To Demonstrate Collegiality A La Pope Francis, Progressive Prelates Hold Hush-Hush Meeting To Complain About Traditional Faithful Catholics

Much of the internet is ablaze with discussions about some local activists who came across bodies of children murdered by abortion and their subsequent arrests.  I will have much to say about this very soon, but first I am in the process of verifying some facts.

Meanwhile, much mischief is afoot in progressive circles of the Catholic Church.  Last week the pope engaged in what some hope is a consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart.  The question is whether or not the consecration happened in accord with the stipulations set forth by Our Lady of Fatima.  I'm no theologian, but it appears to me that at least Pope Francis' prayer came a lot closer to those specifications than did those of his predecessors.  Now did the bishops of the world join him?  That is questionable.

One bunch of prelates who most likely did not join him was a gaggle of progressive bishops who met in Chicago during the time of the consecration.  The meeting itself was rather secretive and people came only by invitation.  The organizers admitted the existence of this gathering only because some media got wind of it.  One Mad Mom has a write-up on it as does Complicit Clergy. 

One prelate who was in attendance was Cardinal Maradiaga, who has the pope's ears on many matters.  Since this gabfest happened in Chicago, we can be certain that Cardinal Cupich at least gave his blessing for it and most likely participated.

They attempted to put forth the image of Francis' papacy as carrying on the work of Vatican II - as if that's a good thing.  They are concerned - very concerned, I tell you - about "opposition to the pope", people "looking to the old liturgy", "the impact of moneyed conservative influence in Catholic social movements" and "reluctance of some U.S. dioceses to implement the grassroots consultation process".  They also blathered about "collegiality".  Yes, nothing exudes "collegiality" like having secretive meetings by select invitation only.  Keep it us guys, and keep demonstrating why you all don't deserve one dime of our contribution dollars.

The Pope's Personnel Appointments Reveal His Hand

"Personnel is policy" as the saying goes.  Again and again, Pope Francis shows us how true that statement is.  See below for three examples.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga has been the subject of many of my blog posts (and that of other bloggers).  A heterodox progressive, he chairs the so-called "gang of nine", that inner sanctum of papal advisers.  Since Maradiaga has made no secret of his leftist leanings, we may safely opine that he has the pope's ear precisely because of those leanings.  Today One Peter Five detailed how Maradiaga, in an interview recently given, hurled insults against the four cardinals who issued the dubia in an attempt to mitigate damage being done by Amoralis Lamentia.  I won't rehash 1P5's post here.  Suffice it to say that because Maradiaga is so close to Pope Francis, we might have a decentl inkling of the responses that the pope might make to the dubia.

This past week the Pope appointed heresy-spewing Jesuit Father James Martin to handle the Vatican tweets.  Cardinal Wuerl celebrated the advancement of dissent by inviting Martin to deliver a Good Friday reflection at St. Matthew's Cathedral.  I suspected this reflection might be a spewing forth of pig slop.  True to fashion, Martin did not fail to disappoint us.  I'll highlight one heretical whopper below.

Consider this quote from LifeSiteNews: "Father Martin told those in attendance at the Good Friday liturgy that his favorite theological question to ponder is whether Jesus knew what was going to happen on Easter Sunday before He died."  In other words, Martin completely disregards Jesus' Personhood.  While He has two natures, human and divine, He is a Divine Person, the Second Person of the Trinity.  As such, He possesses omniscience.  To insinuate that Jesus didn't know He'd rise on Easter Sunday is to cast doubt on His divinity.

Both Pope Francis and Cardinal Wuerl were fully aware of Martin's embrace of heresy and immorality.  They did not do so in spite of  these serious flaws, but because of them.  He advances their common agenda.

