Lafayette, La., Feb 10, 2019 / 04:45 pm (CNA).- When Mary Rose Verret first welcomed Douglas and Elizabeth into her home, Douglas’ boots squished with the sewage he worked with, and Elizabeth smelled of french fries from her fast food job. Douglas was also just a few years of out jail.
Burnt out after years of ministry, Mary Rose didn’t think she would have anything in common with this couple, whom her pastor had asked Mary Rose and her husband, Ryan, to mentor through a process to convalidate their marriage in the Church.
“It was a difficult, complex situation that on paper didn’t look like it was going to go well,” Mary Rose recalled. Often, she saw couples like Douglas and Elizabeth disappear from the Church as soon as their marriage was blessed.
But when Douglas opened up about how he found Jesus in prison, and about their desire for a sacramental marriage in the Church, Mary Rose was humbled.
“On my end, working with this couple, I thought I was going to teach and I was going to form, and Ryan and I thought we were going to give everything to them,” she told CNA.
“But when we started listening to them and the husband’s experience of getting to know Jesus at a bible study while he was in jail, and the relationship he had with Jesus, and how he wanted to make things right with God, and how he wanted to have a marriage in the Church and he wanted Jesus to be part of their marriage, it was very humbling…and it really changed the way Ryan and I lived our ministry and lived our faith and lived our marriage,” she said.
The Verrets founded Witness to Love, a Catholic marriage prep renewal ministry, several years ago with the intent to give newly-engaged couples an older mentor couple of their choosing in the Church that could walk with them through marriage preparation and beyond.
Now, they are launching a Witness to Love track specifically for couples who are seeking to have their civil marriages blessed by, or convalidated in, the Catholic Church.
“We saw that with Witness to Love, in the parish where we started this, engaged couples were benefitting so much, but we were seeing couples who were having their marriage blessed who didn’t go through Witness to Love, they met with Father a few times…they were getting divorced quickly, some of them even a month after having their marriage blessed,” she said.
Couples seeking to convalidate their marriage in the Church make up a significant percentage of sacramental marriages in the Church each year – roughly 20 percent, Mary Rose said. In 2017, the total number of sacramental marriages in the U.S. was 144,000 – meaning approximately 28,800 of them were convalidations.
In response to this growing need, the Verrets tweaked their marriage prep program to offer a track specifically fitted to couples seeking convalidations in the Church. They interviewed couples seeking convalidations and looked at best practices throughout the country for bringing them into the Church. Many couples seeking convalidation would do so around the time their children needed sacraments – baptism or communion or confirmation. It was a time they could reconnect with the Church and felt they needed to “get right with God,” Mary Rose said.
But old approaches of bringing these couples into the Church weren’t working – couples would fail to connect with the Church community and drop off, or even divorce, shortly after they received the sacrament. That’s where Mary Rose thought the Witness to Love mentorship model could work.
What’s different?
What sets Witness to Love apart in marriage convalidation preparation “is every other mentor model out there says: the Church is going to choose and train and assign mentor couples to you. You don’t know them, you didn’t pick them, you don’t know how old they are or their background,” she said.
“And we’re telling this to a generation that doesn’t trust the Church, many of whom have been abused, have a pornography addiction, haven’t been to church in 15 or more years. And we’re asking them to talk to complete strangers, who are like uber Catholics, about their faith life and sex life and we wonder why it doesn’t work out.”
The choice in mentor couples provides the “skin in the game” for the marriage prep couple and the room for the Holy Spirit to work, Mary Rose said.
Beyond that, the program is tweaked to match the language that civilly married couples use, and to emphasize how the grace of the sacrament builds on the natural goods of a civil marriage.
“There are two ways of looking at marriage. One is just on the natural level – you’re living together, balancing a checkbook, you have kids, you share groceries – you know, life,” Mary Rose said. “And there’s a lot of natural goodness there, but there’s also a lot of natural challenges and we have fallen nature. So the grace of the sacrament helps you get through some of those things, love through things, grow through things, work through things, offer things up, pray for your spouse,” she said.
