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A Call to Faithful CitizenshipU.S. Bishops have spoken clearly on the Catholic responsibility to engage in the political process. A statement was offered by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) prior to the general election of 2004. Here is an excerpt of that statement (http://www.usccb.org/ faithfulcitizenship/bishopStatement.html): One of our greatest blessings in the United States is our right and responsibility to participate in civic life. Everyone can and should participate. Even those who cannot vote have the right to have their voices heard on issues that affect their communities. The Constitution protects the right of individuals and of religious bodies to speak out without governmental interference, favoritism, or discrimination. Major public issues have moral dimensions. Religious values have significant public consequences. Our nation is enriched and our tradition of pluralism is enhanced, not threatened, when religious groups contribute their values to public debates. A recent Vatican statement on Catholic participation in political life highlights the need for involvement: Today's democratic societies . . . call for new and fuller forms of participation in public life by Christian and non-Christian citizens alike. Indeed, all can contribute, by voting in elections for lawmakers and government officials, and in other ways as well, to the development of political solutions and legislative choices which, in their opinion, will benefit the common good. In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue; participation in the political process is a moral obligation. All believers are called to faithful citizenship, to become informed, active, and responsible participants in the political process. As we have said, "We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate [more fully] in building the culture of life. Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power." Even those who are not citizens are called to participate in the debates which shape our common life. This page is a multipart conversation on the Church's teaching on issues of the day. What you will read in these reports is not the whole story. Our committee believes that consideration of these reports may result in a broader and deeper understanding of the moral issues which led the U.S. Bishops to write "Faithful Citizenship". [For the doctrinal aspects relating to these topics we rely primarily on "Catechism of the Catholic Church" [CCC], U. S. Catholic Conference, 1994. We will sometimes supplement this with conciliar, pontifical and episcopal writings. The great majority of legislative and "political" information and observations will come from newspaper reports and magazine articles. The content, therefore, (a caveat) is not based on extensive, intensive, or scholarly research.] • Political Responsibility
This is the title of a reflection offered by the U.S. Bishops. The bishops write of Catholic responsibility to engage in the political process. They set out principles for our guidance and encourage us to act on our moral convictions. Nonetheless, the bishops acknowledge that people may have differing ideas about how to apply them. "People of good will and sound faith can disagree about specific applications of Catholic principles." These times are particularly crucial because our nation has been attacked and gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq and because we have passed from budget surpluses to allocating the burdens of deficits. "Politics in this election year and beyond should be about an old idea with new power - the common good. The central question should not be 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' It should be, 'How can we - all of us especially the weak and vulnerable - be better off in the years ahead?' " And very bluntly, "As Catholics we are not free to abandon unborn children because they are seen as unwanted or inconvenient, to turn our backs on immigrants because they lack the proper documents; to create and then destroy human lives in a quest for medical advances or profits; or to ignore sick people because they have no insurance. Nor can we neglect international responsibilities in the aftermath of war because resources are scarce. Catholic teaching requires to speak up for the voiceless and to act in accord with universal moral values." Here are some of the major issues the bishops write about:
"Each person's life and dignity must be respected, whether that person is an innocent unborn child in a mother's womb, whether that person worked in the World Trade Center, or a market in Baghdad, or even whether that person is a convicted criminal on death row."
"The God-given institutions of marriage - a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman - and family are central and serve as the foundations for social life. Marriage and family should be supported and strengthened, not undermined."
"If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers, owners, and others must be respected - the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and choose a union, to economic initiative, and to ownership and private property."
"We show our respect for the Creator by our care for creation."
"Nations must protect the right to life by finding ever more effective ways to prevent conflicts from arising, to resolve them by peaceful means and to promote post-conflict resolutions... We have raised serious moral concerns and questions about preemptive or preventive use of force."
"Because financial and economic factors have such an impact on the well-being and stability of families it is important that just wages be paid to those who work to support their families and that generous efforts be made to aid families."
"No one model or means of education is appropriate to the needs of all persons. Parents - the first and most important educators - have a fundamental right to choose the education best suited to the needs of their children, including private and religious schools."
"We support regulation that limits the concentration of control over these media, and disallows sales of media outlets that attract irresponsible owners primarily seeking a profit and [instead] opens these outlets to a greater variety of program sources, including religious programming."
"The measure of welfare reform should be reducing poverty and dependency, not cutting resources and programs."
"With tens of millions of Americans lacking basic health insurance, we support measures to ensure that decent health care is available to all as a moral imperative."
