Faith in the news

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Post by tuttle »

Wosbald wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:08 +JMJ+
tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 05:39 Nearly all the beats wozzy lays down in this thread are from the exact same drum all the progressive protestants beat incessantly.

I'm NOT saying wozzy is on par with lefty protestantism …
Not sure if I'm bein' a buttinsky into your convo with Del, but I think it really shouldn't be a surprise if Catholic Faith's self-styled "Fullness of Truth" resonates more with "Lefty Protestantism" on some issues and with "Righty Protestantism" on others. Rather, it seems like what one should expect.

Now, the preponderance of news on these issues may currently favor the "Lefty Protestant" squint, but that's likely due to the ascendency of Right-Fascism putting these historically Leftish issues under pressure.

OTOH, all that could change overnight if a rise in Left-Fascism (e.g. Fascistic Dems like RFK Jr. or Marianne Williamson) started dictating the convo.

Or we could see a worst-case scenario of a Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes ("war of all-against-all") — a Nationwide Flamewar between avatars of Right- & Left-Fascism overheating the melting-pot of American life into one, big, confusing, Babylonian stew.

:violence-rapidfire: :violence-glob:
I wonder what it's like to live in this dream world where Right Wing Fascists are powering the narrative from every corner of society, ostracizing and oppressing the totally fangless and powerless Left that is absolutely not dictating any conversations within the nation.

You sound like you live under a cafeteria table at the New York Times.
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Faith in the news

Post by Del »

tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 05:39 Nearly all the beats wozzy lays down in this thread are from the exact same drum all the progressive protestants beat incessantly.

I'm NOT saying wozzy is on par with lefty protestantism but I am saying that it more or less falls on deaf ears. Maybe he's just using this thread to keep track for himself, like a journal. Or since he doesn't really share his own thoughts... maybe more like a peg board.
The joke is on those Democrats and progressive Protestants!

These millions of immigrants are pro-life Catholics who want good jobs, low taxes, and safe lives for their children. They are going to vote that way when they are allowed to.

Meanwhile, there is no excuse for the humanitarian crisis -- letting the cartels control our immigration policy, along with extortion, sexual assaults, and trafficking of victims. The fentanyl crisis is an ancillary issue. In recent months we've had several mass shootings, vehicles smashing through crowds, and multiple drownings at the river crossings -- all directly caused by Biden's wanton disregard for human life and border security.

Biden and Mayorkas have had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42. It appears that they have intentionally done nothing. Now a federal judge has issued an order prohibiting DHS from loading the flood of migrants into busses and dropping them off in the middle of the country to be dealt with later (on the promise that they will appear and identify themselves sometime later).
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking ... be-overrun

My heart goes out to the migrants. Invited but not welcomed or cared for. It's unconscionable.
I guess Biden was not satisfied with the misery he brought to Afghanistan. He wants to bring it home, a thousand-fold.
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Post by Wosbald »

+JMJ+
tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:22
Wosbald wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:08
tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 05:39 Nearly all the beats wozzy lays down in this thread are from the exact same drum all the progressive protestants beat incessantly.

I'm NOT saying wozzy is on par with lefty protestantism …
Not sure if I'm bein' a buttinsky into your convo with Del, but I think it really shouldn't be a surprise if Catholic Faith's self-styled "Fullness of Truth" resonates more with "Lefty Protestantism" on some issues and with "Righty Protestantism" on others. Rather, it seems like what one should expect.

Now, the preponderance of news on these issues may currently favor the "Lefty Protestant" squint, but that's likely due to the ascendency of Right-Fascism putting these historically Leftish issues under pressure.

OTOH, all that could change overnight if a rise in Left-Fascism (e.g. Fascistic Dems like RFK Jr. or Marianne Williamson) started dictating the convo.

Or we could see a worst-case scenario of a Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes ("war of all-against-all") — a Nationwide Flamewar between avatars of Right- & Left-Fascism overheating the melting-pot of American life into one, big, confusing, Babylonian stew.

:violence-rapidfire: :violence-glob:
I wonder what it's like to live in this dream world where Right Wing Fascists are powering the narrative from every corner of society, ostracizing and oppressing the totally fangless and powerless Left that is absolutely not dictating any conversations within the nation.

You sound like you live under a cafeteria table at the New York Times.
All I can say is that if anyone (not necessarily you or anyone here) is seriously expecting Wos to pick a side in a Rock-'Em Sock-'Em of Right- & Left-Fascists, then that, right there, is "livin' in a dream-world".