“The reason that we have the grace of the sacrament is that it’s impossible, on a human level, to love completely, totally, freely and fruitfully. It is impossible,” she noted.
“With the grace of the sacrament, you just have to ask God everyday to please help me keep my wedding vows,” she said, which also differ in wording and intent between civil and sacramental marriages.
Often, couples who have convalidated their marriages become the best witnesses of the grace of the sacrament of marriage, Mary Rose noted, because they know what it’s like to live without it.
“When they have their marriage blessed, if they are formed, then it’s a whole different experience, because if they just have one or two quick meetings and then never really understand this grace they receive, they can’t really tap into it.”
Going through the process
Meghan Reily and her husband Brendon were high school sweethearts who met in middle school, dated through college and got married civilly in 2016 – Meghan was Catholic, Brendon was not.
Once Meghan discovered that her marital situation was keeping her from the sacraments, she talked to Brendon about having their marriage blessed in the Church.
“After much discussion and prayer, we decided to go through the process. I think that shows a true testament to Brendon’s character,” Meghan told CNA.
“I could tell that this was something that was important to her and for the Church,” Brendon added, though he admitted to being “a little apprehensive at first.”
“Opening up about your relationship is something that is very personal to me,” he said. But going through this, I have never felt closer to Meghan than I do now. Same with our mentor couple. I’ve known them for several years, but I feel like they are family now too. They will always be someone who we can call on for anything.”
For their mentor couple, the Reily’s chose a couple that Meghan had known since childhood.
“We were in the same parish and I grew up with their daughter. We became best friends and her family was like a second family to me. Since I was always so close to them, Brendon got to get to know them when we were dating,” Meghan said.
“When asked who to choose as a mentor couple, it was a no-brainer for us. Their love for God and putting Him right at the center of their family is exactly the type of environment we want to have for our family.”
Meghan said the mentorship and the program of Witness to Love brought a “self-awareness” to their marriage that they hadn’t had before. It gave them tools to know and love their spouse better, and to work on virtues together.
“It was both challenging and rewarding. It in a way forced you to have those difficult conversations you don’t necessarily want to have,” she said.
“While we have been civilly married for two years, we are nowhere close to having it all figured out! The workbook provided great tools to give you insight on how you are wired and how your spouse is wired so you can better understand each other and how to handle situations, or discover what things you need to work on that you didn’t think was even an issue,” she added.
Brendon said the program changed their relationship by emphasizing that “it takes three to get married” – the couple and God.
“We are much more open in sharing what’s on our hearts so that we can pray for each other and build each other up,” he said.
Much of the content of Witness to Love is virtue-based. It encourages couples to examine different virtues – love, honor, courage, respect, humility, and so on – and how those virtues can best be lived out in a marriage.
“By learning the virtues, you are growing closer to God and understanding fully how much He loves you and how you need to love your spouse in return, because God loves your spouse that much and He put you together by His grace,” Meghan said. “Doing that, well, that’s what gets you closer to Heaven – knowing how to love and accept someone for all of who they are.”
Meghan and Brendon’s marriage will be blessed in the Church this March. Meghan said she would “absolutely” recommend the Witness to Love mentorship program to other couples in similar situations.
“It’s definitely something I’ll want to reference going forward in our marriage,” she said.
Responding to the needs of the Church
When Bishop Joseph Strickland was first made bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas in 2012, strengthening marriage and family life was one of his top priorities.
“I wanted to really focus on marriage formation because in some ways I think we find ourselves needing to rebuild Christian society, and the stronger the marriages are, the stronger the families will be, the stronger (the faith of) the children will be, and I think that’s where we can begin of a joyful revolution of deeper faith,” Strickland told CNA.
About a year ago, the Diocese of Tyler began using Witness to Love’s marriage prep program – “I liked the solid theology on marriage and the beautiful presentation of what the sacrament of marriage is about for us as Catholics,” Strickland said.
Located in a minority-Catholic area, Strickland said he sees the need for good convalidation formation continuing to grow, as more couples delay marriage, or decide to come back to the Church later in life.
