Oklahoma bishop protests new anti-immigration law

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I will go to jail if it becomes a crime to love the poor, says bishop

Comments: 6

Oklahoma City, Okla., Nov 29, 2007 / 11:58 am (CNA).- The Bishop of Tulsa has issued a pastoral letter calling Oklahoma's new immigration law immoral and unjust.

Bishop Edward J. Slattery wrote that the fact immigrants are in the country illegally is not the only issue. He said they are still people who should be treated with dignity.

The new law, House Bill 1804, makes it a felony to knowingly transport illegal immigrants, creates barriers on hiring illegal immigrants, and restricts benefits they can receive from the government or its contractors. Charities and other private organizations that contract with the government to provide benefits could fall under the restrictions.

The bishop has opposed the legislation since it was first drafted last year. In his latest pastoral letter, Bishop Slattery reminded people of his March, 2006 pledge that he would be jailed “when it become[s] a crime to love the poor and serve their needs." He added "I pray that every priest and every deacon in this Diocese will have the courage to walk with me into that prison."

Bishop Slattery's pastoral letter, his second as a bishop, is titled "The Suffering Faces of the Poor Are the Suffering Face of Christ." A 22-page flip book published in English and Spanish, it will be sent to all pastors in about three weeks, the bishop said Monday.

The Bishop’s Counter Proposal

The letter outlines a four-point action plan written “in response to the situation of fear created in so many of our neighbors in the implementation of H.B. 1804." It calls for: equal access to all Catholic programs regardless of legal status; legal assistance through Catholic Charities to help those needing to establish or maintain their legal residence in the United States; diocesan cooperation with legal agencies to prepare a standardized "power of attorney" form for parents to establish guardianship for their children in the event only the parents are deported; and the provision of Catholic foster care for parents who have used their power of attorney to establish guardians for their children.

In the letter Bishop Slattery writes: “I wish to make it clear that I do not speak as an elected official, whose service to the public proceeds from the will of those who elected him or her to office. Nor do I speak as a civil servant, appointed to the task and accountable to those by whom he or she has been appointed."

“Rather, I speak as the Catholic Bishop of this Diocese, and I speak with the authority of Jesus Christ, Who in His life here on earth always showed his predilection for the poor and oppressed.”

The pastoral letter also includes two prayers that Bishop Slattery asks pastors and parishioners to pray at the end of every Sunday Mass.

Comments: 6

Subscriber comments:

Published by: rktkr
USA 11/30/2007 01:06 PM EST

"The bishop has opposed the legislation since it was first drafted last year."

...With all due respect, sir,
PLEASE, do not expect me to be financially responsible for illegal aliens in this country. It has nothing to do with anything more than the fact that I have enough to worry about in my own family. If you feel so strongly about this, head on down to their countries of origin and effect change THERE.

Published by: Diane Garrett
plaistow nh usa 11/29/2007 10:01 PM EST

I wonder if Bishop Slattery thinks of the damage illegal aliens are doing to our country, undermining social services, overburdening medical facilities, & unjustly accessing benefits like driver's licenses & social security cards illegally to defraud the government & people who legitimately need these services, who are legal citizens & who are deprived of them because of people who are here by breaking the law to get here. D.G.

Published by: Kathy Maxwell
New Braunfels, TX 11/29/2007 05:39 PM EST

If people who donate to Catholic Charities hear of this, it may change their minds about giving. It did mine.

Published by: Daniel Salazar
Tulsa, OK, (formerly America) 11/29/2007 04:59 PM EST

I wish the bishop would recognize (at least) 2 things:
One: Dignity begins with Respect-and like Love, it must first be given in order to receive. Breaking the law is the OPPOSITE of respect.
Militantly rejecting the law or being malignantly oblivious to it are the same.
I cant help but wonder if he regards Gods Law with the same "respect"?
Keeping sinners in their sin is not the work of a holyman, and keeping lawbreakers in their state of lawlessness is (at minimum) complicity.
Teaching mass disregard of the law by example is the work of an outlaw and an anarchist.

2:It would be good if the Church learned to distinguish between "Humanitarianism" and Charity.
Charity is the Christian office incumbent upon us all.
Humanitarianism, on the other hand, is the Secular imitation of the same. Humanitarianism is never without the odor of politics, whereas Charity is never without the odor of Sanctity. The stench of politics is all over the 'Humanitarian' pretenses of the Church, which causes untold grief to all of us faithful Catholics who simply wish to know The Way to Heaven-not the way to 'the American Dream'.

In closing, let me say that "mi casa es su casa" is a fine restatement of the Fullness of the Law. But "Su casa es Mi casa " is the credo of a thief. Charity begins at home, and it will be well when Mexicans realize thast the Morality taught by the Magisterium of The Catholic Church applies to them also. To use it as a siege engine is an act of war.

Published by: June
Georgetown, Tx. USA 11/29/2007 01:34 PM EST

I hope the good Bishop will also take on all expenses for those who are breaking the laws of our country.

Published by: Lou Dobbs Independent
KC 11/29/2007 01:19 PM EST

So now Bishops get to decide for "We The People" what laws get to be enforced.

Bishop, I have news for you the majority of "We The People" want our laws enforced and our borders and ports secured.

Please strip the good Bishop of his non-profit status. If you want to help the poor, teach them to fish for themselves. The kindest thing that can be done it to teach them how to be responsible for themselves and not make the American taxpayer responsible for the ILLEGALS among us.

Bishop I am all for you and your church members supporting these ILLEGALS all that you want but DO NOT SPEAK for "We The People" since you don't represent us.

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