John Zmirak pubished an article yesterday detailing the antics of Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin.  Recall that he was recently given his red hat by Pope Francis.  Tobin is sponsoring, at his cathedral, a debacle called "LGBT Pilgrimage And Mass".  This affair is being conducted by several organizations that shill for perversion.  As Zmirak points out, there is no mention of the need to repent of the mortal sin of sodomy and to embrace chastity.  Long-time readers of this blog will recall that two years ago, while Tobin was still Archbishop of Indianapolis, we petitioned him to put a halt to a local KofC council's intent to allow lesbians to celebrate their debauched #mowwidge in their hall.  Tobin was utter silent.  Of course we lamented that silence.  However, I must now consider the possibility that perhaps Tobin did have his hand in that sordid affair, perhaps directing the council to allow mortal sin to be celebrated on Catholic property free of charge.

Almost concurrently, Tobin has drawn the long knives on Father Peter West, a priest who stands firm for Christ's teachings on life and marriage.  He was formerly associated with both Priests for Life and Human Life International before being called back to Newark.

One might ask, "how could Pope Francis select Tobin to be Cardinal, given his terrible record of fidelity to Christ's teachings?"  Regrettably, I believe Tobin's record is precisely the reason why he was selected.

We'll probably be seeing more and more of these squalid associations being foisted on the Church.

George Soros: Puppet Master For Hillary And The Vatican?

When I wrote my post this past Sunday (two days ago) about the anti-life motives of the climate-change crowd, I asked the question "how much Soros money is in this Catholic climate movement thing".  Some news today gives the answer to that question: billions of dollars.

Elizabeth Yore, an attorney affiliated with the Heartland Institute, wrote an article that was occasioned by some proceeds of the wikileaks data dump.  In the information was also details of plans to leverage Pope Francis' influence to sway the presidential election to Hillary Clinton.  Through his Open Society Institute, Soros planned to grant $650 billion to PICO and Faith in Public Life to engage the bishops regarding "income inequality": that is, apologetics for socialism.  Yore's article appears in the Remnant and on LifeSiteNews we see more details.

Yore mentioned that in 2015 both Vatican officials (Cardinal Maradiaga key among them) and Soros personnel collaborated on an Apostolic Exhortation on Climate Change and backing for the Paris Climate Treaty.  I wrote a bit about that at the time, noting the progressives that were wined and dined at the Vatican; see this anthology of posts.  In that first post I wrote, "I would like to think that the Vatican is just being naive and easily led when it comes to climate change.  However, I now believe there are powerful forces within the Vatican - the same ones controlling the USCCB - that are pulling puppet strings and doing their utmost to promote progressive agendas upon the whole world."  Now we know, and it makes perfect sense.  In USANews, we find remarks that Soros made about himself, remarks that seem to be quite candid to say the least.  He apparently holds himself to be some sort of "god" who controls Hillary and most likely the Vatican.  Obviously he's got the "god" part wrong, but he does wield massive influence over the leftwing in this country and in the Vatican.

The realization of Soros' influence at the Vatican seems to put many things in a new light:

• The bizarre resignation of Pope Benedict XVI
• The personnel shake-ups at the Vatican: Burke out, the formation of this "gang of nine", with Soros ally Maradiaga at the helm
• The none-too-disguised manipulation of the two family sin-nods

Of course they may all just be coincidences.  But there's so many of them - like so many dots out there just begging to be connected.

We must pray for our Church, and we must understand just what is happening to her in order to do so.

More Nonsense From The United States Hierarchy In Wake Of Sin-Nod

A few weeks ago we heard that the sin-nod fathers were batting around the idea of decentralizing the Church to place more authority in the hands of national conferences of Catholic bishops.  The world immediately realizes the ramifications for the German Catholics and I pointed out some similarly disastrous possibilities should the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops be imbued with undeserved authority.

Less than two weeks later we see evidence of damage that the USCCB will inflict.  Yesterday the USCCB put out a press release stating that Catholic and Lutheran leaders released a document entitled "Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist".  I linked to the article and that in turn links to the statement.  It is a long tome.  These Catholics are operating under the delusion that doctrinal differences can be talked away.  What seems to be implicit in the notion of dialog is compromise.  That, of course is impossible.  The Roman Catholic Church has the fullness of truth because it comes from Jesus Christ.  We cannot compromise one iota of that for we cannot tamper with what Jesus has given us.  Yet such compromise is implicit throughout this document.