“There are so many couples that need convalidation, and we’re really encouraging and wanting to support those couples,” he said.
Having worked on a marriage tribunal for years, Strickland said what appealed to him about Witness to Love, besides being theologically sound, was that it didn’t feel as “bureaucratic” as some other marriage and convalidation programs.
“You’re having to talk about this very personal information with a priest that you don’t know, maybe you don’t feel you’re that comfortable with them, maybe you’re not Catholic or haven’t been practicing your Catholic faith for a long time,” he said.
“So I think to have the mentor couple, who would be someone who is faithfully living their Catholic faith, to help them feel like they’re welcome and to navigate any issues they might have…would be important especially for couples who may have been married civilly for quite some time and have had a number of kids and are having to negotiate some significant complexities.”
Mary Rose said the mentor couple relationship is so key to Witness to Love because it works both ways – the convalidating couple receives formation, but the mentoring couple is also challenged to examine their marriage and “step it up”, so to speak, in order to be a good example. She said some mentor couples have told her that being asked to mentor another couple is what saved their own marriage.
“It’s kind of a dead end if you don’t open at least a crack for the Holy Spirit, and in Witness to Love that risk has always been allowing the couples to choose their own mentor,” she said.
“But it’s that invitation, that personal relationship – it’s a two-for-one evangelization effort that has made all the difference and transformed parish communities, because instead of a couple coming through the Church and never seeing them again, their mentor’s marriage is renewed, the community is renewed.”
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Totally misguided and wrong action by the bishop. Fear of the law being rightly enforced against you does not excuse you from Mass attendance. Those who are hiding from ICE are guilty of being in the country illegally; they are guilty of violating immigration law. How is that possibly understood as an excuse not to attend Mass? The bishop is pandering. The bishop would not excuse people who are guilty of other crimes from Mass attendance because they didn’t want to venture outside their homes lest law enforcement apprehend them.
Let’s get this straight: is the bishop condoning violating immigration laws? He seems to think it’s wrong for law enforcement to apprehend and prosecute for immigration crimes. I have no respect for any bishop who cannot bring himself to use the word “illegal” in conjunction with “immigration” or “alien”. This bishop is an example of such.
The bishop is emoting about “standing with immigrant communities” without acknowledging that illegal aliens have brought this on themselves by attempting to evade immigration laws and/or not regularizing their legal residency, thinking that the law does not apply to them.
I voted for this enforcement. I voted for Trump. These actions by ICE are exactly what I voted for. Illegal aliens have their willful violations of immigration law and the Democrat Party’s open border, sanctuary city, and lax enforcement policies to blame. It’s now time to face reality under a law and order administration.
Meanwhile, the Vatican does not tolerate illegal immigration into its own territory. See how it threatens illegals:
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border
What a bunch of political horse manure. Bishop Rojas ought to be ashamed of himself.
As if criminals, gang members, and cartel guys are going to be at Mass on Sundays.
With guys like Bishop Rojas leading our dioceses, no wonder weekly Mass attendance is at an all time low.
The problem is more about ordinary folks waiting on asylum hearings, etc. who’ve been rounded up, detained, & then let go. I totally get what ICE is doing as far as criminals & gang members but some other people have been detained that needn’t have been. Stuff happens, mistakes are made but it still must be pretty traumatic to go through.
Those who operate the bleeding heart blue states and sanctuary cities are absolutely the ones responsible for this situation. The ICE folks warned that if blue cities and states continued to ignore ICE detainers and refused to turn over criminal illegals for deportation, but instead released them into the communities, that more “ordinary” illegals would get swept up in the more dangerous process of street arrests. Those illegals are the collateral damage resulting from the lefts self righteous belief that they are correct to defend rapists and murderers and gang members from the punishment due them, in the form of deportation. While ICE has a focus on arresting the “worst of the worst” it is also NOT ok to be here illegally just because you mow lawns and are not a gang banger. If you as a hard working illegal come into view while they are in your neighborhood arresting a gang member, you may indeed get arrested. Because you have no right to be here either. Get it??