"Those who grow our food should be able to make a decent living and maintain their way of life . . .[and] our priority concern for the poor calls us to advocate especially for the needs of farm workers, whose pay is generally inadequate, whose housing and working conditions are often deplorable, and who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation"
"The United States should adopt a more generous immigration and refugee policy." These are issues that concern our bishops. They ask us to learn more about them, to develop our opinions and then to engage ourselves in the political process, hoping that with our influence the COMMON GOOD will become a paramount issue. Catholic Social Teaching Principles Podcasts Status on Immigration Reform - Update Piecemeal Efforts Even before Congress failed in June to pass comprehensive immigration reform, state and local lawmakers were working on narrower measures. A news item (SF Chronicle, 8/5/07) said that 41 states have passed 171 laws (no details given) in the first half of 2007. Congress itself is now proposing narrower measures. On August 2 four senators offered a bill to tighten border enforcement, require jail time for people who have overstayed their visas [there are estimates that 35%-40% of the 12 million illegals have expired visas], and to build detention centers on closed military bases. (Two senator co-sponsors had favored the June compehensive reform measure.) Hazleton PA enacted a law with heavy penalties for landlords and businesses which rent to or hire illegal persons. A federal court judge ruled that that law violated due process rights and encroached into federal laws and policies. The city is appealing. New Haven CT, in contrast, has a police policy to not question people about their immigration status. The city provides ID cards to residents. These give access to banks, libraries and some city services. What "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" includes The recommended policy of our U.S. bishops' conference combines: 1. Enhanced border protection, 2. Employer sanctions after a national data base is available to them, 3. A path to eventual legal status and 4. Preservation of family unity. Deportation of Felons (ICE Raids) Between 1997 and 2005 more than 672,000 people have been deported, court-ordered because convicted of felonies, both violent and non-violent. [In 2005 90,426 people were deported. Of these, 20.9% were violent, 64.6% were non-violent and 14.7% were for "other" crimes.] In many of these cases their citizen and green card family members, including children, have to choose between separating or remaining united in a poor country of origin. Immigrant advocates estimate 1.6 million people may be in this pickle. Effect on Business The June Senate defeat now threatens the supply of authorized seasonal workers. Agricultural interests ($30 billion income a year in California) and seafood suppliers in Maryland [surely there are others] have made the news recently. These industries compete against foreign producers and depend on cheap labor. Colorado and Idaho are looking to prison labor. Day Worker Centers and Street Labor A recent California study estimates that about 40,000 people are involved. They are about 3% of all the male undocumented work force and 0.2% of California's total work force. There are 24 cities with approved day worker centers, often offering a simple meal, job training, money management, ESL training, or some legal advice. On the flip side, 60 cities nationwide limit or prohibit street work solicitation. The Mountain View worker center is desperately seeking a new site, because the host church needs the space. The San Jose center is flourishing. Fees for Citizenship and Green Cards Going Up Beginning this month the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency raised the cost for processing the many legal requirements - some doubled or tripled. Zoe Lofgren, chairperson of a House immigration sub-committee wants to be sure the increases are justified. The Agency, funded only by fees, says it needs more money to modernize and to eliminate backlogs.
Cardinal Mahony Addresses Immigration Issues “To the church, the immigration issue is primarily a humanitarian one, because it impacts on the well-being of millions of human beings. It has moral implications and must be viewed through a moral lens.” So said Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles on October 8, 2007, at an immigration forum at the University of Notre Dame. Cardinal Mahony said that an enforcement-only policy does not work. He noted that since 1993 the U.S. has spent $30 billion adding miles of barriers to the southern border, but the number of undocumented immigrants in the country has doubled in the same time period. Can we have it both ways? Are the psalm and the rousing hootenanny favorite reconcilable? From "The Catechism of the Catholic Church": #2415 - " . . . Use of the mineral, vegetable and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including GENERATIONS TO COME; [emphasis supplied] it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation." From "Faithful Citizenship": "The world that God created has been entrusted to us. Our use of it must be directed by God's plan for creation, not simply for our own benefit. Our stewardship of the earth is a form of participation in God's act of creating and sustaining the world. . . . We show our respect for the Creator by our care of creation." These two paragraphs put responsibility on us - individuals, citizens of our country, citizens of Earth - to do as Mom used to say, "Leave something in the dish for the next person." When it all began, God made it "and he found it very good." (Gen. l:31) . Leaping over the centuries to the 19th we find then a period of rapid population growth, technical progress, expanding markets, industrialism, colonialism seeking raw materials and markets, and wealth beyond dreams. Then it was not so "very good". What now of our 21st century? Is it correct to say that we're putting a great strain on non-renewable resources? Is it fair to say that all this has dirtied up land, sea, air and the creatures of the deep? Are we giving sufficient thought and care for those who will follow us in the tomorrows to come? To be sure, there are opposing views to a doomsday scenario. Some scientists and economists have concluded that all is not black, that we are making inroads on pollution and warming, that new technologies more widely used are making a difference, that a healthier global economy will stimulate more robust progress in turning things around, that there is still time. Maybe so. Let us hope. Speramus. The thrust of all these fine words suggests this: Our property deed to "your land . . . my land" is not fee-simple, do-what-you-will-with-it, take-no-heed- for-tomorrow. We have only a conditional use permit calling for our prudence and restraint. But can we - or how can we - establish this as policy? We live now in a transnational corporation economy with global interconnections. Big guns, heavy hitters, bit in their teeth. To effect change, our nation and the international community must establish a consensus for a measured use of the earth's bounty and respect for the earth's fragility. That done, there must be an effective mechanism to apply policies that work for the common good, the good of all. In this effort our nation is the mightiest force that can bring this about. Take pen in hand and tell our representatives - again and again and again. |