Yesterday I received news of another incident to occur this coming Monday.  With the sin-nod in the past, the progressives are focusing again on Laudato Si.  The Not-At-All Catholic Reporter announced that Cardinal Maradiaga will be featured at a panel discussion at Georgetown University.  Also featured in this panel will be John Podesta, former Obama official who is now chairing Hillary Clinton's campaign.  This dissent-fest will be moderated by John Carr.  Maradiaga's and Carr's names are hyperlinked for a reason; I've written about them in the past and if you follow the links you'll see why these men are dissenters if not outright heretics.  And yes, Maradiaga is one of the pope's top advisors; the pope has full responsibility for what he allows Maradiaga to utter.

Today I went to Mass at a parish that will remain unnamed.  In the bulletin I saw the above event being announced.  Knowing the priest to be faithful, I've no doubt that the announcement is in his bulletin only because its inclusion was dictated from "on high"; that is, orders came from the DC chancery and probably from the USCCB.  So yes, we are just beginning to see the progressives feeling their oats as a result of the sin-nod.  Those Catholics who are giddy simply because the "sin-nod wasn't all that bad" really need to remove your rose-colored glasses and start praying..

Maradiaga's Tweets And Concerts Tell All

As you read through the tweets below, recall that Cardinal Maradiaga is the leader of the Pope's handpicked advisors.  He will be attending the next "shadow synod" and will have a decisive impact on the October sin-nod.  From his twitter page we get a rather stark picture of the direction in which he intends to take the sin-nod.  I will probably unpack these tweets in a future post, but for the most part the heresies pronounced in these tweets cannot be missed.

By the way, these tweets are being exposed by other faithful Catholic bloggers too.  Once the Vatican gets wind of that, I might suspect that these tweets might get pulled down.  That's why I've saved these screen shots of them.

And now the concert!  Who else do we know who plays the saxophone?  Hint: his wife thinks she's the anointed heir to the Messiah Most Miserable.  Maradiaga is supposedly "jamming for justice".  True justice is being ill-served - in more ways than one.  Here's your earache for the evening.

Storm Clouds Gather In Preparation For October's Sin-Nod

As we saw last week, Archbishop Cupich was appointed delegate to next October's sin-nod almost immediately after he twisted Catholic moral teaching about in his statement that abortion was no more of an evil than capital punishment.  Most Catholics with at least two working brain cells know that while abortion is always intrinsically evil (and thus a mortal sin), capital punishment is not so and in fact can be morally licit.  My intention is not to reignite that debate in my com-boxes but to illustrate how Cupich prostituted his high office to push a progressive agenda.  I suspect that qualified him immediately as a delegate in the eyes of the sin-nod perpetrators, so off he'll go to the Vatican come October.  But there are more storm clouds.

Recall the "shadow synod" that happened last May.  I suppose they believe that it was such a rousing success that they want to repeat the damage benefit.  Who is a papal adviser that is invited to that?  Why, it's none other than Cardinal Maradiaga (ht to Lifesitenews)!  You've seen enough of Maradiaga's name on this blog, as well as a rundown on the mischief he's wrought in the Church (to date).  Read the Lifesitenews piece for the rundown on the other heretics who will be spreading their bile at that meeting in hopes of poisoning influencing the sin-nod.

Many good people are sounding alarms.  The Instrumentum Laboris for the sin-nod is out, and Voice of the Family finds within it reasons for grave concern.  As you read it, go all the way to the bottom where Voice of the Family states that we faithful Catholics "have a duty to oppose the direction being taken at the synod".  Bishop Athanasius Schneider has also sounded an alarm regarding the working document, saying "one is left with the suspicion that the authors of the Instrumentum Laboris try to push forward the agenda of a certain clerical pressure group in order to change the Divine law of the non-admission of divorced and remarried to Holy Communion."