Its hard to respect a Bishop who essentially says its ok to escape the consequences of your sins. And breaking the law in this case is indeed an illegality and a sin. Rendering to caesar means obeying the law. A little bit of stealing is not ok, a little bit of sex abuse is not ok, a little bit of ANY sin is not ok, a little bit of slander or lying is NOT ok. If someone robs your home and then is caught, he is not allowed to keep his ill gotten gains just because he is used to possessing it, or has possessed it for a long time, and his neighbors have asserted he is a “nice guy”. Get it? .
It is horrifying to see a Bishop excusing this behavior when he should be advising these people to self deport home and try to return legally. When people think the rules dont apply to them, and they can make their own chaos reigns and civilization breaks down.
They are here illegally. They should return and follow proper immigration protocols, which include asking for asylum in the first country they come to, which is usually not the US
These bishops used to be laughable. They’re no longer even funny. Pitiable, yes; funny, no.
The bishop bespeaks a “Covid-Stay-at-Home” mentality.
Let us pray: O Lord, give us worthy shepherds.
How ironic (but very understandable given the nature of our fallen nature) that the very ones who championed “religious freedom “ are at the same time selectively denying it. Oh what fools we mortals be.
Whether the Bishop agrees or not, these individuals are being arrested for an illegal act – illegal entry into this country. He clearly disagrees and is free to make his case as vigorously as he chooses, but facilitation of illegality crosses the line, and in itself becomes illegal, and this also clearly is his intention.
I hope that’s not the case. If this deportation effort has changed from deporting dangerous criminals to arresting ordinary workers who came in the wrong way but have otherwise clean records & have been productive members of our communities then I wouldn’t support it. I’m more in agreement with Ronald Reagan & Rick Perry on this issue. They were/are conservatives with a heart.
You can get arrested for traffic infractions and unpaid tolls, even if you have an otherwise clean record and are a productive member of society.
There are two possible methods for illegal immigrants: make them legal, or deport them. Making them legal has been tried before, and was followed up by a gradual, then sudden, cessation of enforcement of immigration law – the stuff that keeps the cartels and terrorists out. Their continued residence as an illegal underclass contributes to creating a refuge where the cartels and terrorists can hide and abuse their neighbors with no fear of the police being called, not to mention a steady stream of income from the perfectly ordinary illegal workers who have otherwise clean records.
Traffic fines are not felonies or the sort of heinous crimes associated with cartels.
We need a secure border but we can deal humanely with folks who have been in the workforce for years and kept clean records. It benefits everyone. Especially with the looming demographic shrinking we face.
I was comparing unpaid traffic fines, which can get you arrested, with illegal immigration, which can get you arrested.
You can deal humanely with people and arrest them.
A demographic increase can be orchestrated in 3 ways: end contraception, end pornography, and increase LEGAL immigration. A permanent underclass is not beneficial. A refusal to enforce the immigration laws will result in a permanent underclass regardless of how many more amnesty laws get passed.
I wish we could solve our demographic crisis by outlawing contraception but that horse left the barn generations ago. We’re reaping the harvest.
Too mush haste leads to overstep and I think this is not good. Illegals have a lot of useful background information that would stabilize law enforcement and show better who among them could be legitimized the more easily and quickly. The authorities have to go on trust with the legal interlocutors/intermediations; and anyway in this process will learn even more.
Two contrasting movies might bear out some of the issues.
In The Lineup with Eli Wallach, you see well-organized crime chasing a lucrative criminal trade mixed into legitimate trade and travel; smuggling needing in-depth and committed long-term investigation to uncover what is deeply hidden, a lot of it out of reach. The detective/police work is hard-nosed, matter-of-fact and relentless.
In Border Blues with Gary Busey, you have multiple disparate intersecting character lines involved in more or less innocent pursuit incidentally complicating the search for a serial bomber. Some of the detective/police work is a bit fly-by-night for which L.A. got a notoriety; albeit everyone is on board, consistent and persistent.
