And, they are putting out their first moves for 2019!
I promised long ago to report on the enormous funding the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) receive from the US Treasury every time they make political statements about how the Trump Administration isn’t doing enough for refugees. See one such post here.
I also promised to stop reporting on their millions of taxpayer dollars if they would only start to mention their financial stake in the US Refugee Admissions Program in their public statements.
Here is the latest and of course (again!) no mention of their millions of taxpayer dollars.
From Catholic News Agency:
Washington D.C., Mar 28, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have voiced concern over the abnormally low levels of refugees admitted to the U.S. under the Trump administration, saying that it puts those fleeing danger at risk, and fails to comply with Christian teaching on welcoming the stranger.
“The current level of refugee arrivals leaves thousands of vulnerable people in harm’s way and searching for protection,” said Bishop Joe Vasquez, speaking as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee On Migration.
The bishops’ March 26 letter was sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and to the U.S. State Department.
“As Christians, our concerns for refugees is integral to our life of faith,” the bishops said. “In this spirit, we urge the Administration to renew a bipartisan commitment to resettlement for refugees, including religious minorities.” [I told you here just yesterday that ‘bipartisan’ means the R’s want cheap labor and indeed the USCCB acts as a headhunter for big business.—ed]
[….]
These trends “signify an abdication of our nation’s leadership in humanitarian protection through resettlement and in championing international religious freedom,” the bishops charged.
Here we go again, they cite Jesus. I feel sure Jesus never meant that citizens should be taxed to pay for Christian charity to the poor stranger.
They cited Jesus’ words from the Gospel of Matthew, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” as well as the Old Testament’s exhortations to care for the stranger.
Ha! Ha! This next bit made me laugh. I told you just the other day that the political push would soon begin for fiscal year ’19, and right on cue…..
They want 75,000 beginning October 1, 2018. I thought they would demand 100,000 as their opening bid, so I was wrong.
They called on the Trump administration to admit at least 45,000 refugees in this fiscal year and to issue a presidential determination allowing 75,000 refugees to enter the country next year. They again requested a meeting with Trump to discuss how to address refugee processing. [See the letter to the President, here.—ed]
Now to the millions the Bishops stand to lose during the Trump presidency (something they never mention)!
A couple of years ago we found an annual report for the Bishops’ Migration Fund, see here, and learned that the fund is 97% funded by the federal government (parishioners put very little into the fund for immigrants and refugees). We have not found an annual report since that one in 2014 (strange, huh!).
However, here in an audit of the USCCB for 2015 and 2016, we see this (below) on page 14.
(Dear White House, before granting a meeting, be sure the President knows about this!)
Catholics should consider addressing this issue with your parish priests.
Go here for my complete archive on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
And, Happy Easter! Happy Passover too!