:romance-cloud9:


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Post by tuttle »

Wosbald wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:46 +JMJ+
tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:22
Wosbald wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:08

Not sure if I'm bein' a buttinsky into your convo with Del, but I think it really shouldn't be a surprise if Catholic Faith's self-styled "Fullness of Truth" resonates more with "Lefty Protestantism" on some issues and with "Righty Protestantism" on others. Rather, it seems like what one should expect.

Now, the preponderance of news on these issues may currently favor the "Lefty Protestant" squint, but that's likely due to the ascendency of Right-Fascism putting these historically Leftish issues under pressure.

OTOH, all that could change overnight if a rise in Left-Fascism (e.g. Fascistic Dems like RFK Jr. or Marianne Williamson) started dictating the convo.

Or we could see a worst-case scenario of a Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes ("war of all-against-all") — a Nationwide Flamewar between avatars of Right- & Left-Fascism overheating the melting-pot of American life into one, big, confusing, Babylonian stew.

:violence-rapidfire: :violence-glob:
I wonder what it's like to live in this dream world where Right Wing Fascists are powering the narrative from every corner of society, ostracizing and oppressing the totally fangless and powerless Left that is absolutely not dictating any conversations within the nation.

You sound like you live under a cafeteria table at the New York Times.
All I can say is that if anyone (not necessarily you or anyone here) is seriously expecting Wos to pick a side in a Rock-'Em Sock-'Em of Right- & Left-Fascists, then that, right there, is "livin' in a dream-world".

:romance-cloud9:
Oh, I'm not asking you to pick a side. Just saying you sound like yer already on one. ;)
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Post by Biff »

tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 12:26
Wosbald wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:46 +JMJ+
tuttle wrote: 12 May 2023, 10:22

I wonder what it's like to live in this dream world where Right Wing Fascists are powering the narrative from every corner of society, ostracizing and oppressing the totally fangless and powerless Left that is absolutely not dictating any conversations within the nation.

You sound like you live under a cafeteria table at the New York Times.
All I can say is that if anyone (not necessarily you or anyone here) is seriously expecting Wos to pick a side in a Rock-'Em Sock-'Em of Right- & Left-Fascists, then that, right there, is "livin' in a dream-world".

:romance-cloud9:
Oh, I'm not asking you to pick a side. Just saying you sound like yer already on one. ;)
A Rock-'Em Sock-'Em of Right- & Left-Bolshevik?


Askin' for a friend.
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Gender

Post by Wosbald »

+JMJ+

Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/news/coakley-catholic-response-gender-dysphoria-must-affirm-ones-god-given-sex
Coakley: Catholic response to gender dysphoria must 'affirm one's God-given sex'

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Catholic response to those experiencing gender dysphoria "must both affirm God-given sex and recognize the struggle of the person in front of us," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City said in a new pastoral letter.

While the pastoral letter addresses "the anthropology underlying the transgender movement," the archbishop said, its purpose "is to provide pastoral guidance on how the Church, its ministers and the lay faithful can accompany — walk with — those who struggle with their gender identity, especially those who identify as transgendered."

Released on Good Shepherd Sunday, April 30, the 14-page pastoral is titled "On the Unity of the Body and Soul: Accompanying Those Experiencing Gender Dysphoria."

"We are called to bear witness to the truth inscribed in every human body and to do so with great love," Coakley wrote. "Most of us will not directly accompany someone struggling with gender dysphoria but may interact with friends or family who support 'gender affirming' treatment and the transgender movement.

"What is our role? As Pope Francis famously said, 'I see the church as a field hospital after battle. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. And you have to start from the ground up.' Confusion about the goodness of the human body, the gift of biological sex, and what it means to be male and female are foundational wounds."

[…]

"Jesus reaffirms for us that there are two sexes designed by God for each other. … The two God-given sexes give rise to the two genders, whose lived expression varies across and within cultures, creating the beautiful diversity among men that is masculinity and among women that is femininity," Coakley said.

Gender "should reflect the entirety of the person," he said, quoting Francis, who emphasized that the "biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated."

Since the Fall, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, "our freedom as human beings has been complicated and distorted by sin," Coakley said. "We seek goods, including identities, that fall far short of our ultimate Good in God."