Please note Border Blues is a basically “clean” movie as I saw it on YOUTUBE with an instance of verbal profanity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lineup_(film)
https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/border-blues
The bishop quotes canon law having to do with “Spiritual Goods” but actually seems to be dispensing them from the Sunday Mass obligation for their temporal good of not being arrested for the crime of being in the United States illegally.
What part about they are here illegally, against the law, does this Bishop not understand.
Typical Church State Politics that we’ve seen for the past many years….is this a “sanctuary” situation? It’s ok to break a just law? What is his Excellencies status…??!!
Not to ever worry that this Bishop will ever die for his Faith.
“We shall continue America’s tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries. We shall also, with other countries, continue to share in the responsibility of welcoming and resettling those who flee oppression.
At the same time, we must ensure adequate legal authority to establish control over immigration: to enable us, when sudden influxes of foreigners occur, to decide to whom we grant the status of refugee or asylee; to improve our border control; to expedite (consistent with fair procedures and our Constitution) return of those coming here illegally; to strengthen enforcement of our fair labor standards and laws; and to penalize those who would knowingly encourage violation of our laws. The steps we take to further these objectives, however, must also be consistent with our values of individual privacy and freedom.
We have a special relationship with our closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Our immigration policy should reflect this relationship.
We must also recognize that both the United States and Mexico have historically benefited from Mexicans obtaining employment in the United States. A number of our States have special labor needs, and we should take these into account.
Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status. At the same time, in so doing, we must not encourage illegal immigration.
We shall strive to distribute fairly, among the various localities of this country, the impacts of our national immigration and refugee policy, and we shall improve the capability of those agencies of the Federal Government which deal with these matters.
We shall seek new ways to integrate refugees into our society without nurturing their dependence on welfare.
Finally, we recognize that immigration and refugee problems require international solutions. We will seek greater international cooperation in the resettlement of refugees and, in the Caribbean Basin, international cooperation to assist accelerated economic development to reduce motivations for illegal immigration.
Immigration and refugee policy is an important part of our past and fundamental to our national interest. With the help of the Congress and the American people, we will work towards a new and realistic immigration policy, a policy that will be fair to our own citizens while it opens the door of opportunity for those who seek a new life in America.”
Ronald Reagan
Date
07/31/1981
I LOVED Ronald Reagan, but knew this immigration law he agreed to was a huge mistake. The amnesty only encouraged more of them to come, hoping for an amnesty themselves.
From Wikipedia:”Despite the passage of the act, the population of undocumented immigrants rose from 5 million in 1986 to 11.1 million in 2013.[16] In 1982, the Supreme Court forbade schools to deny services based on illegal immigration status in Plyler v. Doe. In 1986, Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which forbade hospitals from denying emergency care services based on immigration status.”
In other words, they came in droves and ever since have been a major financial burden on the country. As for the jobs that “Americans wont do”,–well, who do you think did them before we were inundated with illegals, undercutting wages? They are without question a financial burden on the entire nation.” This needs to end. Illegals need to understand that WE get to decide to gets into the US.
I hope Trump does not start giving carve out exemptions to certain businesses like agriculture who want to use illegal labor. . At best, they should be given work permits which can be revoked, but NEVER the right to vote.
Poor folks, new immigrants, and slaves have done those sorts of agricultural jobs in the past LJ. And occasionally convicts .
It’s very difficult to find US citizens who will do that kind of labor or who can do it dependably. Ditto for many service industry jobs.
I personally think we should do our own work, too but that’s not what most Americans are looking for these days. Fewer Mexicans also. I read that as the standard of living in Mexico has risen US farmers have to seek workers from further away.
To our beloved bishops: Obviously you want the chaos and human trafficking of the past four years. You do not care that children have disappeared and are sexually exploited. You stand with the the cartels that made millions of dollars on expediting illegal immigration and profiting from human misery. And you are willing to tolerate the mass migration and misery brought on by open, unmanaged borders.
Or is it you just hate Trump?
Probably both.
Good. Maybe now they can discontinue Spanish Masses since no one will be attending.
Why would they discontinue Spanish Masses?
I’ve been attending those since the 1970s and so have lots of US citizens.