The battle lines are being drawn.  I thank the Lord for courageous prelates like Bishop Schneider.  Pray for him and his fellow faithful priests and bishops, that they be protected from those who wish harm upon them.  Pray also for those who carry on like wolves in sheep's clothing for theirs' will be a horrible punishment if they don't repent.

Voices Of Reason Contradict Pontifical Acadmeny Of Sciences Regarding Climate Change Junk Science

Thanks to the blogosphere (of which this blog is a small part), the world has been alerted to the joke of a conference that occurred last week regarding "climate change".  As revealed, anti-life population-control advocate Jeffrey Sachs had a disproportionately large amount of influence over the proceedings of that meeting - and the report that was obviously written before the meeting happened.

I posted on it last week; in my reply to one of the comments I mused aloud my suspicions that the "climate change" hoax might play a role in the maturation that the pope wants to inflict upon Catholics as they prepare for the brain-rot that will spew forth from next October's sin-nod.  The PAS report included the Vatican's endorsement of "population control", i.e., contraception, abortion and possibly euthanasia.  This anti-life poison may well be woven into the October meeting.

Again, thanks to the blogosphere, true scientists are making their voices and concerns heard.  On April 27, the Cornwall Alliance released "An Open Letter To Pope Francis On Climate Change".  It is signed by reputable individuals such as Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Father Paul Acton, Gary Bauer, Donna Bethel, retired MD State Senator Nancy Jacobs, Lord Christopher Monckton, Steven Mosher, Austin Ruse, Thomas Sheahen, John Zmirak.  The gist of this letter points to the reasons why popular models have failed, based on empirical data.  It also points to Biblical reference regarding the relationship between man and the created universe - and points out why any attempt to restrict fossil fuel consumption would be harmful to poor people.  If the pope insists on dabbling into scientific matters (over which he has no special authority), he needs to weigh real data, not just emotional rhetoric.

However, with some prelates, facts don't sit very well.  Cardinal Maradiaga, a chief advisor to the pope (and I've written plenty about him, too), had this to say while visiting Washington DC last week in response to a question regarding the expected encyclical about the environment: "Do not expect statistics, numbers and theories.  He will go directly to the baptized."  Pardon my french, but what the hell does that mean????  Disregard of real scientific data seems to be habitual among progressives, and Maradiaga isn't even trying to conceal it.  He's opining that the pope will rely on emotional "mob-appeal" to push through the population control heresy.  Remember - he's a key advisor, de-facto leader of this "gang of nine", for the pope.  He may be a nut, but one to be taken seriously.

Again, we all must watch what proceeds from the Vatican and measure it agains the timeless traditions of Holy Mother Church.

Truth Versus Heresy, Cardinal Versus Cardinal

I've written before about Cardinal Maradiaga and the harm he is wreaking on the Church.  Like a pesky weed he continues to undermine the Church from his position of influence as head of the group of top advisers to Pope Francis.  I can only surmise that Pope Francis approves of his dissidence; else he would have removed him just as he banished the good Cardinal Burke from the Vatican, but I digress.

Father Z relates that when Maradiaga was asked about Holy Communion for those in de facto adultery, he said, "Impossible?  No!"  He also blathered about an "ongoing synodal process" to bring about the abomination.  I'll look this up in Rules for Radicals, but I'm sure it's a tactic favored by Alinsky.  To paraphrase it in a poem, "Disobey!  Have your way!  Then one day they'll say ok!"

Cardinal Walter Brandmuller voiced quite an opposite statement, one that is faithful to the Teachings of Jesus Christ.  When he was asked about Holy Communion for those divorced and remarried, he said that would be possible only if they resolved to live as brother and sister.  He said this for sake of those with children who would be damaged by separation.  It is in this interview that Brandmuller took issue with the heresies of Cardinal Marx, stating that his statements "are in contradiction of the dogma of the Church".  It is worth noting that Cardinal Brandmuller takes direct exception to the notion that "pastoral practice" can stand in contradiction to Church dogma, as Cardinal Wuerl opined last October.

Let us pray for more leaders such as Cardinals Brandmuller, Muller, Burke, Pell, etc and that others like Cardinals Marx, Wuerl and Maradiaga repent and start acting like the Princes of the Church that they are.