Human beings try but fail to satisfy an "aching" in the soul with work, the desire for power, sex, alcohol, the internet "and constant noise" to numb "the pain of not finding satisfaction," he said. "Some of those suffering from gender dysphoria seek respite from their pain by identifying as the opposite sex or some (as) 'non-binary.' … We can all empathize with these individuals because each of us in our own unique circumstances has sought to rest in something other than God."

"What tremendous suffering it must be to feel a lack of congruity between one's sex and gender! We must tread lightly and with great compassion as we seek truth related to situations filled with pain," he added.

What must be acknowledged at the outset is "the immense pain found within this small segment of the population," Coakley said, citing a study by the William Institute at the UCLA School of Law that says an estimated 1.6 million children and adults identify as transgender, which equates to less than 1% of the population.

He said the U.S. Transgender Survey — the largest study of people who identify as transgendered in the United States last conducted in 2015 and released in 2016 — shows that 40% have attempted suicide at least once — "a rate almost nine times higher than the general population." Nearly half (47%) of the respondents said they have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime. More than half of the respondents (54%) said that while they were in school (K-12) they experienced verbal harassment, 24% said they were physically attacked and 13% were sexually assaulted.

"What is an authentic Catholic response to gender dysphoria?" Coakley asked. "We must avoid the extremes: to ignore the pain of the person and dogmatically assert that biological sex is the end of the conversation or to jettison the truth of the body in the false hope of relieving pain."

To those experiencing gender dysphoria, the archbishop admitted that "the path the Church lays out — accepting the gift of your biological sex and working to heal your felt incongruity mentally, emotionally somatically and spiritually — is arduous and currently countercultural. But it also is a glorious, grace-filled, path on which Jesus offers ever deepening wholeness and holiness."

"As a Church, we want to walk alongside you as you struggle with gender dysphoria. … We want to help you know the unconditional love of Jesus and to bring Him to you in the Sacraments. You are a part of the Church — you belong here and, truly, you are welcome here. … I ask each person who is experiencing this confusion to trust Jesus with your pain."

To parents whose children are experiencing gender dysphoria, he encouraged them "to become curious and to ask gently about what their child is experiencing. The idea isn't to interrogate but to better understand."

He suggested asking questions such as: "In what way do you feel like" the opposite gender/both genders or neither gender? "When is the earliest/first time you remember feeling this way?" "Are there situations where that desire feels stronger?" "Are there situations where the pain of the struggle lessens?" "How does your faith influence your thinking on this topic?" "Are you considering your faith in relation to this topic?"

"These questions can start important conversations that help children and young people better understand themselves as well as help them feel heard, known, and loved," Coakley said.

The archbishop noted that many U.S. leaders "are stridently promoting what has been dubbed 'gender affirming therapy,' which seeks to bring the body into alignment with one's felt gender rather than working to align one's felt gender with biological reality."

"It is our responsibility to help children, family and friends understand that our Catholic faith and scientific research confirm this is not a helpful option," he said.

"Others tout puberty blocking medications for adolescents as an option to 'pause' their development," he continued, but this is "a transitioning on-ramp because more than 95 percent of children who use puberty blockers eventually transition to opposite sex hormones. It also is worth noting that puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones are experimental, with long-term effects still unknown."

Coakley encouraged parents to go with their children to a Catholic counselor or, if none is available, to find a counselor focused on a psychotherapeutic approach to gender dysphoria. He also urged parents "to seek support and avoid isolation."

Regarding the transgender movement, he noted that "every generation has faced its own unique challenges with powerful forces rising to disfigure the human person and distort her relationship with God and neighbor."

In this cultural moment, "we are experiencing the rise of the transgender movement, which tragically attempts to promote and normalize transgenderism," Coakley said. "This cultural and political movement is and must be distinguished from the individuals who, suffering from gender dysphoria, identify as transgendered."

"The culturally dominant transgender movement has an understanding of nature and purpose radically at odds with the Catholic understanding of the human person," he said.

"Simply put," it is "an evil infecting our world in this time and place, and it must be rejected completely even as we love unconditionally those bound in its snares," he said.


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Faith in the news

Post by Wosbald »

+JMJ+

Source: America/OSV News
Link: americamagazine DOT org/faith/2023/05/26/benedictine-nun-black-catholic-incorrupt-245370
--> --> Link to Pic: images.moneycontrol DOT com/static-mcnews/2023/05/Collage-Maker-26-May-2023-11-56-AM-107-770x433.jpg
Nun’s incorruptible remains highlight rich heritage of Black Catholics in U.S., say expert

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

(OSV News) — The recent discovery of a Black American nun’s apparently incorrupt remains in Missouri highlights the rich heritage of Black Catholics in the U.S., experts told OSV News.