Mass attendance in Spanish down because the faithful fear deportation? Proves beyond all possible doubt Trump and Miller’s claim that “illegals” are Islamist terrorists, rapists and murderers. Shame, shame shame.
Would ICE raid churches? Probably not. Churches are sanctuaries, going back to the Middle Ages. ICE should not violate this principle. The idea of armed ICE agents entering a Church is reprehensible. ICE should make this clear. Churches are off limits.
I doubt Mass raids would happen because it could put the rest of the congregation in danger of crossfire. It seems better practice to arrest offenders as they enter or exit Mass.
We had a gunman try to enter a Mass in our diocese a few years ago but thankfully a member of the congregation wrassled him to the ground until law enforcement came. The officers told everyone to duck down for cover in case there was a 2nd gunman inside. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.
No. No arrests on Church property. Do it elsewhere. Church is a sanctuary. Any arrests on Church property is a step towards Fascism.
If there’s a gunman, law enforcement has no other choice. Otherwise it’s much more prudent & respectful to make arrests outside of church.
So the bishop is telling me that rather than attend Mass more often to ask God for His protection, I should run away from the law, and now from Him because the truth isn’t going to be on my side?
This bishop has all the sophistication of thought about law, justice, and morality that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has. Two ways to deal with such a person in a position of influence: mockery or dismissiveness. Both this bishop and Ketanji have views that possess no merit.
If you are in my nation unlawfully you are owed neither my empathy nor my sympathy. My moral obligation is to the eradication of such lawlessness, as directed by my constitutionally protected Christian faith, as directed by my nations history and traditions.
Obviously the good bishop should be counseling those among his flock who have sinned by breaking a legitimate law to turn themselves in to the proper authorities or take advantage of the policy which allows them to return to their homeland and apply for LEGAL immigration to the United States…with a $1,000 in their back pocket.
Yes, sinned. By their actions illegal aliens are placing themselves ahead of the line for all sort of benefits designed for the aid of American citizens. They are robbing disadvantaged citizens of aid to which they alone are entitled.
It would appear that while the good bishop received his academic theological training he was never catechized.
Can’t be a pastor without catechesis.
Very proper dispensation by the Bishop of San Bernardino. As in the times of the catacombs Catholics are under persecution. Now ten million of them are threatened with deportation for a misdemeanour like jaywalking. It’s saddening to see other Christians applauding the persecution of these hardworking fellow believers just because the WASP establishment fears them. This is the real motive behind this spectacle. It’s all pointless in any case. Last month only sixteen thousand were deported. Sixteen million to go. It’s just another political stunt that will divide the country in the long term.
“…just because the WASP establishment fears them.”
Keeping it classy and fact-based. Nice. (Ahem.)
It’s an issue that can’t be avoided, the facts you are concerned about. The United States has amnestied millions of Catholic “illegal” Hispanic migrants before without any threat to its integrity. It is simply dishonest for Trump and Stephen Miller to talk about Islamic terrorists, rapists and drug traffickers when almost the entirety of the 10 million plus Hispanic Catholics who live in the United States with irregular status work hard. Like the 30% of US citizens who have “form” for “crimes” of varying gravity, some also trespass. But obviously this isn’t the real reason for continuing this cruel political stunt which is only damaging the US (while gratifying a minority, it’s true). Time and time again the real motive comes out, and it’s got nothing to do with the law of Christian ethics: they don’t assimilate properly into the dominant WASP culture. It’s time for the United States to address its bi-cultural reality. Like Canada, it is a bi-lingual country (23% Hispanics in the US, 19% Francophones in Canada). London regognised this reality in Canada in the nineteenth century, and Canada has continued this. The US now needs to do what it had already done in New Mexico, afford official status to Hispanic civilisation by virtue of its continuous (indeed prior) existence and contemporary strength. This wont kill the US. Continuing to provoke 80 million of its own people with this cruel stunt will have terrible effects if prolonged. I’m not talking about liberal “multiculturalism”, but something people who read a publication like this one ought to be thinking about, rather than lifting the terms of the debate from the dominant social and political caste, which has no interest in the Christian West
Mr. Cervantes, when is the last time you visited the States? The days of “WASP” culture are in the past.