Cardinal Maradiaga Continues His Espousal Of Socialism

I've written quite a bit about the harm that Cardinal Maradiaga is inflicting upon the Church: his dalliance with the World Social Forum, his encouragement of the encroachment of illegal aliens and his foolish embrace of "climate warming" (we could use a little warming right now, but I digress).  Now consider that he is the head of the "gang of eight" prelates that are serving as top advisers to the pope.

Today the Catholic Herald UK gave details about remarks made by the cardinal at a book presentation recently.  In the words of the Herald piece, "The book includes an interview with Pope Francis responding to accusations that he is a Marxist or a Communist because of his insistence that the economy, finance and free market must be controlled to ensure a greater distribution of the world’s wealth. A portion of the interview was published in January. 'I did not say anything that is not in the social teaching of the Church,' he said in the full interview."

This "insistence that the economy be controlled" begs some questions.  First, who or what should be doing this "controlling"?  That makes a world of difference.  If that controlling is done by the government, well that is socialism by definition.  And if the pope and cardinal think that socialism does not contradict Church teaching, what do they say about the words of previous pontiffs?

Further down the article, we see the cardinal grumbling about "bank officials" being allowed to retire comfortably and play golf while others are struggling.  Again, who does this "allowing"?  Have you ever noticed how these socialists like to couch their sentences in passive voice?  When one uses passive voice in a sentence, the subject of the sentence is usually not mentioned as it would be in active voice.  Thus we see things like "being controlled" and "being allowed", phrases that shift focus on the receiver of the "allowing" and "controlling" as opposed to the initiator of the action.  If the initiator were made manifest, then most would see plainly the intentions of the Maradiagas of the world and rightfully reject them.

By the way - if Maradiaga wants an image of a powerful person wantonly playing golf while people to whom he answers are suffering, I direct his attention to the picture at right.  The Messiah Most Miserable has taken copious golf trips paid by the taxpayers of this country, many of whom are financially strapped owing to his draconian taxes, etc.  When will Maradiaga rebuke him?  The answer is "never" for he and Obama are of the same mind in all too many respects.

Hichborn On CCHD, Cdl Maradiaga And Their Corrupting Influences On The Church

Christine Niles of Forward Boldly recently interviewed Michael Hichborn of Lepanto Institute.  Hichborn has done extensive research on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and other socialistic encroachments into the leadership and structure of the Catholic Church.  Another corroding element upon which he touched is Cardinal Maradiaga.  He focused on Maradiaga's leadership of Caritas International.

The interview was extensive so perhaps time did not permit the discussion of other issues regarding Maradiaga; I've touched upon some of these, as you can see in this anthology of blog posts.  One of them is the role that Maradiaga played in our recent and ongoing influx of illegal aliens pouring through our southern border.  The other is the role that he played in the SinNod last month, advocating for the distribution of Holy Communion to those living in adultery.  Yet another is the role that Maradiaga holds as he is de facto head of the group of eight cardinals who are top advisers to the Holy Father.  Pope Francis picked them himself.  I find it difficult to believe that the Holy Father was unaware of Maradiaga's unsavory doings at the time of his selection.

Please continue to offer prayers (especially the Mass and Rosary) for Holy Mother Church.  Now here is the interview.

US Bishops Push For Amnesty - Part And Parcel Of Larger Corruption?

The US bishops seem to have interpreted last week's elections as a referendum (in part) on the Obamanista regime's attempt to grant large-scale amnesty and loosen our borders.  To be fair, they are correct in understanding that most people of common sense understand these policies to be crippling to the US and helpful to no one in the long run.

They - that is, the leadership of the bishops - are in a tizzy over this development.  As you might recall, they've been caught accepting millions of dollars (through grants to Catholic Charities) for the express purpose of absorbing the millions; see this link.  If those big ole' GOP meanies get their way, why, that spigot might be stopped!  Note: "spigot" in this context means millions of our tax dollars flowing into corrupt Catholic Charities coffers.