During an April 28 exhumation, the body of Benedictine Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster of the Most Holy Rosary — foundress of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, in Gower, Missouri — was shown to be little changed since her May 2019 death at age 95.

The congregation, which had sought to transfer the remains to its new shrine altar honoring St. Joseph, was stunned to find that except for a layer of dirt and mold, both body and religious habit were intact — despite a lack of embalming, an in-ground burial in a wooden coffin, and “a puddle of water” on the grave, the religious community said in a informational handout provided at its abbey.

Incorruptibility has long been regarded as a divine sign of sanctity in both Catholic and Orthodox tradition, and the bodies of more than 100 canonized saints have been seemingly untouched by decay.

Cleaned and protected with wax, Sister Wilhelmina’s remains are now on display for veneration at the monastery. Following a May 29 rosary procession, the body will be encased in glass at the altar shrine, the religious community stated, adding that once devotion to Sister Wilhelmina has become “well established,” her cause for canonization “may be introduced.”

In a May 22 statement, the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, Missouri, acknowledged the body’s condition has “understandably generated widespread interest and raised important questions.” At the same time, the diocese stressed the need to “protect the integrity of the mortal remains … to allow for a thorough investigation.”

As word has spread, hundreds of pilgrims have been flocking to the monastery to gently touch and pray before the body of a woman whose life story — along with those of three other African American nuns now on the path to sainthood — “embodies the fundamental truth that Black history is and always has been Catholic history in the U.S.,” said Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of history at the University of Dayton, Ohio, and author of “Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle.”

Currently, six Black Catholics have active canonization causes: Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784–1882), foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, of which Sister Wilhelmina was a member prior to founding her own order; Venerable Henriette Delille (1813–1862), foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Julia Greeley (born between 1833 and 1848; died 1918), a former slave who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990), who converted to Catholicism as a child and entered religious life as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration; Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776–1853), a former slave who became an entrepreneur and philanthropist; and Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854–1897), a former slave who became the first known black Catholic priest from the United States.

Williams told OSV News that Sister Wilhelmina — born in 1924 as Mary Elizabeth Lancaster in St. Louis — was “a descendant of enslaved Black Catholics” who grew up “during the Jim Crow era,” a period spanning the 1870s–1950s when various laws in Southern U.S. states enforced racial segregation.

In a pamphlet released after her death, Sister Wilhelmina said her parents had founded a Catholic high school for Black students until the archbishop at the time “put an end to segregation of Negroes in the diocese.”

Sensing a call to religious life since childhood, the future nun graduated from high school and immediately entered the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

One of eight historically Black orders in U.S. history, the Oblate Sisters stand as both “the nation’s and the modern world’s first Roman Catholic sisterhood established by African-descended women,” said Williams. “From the early 19th century, the Oblate Sisters of Providence preserved the vocations of hundreds of Black Catholic women and girls called to religious life, but barred admission into white orders solely on the basis of color and race in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The Oblate Sisters later “gave rise to three additional orders,” Williams said: the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary; and the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, which Sister Wilhelmina founded in 1995.

The community began with the assistance of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, as the Oblates of Mary, Queen of Apostles. The community moved to a rural area in the diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph in 2006 at the invitation of Bishop Robert W. Finn, changing its name to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Originally established as a public association of the faithful, the community was elevated in 2014 to the status of Religious Institute of Diocesan Right. In 2018, the community’s priory gained official recognition as an abbey. The following year, the community established its first daughter house in Ava, Missouri. The sisters worship in Latin using the form of the Mass promulgated prior to the Second Vatican Council and chant the psalms using the 1962 Monastic Office.

Sister Wilhelmina’s establishment of an “interracial, contemplative Benedictine community” underscores the uniqueness of her story, which “bridges racial divides in the Catholic Church, especially within more traditional communities,” said Williams.

Sister Wilhelmina’s mysteriously preserved remains also reaffirm the universal call to holiness, said Father Stephen Thorne, a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a consultant and special projects director for the National Black Catholic Congress in Baltimore.

“In the midst of all the skepticism, disunity and sinfulness, people are still drawn to holiness,” Father Thorne told OSV News. “We need that.”

