The News & Topicality Thread

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Migrants tortured on Mexican side of border, where kidnapping is rife
Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/news/migrants-tortured-mexican-side-border-where-kidnapping-rife

The Money-Quote:

Hope Border Institute and DHIA report that "the latest asylum ban is stressing the humanitarian infrastructure in Ciudad Juárez."

"Under pressure from the United States, there has been a significant increase in enforcement activity on the part of Mexico to reduce migration to the U.S.–Mexico border," Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, told OSV News.

"We've seen that whenever there is a crackdown on migration by Mexico's government, it coincides with an increase in the vulnerability of migrants to corrupt actors, both authorities as well as organized crime," he said. "What we're witnessing now is a deadly cocktail that includes all of those elements, making life for too many migrants traveling through Mexico a real nightmare scenario."

[Del]

+JMJ+

Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Link: lailluminator DOT com/2024/06/26/catholic-charities-immigrant-aid-compelled-landry-to-cut-state-money-for-its-homeless-shelter/

Catholic Charities immigrant aid compelled Landry to cut state money for its homeless shelter

Jun 26, 2024 — Gov. Jeff Landry cut $1 million in state funding from the largest homeless shelter in Lafayette because of the help its operator, Catholic Charities of Acadiana, provides to immigrants.

This is the double-edged sword of accepting government money for charity work. It means that the government gets to tell the charity whom they can serve and how they are served.

The Louisiana money was supposed to help Louisiana's homeless. Catholic Charities used it for migrant services. As Louisiana has enough problems of its own and does not want to attract illegal migrants, funding got cut.

Assumption House processed so many migrants that they appeared to be working with traffickers. Then they resisted when they were asked to produce some records. They were defunded and now they are being prosecuted.

USCCB had the most successful ministry in the rescue of women and children being trafficked as sex workers. But they wouldn't facilitate abortions, so Obama cut off their funding.

Our Chesterton School board has decided not to apply for any state government partnerships, for this very reason. We can't afford to partner with pagans who hate us and our mission. Our current governor is an aged, nominally Catholic Democrat made out of L-gibbity rainbows and pro-abortion Bidenstuff.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: Crux
Link: cruxnow DOT com/church-in-the-usa/2024/07/texas-judge-says-attorney-generals-attempt-to-close-catholic-shelter-outrageous

Texas judge says Attorney General’s attempt to close Catholic shelter ‘outrageous’

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NEW YORK — An El Paso judge has denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to shut down a Catholic migrant shelter that operates in the city — a decision that the local bishop is calling “an important moment for religious freedom.”

In a pair of rulings issued on July 2, Judge Francisco Dominguez, a judge of the Texas 205th District Court ruled on July 2 that the state failed to establish probable grounds to close Annunciation House, and that the state violated the shelter’s constitutional rights in its attempts to enforce a subpoena for records of migrants who the shelter has served.

In the ruling, Dominguez called Paxton’s conduct “outrageous.”

“The record before this Court makes clear that the Texas Attorney General’s use of the request to examine documents from Annunciation House was a pretext to justify its harassment of Annunciation House employees and the persons seeking refuge,” Dominguez states.

“This Court previously expressed its concerns that the Attorney General did not identify what laws he believed were being violated from the outset.” “In fact, the record before the Court now establishes that the Attorney General was seeking evidence of alleged criminal activity all along,” Dominguez continued. “This is outrageous and intolerable.”

Dominguez’s ruling prevents Paxton from seeking records from Annunciation House. It also protects the shelter from what Dominguez calls “harassment and overreaching” by Paxton’s office.

“As discussed, Annunciation House has met its burden for injunctive relief,” Dominguez states.

“First, the Attorney General’s wrongful acts against Annunciation House have no adequate remedy at law because of the Constitutional rights implicated,” Dominguez continued. “Second, the Attorney General’s conduct in harassing and pursuing predetermined outcomes, without regard to the rights of Annunciation House’s employees and guests is imminent, ongoing, and irreparable.”

Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a Crux request for comment, but is expected to appeal.

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso said Dominguez’s decision is “an important moment for religious freedom.”

“This is a day of gratitude for El Paso, the work of Annunciation House and the resilience of our community’s hospitality workers,” Seitz said in a July 2 statement. “This is also an important moment for religious freedom and a recognition of the important role that faith communities play in helping our nation lead with compassion and humanity in meeting the challenges of migration at the border.”

[…]

After the ruling, Annunciation House founder and director Ruben Garcia expressed uncertainty.

“In my heart of hearts, I would hope … that this truly would be a determining action and that this would bring it to an end. That’s my hope, that would be my prayer,” Garcia told El Paso Matters. “I’m realistic enough to know it probably won’t end here and for that I’m very sorry.”

[Del]

Texas judge says Attorney General’s attempt to close Catholic shelter ‘outrageous’

My confidence in Bishop Seitz is vindicated.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Judge Says Effort To Shut Down Catholic Ministry To Migrants Violates Texas’ Religious Freedom Act
Source: OSV News
Link: osvnews DOT com/2024/07/02/judge-says-effort-to-shut-down-catholic-ministry-to-migrants-violates-texas-religious-freedom-act/

The Money-Quotes:

“There is no legal basis for closing a nonprofit that provides social services to refugees, period,” said Jerome Wesevich, a lawyer for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents Annunciation House, during a post-ruling press conference July 2. He said the ministry “has always believed that the attorney general’s harassment of Annunciation House is morally and legally improper.”