Therefore, in complete disregard for the will of the American citizens - you know, the ones whose wallets are being raided for these Catholic Charities grants - the bishops, from their meeting in Baltimore, are urging that we support the Messiah Most Miserable in this latest power grab.  Here are details from Huffington Post.  I know, some of you are going to dismiss that link as liberal wishful thinking.  Would that were true - but they're right as you can see from this USCCB-controlled site.

But might there be another motive besides the filthy lucre?  Might someone in high places in the Vatican have a stake in allowing the influx of Central Americans, including Hondurans, into the US?  The "Hondurans" reference might give you a hint of my theory.  It wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras might be pulling a lot of strings to get the US bishops to screech for de facto open borders.

Does he have the influence?  He most certainly does.  As the acknowledged leader of the group of eight cardinals selected to advise the pope, he has the pope's ear and consequently many churchmen might be inclined to pay him quite a bit of deference.  If you read a bit of that article, you'll notice that one goal of their's is to give more power to the various bishops' conferences; at this time, they have no canonical authority over their member bishops.  Of course this would include the USCCB.

This leader of the Council of Cardinals has shown himself to be a counselor for evil in the various dealings that he has.  He is president of Caritas International.  This organization sits on the International Council of the World Social Forum.  In other words, Caritas has an active role in setting goals and priorities for the World Social Forum.  Among the goals and priorities of the World Social Forum is the promotion of abortion and homosexuality: two anti-life realities that are completely contrary to Christ and the teaching of His Church.  Please read this report by American Life League and watch the related video.

The Tablet has an article about the bishops' debate regarding Holy Communion for divorced/remarried - that is, adulterous - Catholics.  Cardinal Kasper led the way, but Maradiaga was right beside him.  Cardinal Burke stood for the Church's teaching as it has stood for nearly 2000 years; last week he received persecution from his brother bishops in high places and yes, the pope.  Remember - Maradiaga has the pope's ear.  In his piece entitled "Burke And Another Translation Error", Robert Royal rightly includes Maradiaga in a list of "unreliable counselors" to the pope.

I have here an anthology of posts dealing with Maradiaga: Caritas (discussed above), his envirowhackoism, and his push to get the US to assimilate Hondurans into the US.  He seems to be working in concert with the Honduran president to ship as many of their problematic citizenry into the US as possible.  See here and here.

So this gang of eight wants the conferences to have more power?  Let us pray that they - at least the USCCB and its state counterparts - are abolished.  This bunch is trying to amass power for itself, as its push for amnesty illustrates.

Vatican Social Justice Apparatus Controlled By Progressives

Michael Hichborn of the American Life League reports that Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican's top social justice agency, is providing leadership to the World Social Foundation.  The latter in turn is unabashedly promoting communism, homosexuality, contraception and even abortion.  Please watch the video below and download ALL's full report on this latest scandal.  It would appear that not only have progressives infiltrated the Vatican's social justice apparatus; they control it lock, stock and barrel.

Both this video and the report conclude by asking that all petition the Caritas director, Cardinal Maradiaga, to end all contact with the World Social Forum.  I believe this suggested action would be akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house.  I have written before about Cardinal Maradiaga, and his recent actions that suggest his embrace of the Cloward-Piven Strategy.  Most notably I pointed out the key role he played in precipitating our recent crisis with thousands of Central Americans pouring across our borders.  I think that along with prayer, the best we can do is to keep shining the light on these outfits and watch for any actions they may undertake in your locality so that you can best determine how to combat these.

Regarding Illegal Immigration, Here Are Questions The Liberals And USCCB Refuse To Answer

I'm going to follow up on yesterday's posting with some observations and questions - mostly questions, for there seem to be many questions that aren't being asked.  Who know?  Perhaps these questions are being actively stifled.  Well, I'll ask them (in no particular order) and hope that this serves to wake some folks up.