Illegal aliens are not hard working and they are not being persecuted. They are here in violation of federal law. It is necessary and appropriate for them to be deported.
Tennessee’s law provides for 30 days jail for jaywalking. I’ll wager many more than 30,000 a month would be arrested if it were applied, which is the number of arrests ICE can manage at the moment. The law isn’t the real motive. The migrants’ Catholic, Hispanic civilisation is.
Tennessee jay walking laws were made to catch illegal immigrants? Or US state laws are enforced for that reason?
Being in the US without proper documentation is reason enough.
Jaywalking is not a threat to our national security.
Nor are millions of Catholics working to put food on your table.
Migrant workers who came to our area work very hard indeed. But yes, they are here in violation of the law.
I hope we can find a way to make them legit, at least with temporary work permits so they can get their jobs done. Especially for agriculture. Crops and livestock can’t wait.
Complete fearmongering and hysteria. Firstly, Christians in Nigeria and the Middle East continue to attend Mass despite facing actual persecution (i.e violence at the hands of Radical Islamists).
Secondly, fearing consequences for breaking the law is not persecution. Being a criminal doesn’t make you a “victim”.
Thirdly, breaking the law is a sin, so these illegals need to go to confession.
Finally, the Catechism teaches that immigrants need to accept the laws of their host country and show gratitude, not a sense of entitlement. The Bishop is violating Church teaching by protecting ingrates who forced their way into the country.
I thought my comment points to a need to harmonize the issue on a scale. Just being an illegal is, “as a crime” and/or “as moral offense”, is on the very low end of the scale of priorities.
Another interesting movie description about immigration is Men In Black 1997, there at the beginning, when MIB had to zone in on the worst threat. (I am not advocating on “necessary inevitable violence” either.)
I have always argued elsewhere that immigrants present many positive opportunities. BUT that it had to be ordered to right flourishing. Obviously, it’s people and futures involved.
The reactionary approach is the opposite, it is time-consuming, divisive, facilitative of more expert bad elements who skip over it and manipulate it, up-ending of the positive opportunities, costly, sterile, sterilizing of local officials.
In other words you’re “PUTTING BACK” EVERYBODY and the new economy but you imagine it’s “so wise” and “well-feathered”.
Also, I have hit out at international organizations on emigration and mass cross-border movements, for being slack, lugubrious, always behind the curve, self-involved bureaucracies -ultimately inhumane and anti-economy serving entrenched interests within and in the private sector.
“Just being an illegal is, “as a crime” and/or “as moral offense”, is on the very low end of the scale of priorities.”
*********
I agree Mr. Galy. Before this issue became so politicized & illegal immigration became so massive I don’t think it was on too many people’s radar.
The Government shouldn’t be able to take people from Church sanctuaries against their will. I always thought that they were places of refuge in this country the same as foreign embassies.
There are no such sanctuary laws in the states. If illegals are hiding in churches, they are subject to deportation.
I think sanctuary is a good tradition but it worked that way more in the past.
Temporary work permit is a brilliant idea mrscracker. It’s a way to bring the situation under some clear-sighted management and organization -a big section of it. But it mustn’t be a ruse. What they could do ahead of advertising it is, publish a list of qualifying and semi-qualifying attributes that would be applicable with additional caveats: that people would be able to repeat temporary work if not made permanent immediately, that they would be re-engaged in temporary status for mere visits and that they would not be black-listed for merely having crossed the border, etc., etc., etc. The temporary work permit could be granted as a matter of right for individuals not themselves under the pale of serious suspicion of crime.
Temporary work permits weren’t my idea of course but possibly Donald Trump’s. Or his advisors. We’d have a huge crisis in those US industries if everyone here illegally was deported.
We shouldn’t be in this situation in the first place & we have ourselves to blame as well as the border crossers & the cartels who brought them here. Everyone played a part. Secure borders & safe & a legal immigration/work visa process benefits everyone. (Except the cartels.)