And as the nation’s Black Catholics prepare to gather in July for the National Black Catholic Congress — convened at various intervals since 1889 — Father Thorne said he is looking forward to reflecting more deeply on Sister Wilhelmina’s life.

“We will share it in sacred time” at the congress, he said. “It’s another reminder that all people are called (by the Lord), African American and Black people as well.”


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The Right to Migrate

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+JMJ+

Source: Sacramento Bee
Link: sacbee DOT com/news/local/article276070496.html
16 migrants from Texas flown to Sacramento, dropped off on doorstep of Catholic diocese

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

Sixteen migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were taken from El Paso, Texas, to New Mexico, and then flown by private chartered plane to Sacramento where they were left on the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that he and Attorney General Rob Bonta met with the migrants, and that he is working with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office as well as area nonprofits “to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity, and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases.”

“My administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” Newsom said.

Steinberg likened the act to human smuggling.

[…]

‘They deserve to be treated better’

The migrants, upon arriving in Sacramento, had no idea where they were and “only a backpack’s worth of belongings,” Sacramento ACT said.

The group said that the migrants all have pending court appearances, and that by transporting them to California under false pretenses, there will be a disruption in their legal due process.

“What has occurred recently with the deceiving drop off of our undocumented brothers and sisters into the Sacramento area grieves my heart. This political polarizing act is heartbreaking and yet I rejoice that I am part of a movement that brings the love of God and goodwill upon the injustices and political wickedness that impacts our vulnerable brothers and sisters,” said the Rev. Efrem Smith, Sacramento ACT president, in a statement.

Rabbi Mona Alfi, of Congregation B’nai Israel, said that what happened to the migrants was “a moral travesty” and that “these are human beings, no different than you or me, who simply want to take care of their families and live a peaceful life, and they deserve to be treated better.”

Eddie Carmona, director of campaigns for PICO California, a faith-based community organizing group, said in a statement that the migrants “are members of our families, communities, and part of the fabric of our state.”

Flight chartered to McClellan

Airport records from tracking website FlightAware show only one flight between New Mexico and any of the Sacramento-area airports on Friday: A three-hour, 11-minute flight from Deming Municipal Airport in Luna County, about 80 miles northwest of El Paso, to McClellan Airport near North Highlands.

A representative for Barry Aviation, a charter service based in San Marcos, Texas, that operated the de Havilland Dash 8 used to ferry the migrants, declined to comment about specifics but described it as a “government flight”: “(It’s) something that the government ran.”

This is not the first time that migrants have been flown to California’s capital.

In September 2022, eight Venezuelan migrants, who had crossed the U.S. border at Laredo, Texas, were flown to Sacramento, according to the Los Angeles Times.

New chapter in battle between GOP, Newsom

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, have in the past taken credit for busing or flying migrants to various places in the U.S., including New York, Martha’s Vineyard and Washington, D.C.

The Sacramento Bee has reached out to both governors’ offices to inquire whether one of them was responsible for this most recent flight.

[…]


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The Right to Migrate

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+JMJ+

Source: Modesto Bee
Link: modbee DOT com/news/nation-world/national/article276097961.html
2nd flight carrying migrants lands in Sacramento; California officials say Florida arranged travel

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Another plane carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento on Monday, marking the second flight in recent days that California officials allege was coordinated by Florida.

The flight carrying roughly 20 migrants that arrived Monday follows the arrival Friday of 16 migrants from Colombia and Venezuela, who were taken from Texas to New Mexico before they were put on a chartered plane to California's capital. It's not clear what countries the latest group of arrivals are from, but their travel appears to have been arranged by the same company, said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Bonta says he's investigating whether any crimes were committed.

The first group of migrants was dropped off at the Roman Catholic Church diocese’s headquarters in Sacramento.

They carried documents that said they were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and carried out by contractor Vertol Systems Co., Gallegos said. She said she couldn’t share the documents because they are part of an active investigation.

Spokespeople for the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis have not confirmed Florida’s involvement, and Vertol Systems didn't respond to requests for comment.

“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting,” Bonta said in a statement.

The migrants entered the U.S. through Texas. Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faith-based group that helps migrants, said U.S. immigration officials had already processed the young women and men and given them court dates for their asylum cases when “individuals representing a private contractor” approached them outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, and offered to help them get jobs and get them to their final destinations.