Today I received my newsletter from Help Save Maryland, a conservative organization in Maryland.  They in turn reprinted a National Review article, called "The Moral Crisis On Our Southern Border" by Victor Davis Hanson.  He rightly points out that the bulk of these children are not Mexican; rather, they hail from Central America.  Since Mexico (ironically) has much tougher immigration policies than does the United States, how can it be that these children were not turned away at Mexico's southern border?  Did Mexico admit them because they wanted them shipped to the United States?  If so, for what purpose(s)?

Hanson asks some questions that bear review, and I'll "copy-and-paste".  What sort of callous parents simply send their children as pawns northward without escort, in selfish hopes of soon winning for themselves either remittances or eventual passage to the U.S? What sort of government allows its vulnerable youth to pack up and leave, without taking any responsibility for such mass flight?

These questions deserve answers, as do the following questions that arise because of Hanson's.

• There are thousands of kids coming across.  Did their parents willingly send their children abroad, or were they pressured to do so?  I have difficulty believing that thousands of parents could be so roguish and callous as to just send them away on a train.  Could it be that those children were seized from their parents?
• Assuming that the kids were indeed sent ahead of their parents to be tools for their own immigration to the US, what tracking mechanisms (if any) were put in place so that these parents could eventually find their children?  The whole procedure seems so hodge-podge (at least north of the border) that I don't see how any reunion would be possible.
• Regarding the de facto abandonment of these children by their parents OR the seizure of the children from their parents, why do we hear nary a peep from Catholic bishops on either side of the Rio Grande regarding this practice?  When it comes to deportation, the US bishops are among the first to pitch royal snit-fits about "disrupting the unity of families".  Now that the families are being shattered south of the border in the process of the kids coming here, where, oh where, is that noble indignation of the bishops?  Why do we hear crickets on that score from the USCCB?

Rush Limbaugh pointed out a few days ago that the mobilization of all these kids was no spontaneous event; there had to be a considerable amount of organization to pull it off.  I bet even Limbaugh did not know how much the Church establishment was part and parcel of all that coordination.  Father Z reprinted news that he in turn obtained from Liberty News.  As early as 2010, dioceses along the Mexican border received grants from both Health and Human Services and Department of Homeland Security for the express purposes of preparing them to receive this increased influx of illegal immigrants.  So when you hear of border dioceses "opening their doors", etc, realize that a large part of all this "generosity" is your tax dollars at work.  The chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Migration, Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, told attendees of the conference last week that "it is not because we have a political agenda..it is something we are impelled to do".  Yes, I'd imagine that millions of dollars in DHS and HHS grants would be quite "impelling".  As for "political agendas", how else will the Democrats buy enough voters to keep them in power?

At that same Migration Conference held last week, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas International, gave yet another pitch at trying to inflict a guilt-trip on good people wanting to defend their borders.  His failure to do so was overshadowed by his inaccurate knowledge of world history.  He stated, "Can you imagine if St Paul tried to get into Europe nowadays? Rather than being welcomed with unusual kindness he would probably be classed as an undocumented migrant and sent back home."  Your Eminence, most of the western world at that time, including Europe, was part and parcel of the Roman Empire - and Paul was a Roman citizen.  Under no circumstances would he have been considered an immigrant, let alone illegal.  Earlier he made a similar (and common) gaffe about Jesus "living as a migrant".  He is referring to the Holy Family's flight into Egypt.  I point out that at that time, both Egypt and Israel had been subsumed into the Roman Empire.  So here we see yet again more conflation of Scripture and world history on the part of these progressives.

In that same speech he made a startling admission (probably inadvertently).  "Many of these children are from my own country, Honduras. They flee gangs who want to induct them into a life where they will surely die a violent death at a young age."  Your Eminence, before you come to the US to chide us for defending our country from a swell of immigrants that we cannot assimilate, you and your brother Honduran bishops would do well to address the problems in your own country that seem to be making life in Honduras miserable.  You will not be addressing the issues in Honduras by shipping them north of the Rio Grande!

By the way - the House of Representatives has nixed Obama's $3.7 billion "emergency request".  Will that dry up the DHS and HHS grants to the churches?  We hope!