Following Texas suit, USCCB committee chairman defends Catholic efforts to serve migrants
February 28, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Echoing statements from the bishop of El Paso and the bishops of Texas, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty defended Catholic efforts to serve migrants.
“As the tragic situation along our border with Mexico increasingly poses challenges for American communities and vulnerable persons alike, we must especially preserve the freedom of Catholics and other people of faith to assist their communities and meet migrants’ basic human needs,” said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
Bishop Rhoades made his remarks after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against Annunciation House, a Catholic migrant ministry in El Paso. The attorney general cited “significant public record information strongly suggesting Annunciation House is engaged in legal violations such as facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”
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Posted by: howwhite5517 -
Mar. 02, 2024 8:11 AM ET USA
What violation of the migrant's basic right is it that they abide by the laws of the United States and the State of Texas?
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Posted by: ewwest4412 -
Mar. 01, 2024 8:13 PM ET USA
It is quite obvious that the Bishop does not understand that using the word migrants hides the fact that the people crossing are in fact illegal aliens. Couching the those crossing the border in euphuisms doesn't make it more legal. If the Bishops were really interested in providing the care called for by our faith, they would fund assistance in the countries the people are coming from and thru. What are the Bishops doing about the the drugs, human trafficking, etc.?
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Posted by: grateful1 -
Mar. 01, 2024 5:39 PM ET USA
It is not at all the mission of the Catholic Church to violate duly enacted laws against "facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house." To the contrary, if Texas is able to prove such violations in court, as it is attempting to do, it should have the support of all law-abiding Catholics, who quite properly recoil at these profoundly inhumane crimes committed by NGOs in their name and at taxpayer expense.
