening the country of origin.

If we really want to impact the illegal immigration problem, we need some way to hold the nations of origin responsible for failing their peoples. Mexico's leadership is anything but - the corruption is rampant and they have all but abandoned their people with the excuse that the U.S. will take care of them. Mexico is not unique in this - much of South and Central America suffers from deep poverty due to oppressive regimes.

Free movement of immigrants would save many lives, but burdens us terribly and inefficiently (it is far less expensive for a family to live in Guatemala than in the U.S.), and imposes deep difficulties on municipal systems. At first glance it may seem that a nation of 300 million persons could absorb an additional 20 million easily - but those 20 million do not disseminate evenly, rather they congregate in certain areas. Such a concentrated unofficial population imposes immense burdens on the official population.

Ultimately, it would not change anything if the Catholic Church were to pay for all of the services illegal immigrants receive - the Church would gladly do so and keep doing it. The point that is to be taken from the Church is that immigration for the most part stems from humanitarian crises that must be addressed. Any solution on the continuum from amnesty to total isolation remains incomplete without addressing the root causes of immigration.

By they way, how are you a Catholic, but not a practicing one?

Answer 3

Let's go through your little "rant" one piece at a time:

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The Catholic Church cannot fund immigration because it has no political authority to do so. Besides, America's immigration system is broken down completely. It makes legal immigration almost impossible and illegal immigration laughably easy - and let's not overlook the fact our government knows this but refuses to fix the problem.

Every country has a right to regulate it's own immigration policy, but the American government refuses to fix a system drowning in a sea of bureaucratic red tape. What are those who wish to come to America supposed to do when the system is broken and nothing is being done about it?


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I don't think you will burn in hell for your remarks, but you are living in a fool's paradise if you think you can be a Catholi without practicing Catholicism. Jesus said His followers would be known by what they do - what the PRACTICE.

Are you currently doing enough in your life so that, if you were brought to trial fo being a Catholic, there would be enough evidence to convict you? If the answer is "no", you've got some spiritual sloth to attend to.


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The Catholic Church is under no obligation to dictate policy to nations around the world, much less fund said policy. You argument is a red herring; void of reason. While the Church does not seek to dictate policy, this does not mean it can't speak out about political and moral injustices in the world.

America's current immigration system is an abomination. It mocks those who wish to move here legally by making the process needlessly complicated and difficult. In so doing, it is encouraging otherwise honest people to immigrate here illegally.

The Church sees America placing all the blame on the illegal aliens and none of the blame on itself. The Church wants America to examine the situation from another point of view; a moral one as opposed to the broken political one.


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The Church cannot afford to fund legal immigration. The annual budget of the entire Catholic Church is no larger than that of the annual budget of Chicago. So, you see, the Vatican CANNOT afford to fund America's immigration system.

Even if the Church could afford it, that fact alone does not mean the Church has to spend it. In America, we have Separation of Church and State. This means the government is powerless to tax religions, and equally powerless to dictate how the Church should spend it's money.


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Again, the annual budget of the whole Catholic Church is no bigger than that of the city of Chicago. The Church is not nearly as financially rich as you think it is.

Besides, since you are a practicing Catholic, I assume this means you are not attending mass, thus you are not among those donating to the Church's weekly collection. With that it mind, who are you to decide how this money should be spent when you yourself fail to contribute to it?


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Think again. There is a greater poverty in the world that those who are financially poor. There are those who are poor in the Spirit. America, while financially well off, is poor in the spirit for it's unwillingness to help those immigrants in need. A practicing Catholic would know this.


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All of this became irrelevant when you stopped being a PRACTICING CATHOLICS. All of that will remain irrelevant until you become a practicing Catholic again.


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You should not be in the habit of wishing hell for the someones or somethings of the world. Jesus teaches that we reap what we sow. If you insist upon wishing elements of the Church to "go to hell", you may find yourself there someday.

Answer 4

Pelosi did not violate the Constitution. She did not attempt to pass any law that would establish a state religion. She only did as most political leaders have done, she called on religious leaders to support her agenda. It's not unusual, unfortunately. The church is always targeted for propaganda. Too many church goers are sheep and will simply follow what their church leaders tell them. When Bush signed the executive order banning embryonic stem cell research, he did it from a fertility clinic under the guise of "protecting the innocent." What he, and his supporters failed to realize is that fertility clinics abort more children than they create. The Republicans do this already. I gave an example of Bush doing it, but I think you can find plenty more examples if you are willing to open your eyes. Personally, I think Pelosi is making a mistake bringing the church into this. It isn't a religious issue and she shouldn't be calling on them for help with this. She did not violate the Constitution and she cannot be impeached.

Answer 5

Sounds like a great plan to me. The Catholic church has no business getting involved in politics.

Answer 6

>>I agree. My suggestion is to put a check box on our taxes (much like the box for elections) to put money towards illegal immigrants. That way those of us that do not want to pay do not have to and those that are Pro-immigration can pay for all of these people. So all of the bleeding heart liberals and the Catholic church can pay for all of these people. I think we are on to something.

Answer 7

Yes and they have been interfering in the illegal problem in the USA for a long time . Maybe the Church's that encourage and help illegals to break the US laws should have their tax status changed .

Answer 8

AMEN!!!! And what about all the jewels, properties and businesses the Catholic church owns? Yet they ask those who have little to nothing to "give what they can". I'll tell you, as a recovering Catholic, what I will give them. My middle finger.

Answer 9

I think the Church should lose their tax free status, if they
insist on playing Politics.

Answer 10

No the Catholic Church should go back to Spain and stay there.
You talk of faith I have plenty
All you need to new is there is a God and you are not it, there is no hell life is learning death is the continuation.
I'm so tired of education
"law books"