Catholic Bishops: Are They Just One More NGO Liberal Lobby?

Chris Manion has a great article on the bishops and their call for immigration "reform," their buzzward for amnesty. Some bishops (Mahony comes to mind) paint anyone who disagrees with them or calls for securing our borders as a racist troglodyte fit for hell because of his (or her) lack of "social justice." They never consider the justice due to citizens losing health care access and decent education (Illegals in the schools cost taxpayers $52 BILLION a year!) because the system is overrun by the illegal invasion. When 84 hospital in southern California go bankrupt and close the community suffers. Is that justice? Well...don't get me started. Here's a bit of Chris' excellent commentary:

USCCB President Timothy Cardinal Dolan is right — the bishops have had "laryngitis" regarding the magisterial teachings of the Church on sexual morality for fifty years. But they've filled the vacuum with the political agenda of the welfare state, and have used their "role of speaking for the moral voice of the Church" to pass off their opinions as official Catholic teaching instead. 

As a result, America's bishops have inverted the Church's priorities. Eternal truths are ignored, while personal political agendas are canonized. They have become "just another NGO," lobbying on issues ranging from inflation, welfare, taxes, and budgets to the price of tomatoes in Florida. 

Amnesty for illegal aliens fits right in with a clerical agenda that has become increasingly partisan, radical, and secular. 

It is especially distressing to see politicized bishops cloak their agenda in religious language, as though no good Catholic — or good person! — could possibly disagree. Catholics in my diocese are asking their pastors, in and out of the Confessional, "Is it a sin to oppose amnesty?" 

Countless bishops would apparently like them to think so. Roger Cardinal Mahony once told an immigration rally that supporters of current law were "fanning the flames of intolerance, xenophobia and, at times, bigotry."

Curiously, the Rubble can find no record of Mahony or his successor, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez – or any other bishop or USCCB official, for that matter — condemning the blatant racism of La Raza — "The Race" — or that of many other pro-amnesty agitators who march alongside them in amnesty rallies. 

Instead, the Cardinal implies that everyone who disagrees with him is irrational.
Such self-serving moral posturing is hardly pastoral. It ill serves — and even perverts — the Church's mission to "go and teach all nations"; it misinforms the public, scandalizes good Catholics; and is thoroughly lacking in charity. 

It is also often lacking in truth. Good bishops and priests consistently refer to the Catholic Catechism's teaching that prosperous nations should strive to "welcome the foreigner" [CCC 2241]; however, they rarely mention what follows: "Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens."

Don't miss the rest of this great article!