“It’s not surprising that the court agreed with us on all of the grounds,” Wesevich said.

[…]

Annunciation House and its volunteers have demonstrated “from the outset” that they are “an organization that practices the Catholic faith and its teaching to love one another, including strangers; no exception for refugees,” Wesevich said. “That is what Annunciation House does.”

“The Attorney General is not allowed to just walk in say, ‘Oh, I have some unfounded allegations, and I’m going to use my unfounded allegations … to take the most extreme step of closing Annunciation House,’ ” he said. “That directly contravenes what the Texas Legislature has commanded to be a limit to the attorney general’s power.”

“The court agreed with us on all of the points that we made,” he continued. “All we can say at this point is that we hope that the Attorney General will see and respect the bounds that the court described on his power.”

[…]

Asked about the ruling’s impact on Annunciation House, Wesevich said, “The volunteers of Annunciation House have a lot of work to do and they just continue to do it. They can just do it with more peace than they had yesterday.”

NOTE: Extra reportage sourced from El Paso Times. LINK: elpasotimes DOT com/story/news/2024/07/02/judge-rules-against-texas-ag-in-battle-against-annunciation-house/74279924007/

[Del]

+JMJ+

Title: Judge Says Effort To Shut Down Catholic Ministry To Migrants Violates Texas’ Religious Freedom Act
Source: OSV News

That's a stretch.

On one hand, no religious charity has a religious freedom exemption from following the law in the conduct of their ministry.

On the other hand, if the Texas AG was really behaving like a Democrat and falsely accusing an NGO of breaking the law (which appears to be the judgment), then the NGO is just as innocent whether or not they are religiously affiliated.

Now if Paxton was targeting a ministry because they are Catholic, that would be a Biden-level abuse.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

[…]

Now if Paxton was targeting a ministry because they are Catholic …

Mockingly characterizing the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy as a non-religious "Bohemian set of 'seven commandments' " foreign to Real Christianity would certainly seem to qualify.

[Del]

+JMJ+

[…]

Now if Paxton was targeting a ministry because they are Catholic …

Mockingly characterizing the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy as a non-religious "Bohemian set of 'seven commandments' " foreign to Real Christianity would certainly seem to qualify.

Did I say that?

Did Paxton say that?

Part of our difficulty as Catholics is that the anarchist Left have co-opted our 7 Corporal Works of Mercy, rebranding these good works under banners of "Social Justice," "Equity," etc.

And ignorant Evangelical politicians have no idea where the Left got those ideas. Marxism, they suppose. Because that's what the Left are using those slogans for.

And then there are the secular NGO's who are grifting taxpayers and assisting traffickers.

So Catholic ministries look like criminal activity, because the criminals are mimicking Catholic ministries.

I'm just glad that a Court found that Assumption House is running a clean ministry, thus far. I don't want to see the Catholic Church drawn into another scandal.

Now I hope that no evidence surfaces to suggest that Paxton is targeting Catholics like Biden's DOJ does.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/news/reporters-inbox-catholic-us-senator-calls-mass-deportations

Reporter's Inbox: Catholic US senator calls for mass deportations

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Jul 9, 2024 — A Catholic U.S. senator who is considered to be a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump this November is calling for the deportation of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

In a campaign fundraising message distributed to supporters on July 8, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, is quoted as saying that "hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are entering our country and being sent to our neighborhoods, our cities, our schools, and our communities."

And echoing Trump's vow to deport millions of undocumented migrants if he is reelected to the White House, Vance is also quoted as saying, "We need to deport every single person who invaded our country illegally."

The Office of Homeland Security Statistics estimates there are between 11 million and 12 million immigrants living in the United States without legal authorization.

Vance's spokesman did not immediately return a message from National Catholic Reporter seeking comment.

In contrast to Pope Francis' calls for humane treatment of migrants and the U.S. Catholic bishops' support for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a pathway to citizenship for those in the county without documents, Vance — who converted to Catholicism as an adult — has staked out a hardline position on immigration that mirrors Trump's campaign rhetoric about deporting migrants and building a border wall to keep them out.

[…]

A celebrity before he entered politics, Vance — whose bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy was adapted into a Netflix movie in 2020 — has since aligned himself with far-right political actors such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Steve Bannon, the political activist and podcast host who is now serving a four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

In 2022, Vance delivered a keynote speech during a national conservatism conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the conservative Catholic college in east Ohio. During the two-day conference, several "post-liberal" speakers and Catholic integralists described their hopes for a United States governed by a right-wing regime that would use political power to rein in globalization, restore traditional Christian morality and bolster social conservatism while cracking down on "woke" progressives.

[Del]

+JMJ+

Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/news/reporters-inbox-catholic-us-senator-calls-mass-deportations

Reporter's Inbox: Catholic US senator calls for mass deportations

And our Catholic President calls for more and more abortions.

But he's a Democrat, so NCR gives him a pass.