“They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” Carmona said, adding that the migrants had no idea where they were after being dropped off in Sacramento. He said they have court dates in cities throughout the country, not only in Texas, and that none of them meant to end up in California.

Asylum seekers can change the location of their court appearances, but many are reluctant to try and instead prefer sticking with a firm date, at least for their initial appearances. They figure it is a guarantee, even if horribly inconvenient.

[…]

The flight, if proven to have been arranged by Florida, would intensify a prolonged political feud between DeSantis and California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. The two have offered conflicting visions on immigration, abortion and a host of other issues.

Newsom said in a statement that he also met with the newly arrived migrants and that officials were working to ensure that they are “treated with respect and dignity” through this process.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg issued a more forcefully worded statement: “Whoever is behind this must answer the following: Is there anything more cruel than using scared human beings to score cheap political points?”


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The Right to Migrate

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+JMJ+

Source: Crux
Link: cruxnow DOT com/church-in-the-usa/2023/06/sacramento-diocese-shocked-as-migrants-abandoned-at-pastoral-center
Sacramento diocese ‘shocked’ as migrants abandoned at pastoral center

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NEW YORK — When a van dropped off 16 migrants at the Diocese of Sacramento’s pastoral center on Friday, June 2, staff responded as the church routinely does in emergency situations — help first, ask questions later. The migrants were brought to a parish, and eventually given a hotel room.

Days later, however, as the diocese works with the migrants and partner organizations on next steps, a number of questions remain unanswered, including: Why Sacramento? Why the diocesan offices? And will something similar happen again as it has in cities nationwide?

No matter the answers, Miriam Sammartino, the diocese’s director of Catholic Charities and Social Concerns, said the act was heartbreaking, especially considering it appears that Sacramento wasn’t the migrants’ final destination, nor was it on the way to where they intended to go after they were processed into the United States. A few of them needed to get to San Diego and Chicago, she said.

“I don’t believe the migrants themselves even understood that they were being brought to Sacramento, so that’s a priority for us,” Sammartino told Crux.

“It just adds to a sense of cruelty. How are you going to move folks to a place that is potentially further away from where they needed to be?” she continued. “When you hear that the migrants in their mind are going to be processed and given the information, looking for help and for hope, and instead they’re given a location where they have no one to rely on … It’s completely heartbreaking.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced June 3 that the state was investigating the circumstances of the migrants’ arrival. According to Bonta, the migrants were flown to Sacramento via a private plane, and were carrying with documentation purporting to be from the State of Florida.

The investigation remains ongoing, and the State of California is evaluating potential criminal or civil actions against those who transported or arranged for the transport of the migrants, Bonta said. He alleged the act was “state-sanctioned kidnapping” … which is “immoral and disgusting.”

“We are a nation built by immigrants, and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings,” Bonta said.

After reports began to surface on June 5 that the state of Florida allegedly flew a second plane of migrants to Sacramento, California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, now a Republican presidential candidate, a “small, pathetic man,” and suggested the state could pursue kidnapping charges.

DeSantis’ office did not respond to a Crux request for comment.

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From Sammartino’s vantage point, everyone at the diocesan offices was shocked.

“[We were] completely astounded and shocked that this was actually happening right at our doorstep, and the manner that this van pulls up alludes to having people in need, and then we see these folks coming out of a van and the van just leaving, which is complete abandonment,” she said.

After the migrants were dropped off, the diocese worked with a partner organization to transport them to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Sacramento. There the migrants received food and water, and an initial intake was done. From there, the diocese secured space at a hotel for the migrants to stay.

As of June 5, the diocese was still working through next steps. Sammartino said they’re working with other faith-based organizations to see if any can provide shelter, and help with other resources.

At the same time, they’re trying to figure out a plan and identify resources — donations, funding, sites for housing, food, and legal services — for if more migrants are dropped off unannounced, which Sammartino didn’t rule out, adding that “it’s hard to say if we’re going to be ready.”

Sammartino said the diocese hasn’t spoken to city or state officials. She said they’re going to stay out of how the state and city should or shouldn’t help, and instead focus on “making sure that folks aren’t alone and that they get the help and support that they need while they’re here in Sacramento.”

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento said the diocese stands by the migrants.

“Within each of the 16 migrants transported to Sacramento on Friday we recognize the humble presence of Jesus, and we hear His call to stand by them. The urgency to respond was heard by Catholics and people of good will,” Soto said in a statement.


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