Sacred Heart Of Mary And The MCC Statement

On my post this Thursday about the MCC screed, I received two comments.  Pursuant to the second one, I decided to visit Sacred Heart this morning and let at least some of the parishioners know that differences of opinion on these matters are permitted by Holy Mother Church.  I'll post the text of my opinion after the jump break.  Comments are welcome.

I received word of another Baltimore parish receiving a similar thought-squelcher.  I will post on that tomorrow.  If anyone else has seen similar stuff in their parishes, please feel free to drop a comment.  I do advise that anything posted may be subject matter for a blog post.  We need to expose this sort of nonsense.

Now here's my message to the attendees of the 10AM Mass today.

Truth About the DREAM Act

Last week, May 14th at the 5:00pm Mass, the parishioners of Sacred Heart of Mary received an announcement from the pulpit stating that it’s the position of the Catholic Church that one should not participate in the effort to bring the newly-signed DREAM Act to referendum. While that opinion might be the policy adopted by the Maryland Catholic Conference and local bishops, such opinion does not bear the weight of Magisterial authority.

While Our Lord taught charity to the less fortunate, good people can and do disagree regarding the methods in which such charity is to be best administered. The DREAM Act is one such area that falls within the realm of prudential judgment. Divergence of opinion is permissible in this matter. Attempts to stifle healthy debate and differences are at best misguided and are inherently unethical.

Regarding the DREAM act, many Catholics question its inherent wisdom, to wit:
• The lack of consideration of the tax burden on citizens who struggle to send their own children to college
• The rewarding of immoral disregard for our nation’s immigration laws (put in place to ensure orderly assimilation for our immigrants)
• Lack of thought of the impact upon other aspiring students

Such Catholics are not wrong to entertain legitimate doubts and even opposition to the DREAM Act. To suggest that such Catholics are acting in opposition to the Church or are acting “harshly” (as insinuated in the ill-advised statement recently issued by the Maryland Catholic Conference) is a draconian imposition on the freedom of conscience that is the right of these good Catholics.

Catholics who are so inclined should feel free to petition this matter to referendum, for they will indeed feel the tax burden imposed by the DREAM Act.

I trust that the individual who made that unfortunate announcement last week was advised of the error of her statement, be that error intended or unattended. On the blog cited below is information on the referendum drive (see the May 19th postings), should anyone be interested in researching all the viewpoints in this matter. Thank you.