Your tax dollars:
Last night I came upon this typical puffy article where Archbishop John Nienstedt (Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis) writing in The Catholic Spirit tells Catholics what great charitable work they are doing taking care of refugees. Here is how his article begins:
Throughout the world, we find areas where war, strife or persecution have forced families and individuals to leave their homes and emigrate elsewhere, becoming refugees.
Many of these refugees have come to the United States, seeking a better life for themselves and for their families. Theirs is generally a difficult transition and, if they are lucky, they overcome numerous hardships before they are able to carve out a place for themselves in our society.
For decades now, the Catholic Church here in the United States, through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has committed resources [whose resources?-ed] to refugee assistance.
This past year, through agencies such as Catholic Charities and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the USCCB has resettled 22,565 refugees, or approximately 30 percent of the annual total refugees admitted into the United States.
In an effort to provide even more life-giving assistance, the USCCB has developed a comprehensive plan to increase by 25 percent over the next two years the capacity to welcome and serve refugees who come to our land.
Taking from Caesar!
He goes on with the blah, blah, blah talking points about “welcoming the stranger” —not one single word about how exactly they are doing this and he leaves the reader thinking that we Catholics are good people donating our own hard-earned money to “welcome” refugees.
The Archbishop’s article then led me here to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants* site. This is obviously the branch of USCCB that is behind organizing for the Open Borders Washington demonstration on March 21st (the day after the Marxist/Muslim/Unions/immigrants march on the 20th).
Justice for Immigrants led me here. That is the Migration and Refugee Services branch of the huge USCCB. That led me here.
And, finally to something I have wanted to see for a long time–the annual report for the USCCB refugee program. (The USCCB doesn’t even file an IRS Form 990 probably claiming they are a church!).
On Page 16 of the 2008 annual report, all decent and faithful Catholics must see the funding—all Catholics that is who know that Christ never intended for his followers to take from Caesar!
Of an annual budget of $43,112,314, $39,259,516 comes directly from the government (from taxpayers).
Then note the $1,704,108 for travel loans. That is also federal money! Refugees are loaned money by the taxpayer for their airfare to the US, but then are sent dunning letters by the USCCB collection agency people. Instead of returning all the money to the federal goverment, the USCCB gets a 25% cut as a fee for strong-arming the refugees.
Granted that although parishoners give $1,497,701 in collections, private giving only amounts to $181,581. All this adds up to approximately 95% of the refugee program at the USCCB is funded by US taxpayers! (And, I am not even counting here the millions that go directly from the federal government to Catholic Charities throughout the US). The Refugee Resettlement program is supposed to be a public-private partnership—what a joke!
Be sure to check out the expenses side of the ledger and note how much of this federal funding goes to salaries and office overhead (nearly $11 million). Because so little of their funding is privately raised, the only conclusion one can draw is that we, the taxpaying American public of every religion, are paying for a lobbying office in Washington D.C. for the USCCB!
So either the good Archbishop (above) is not aware of this information or he is a lying sack! You decide!
And, yes, the USCCB is a far-left organization.
The final straw for me in last night’s wandering is this! Real Catholic TV.com has produced an hour and a quarter long documentary on the history of how the Catholic Church in the US represented by the USCCB has been taken over by the POLITICAL ATHEIST LEFTWING entitled, “CCHD and Saul Alinsky.”
Saul Alinsky, whose book “Rules for Radicals” is dedicated to Lucifer, taught that the ends justify the means. I guess that is a lesson the USCCB has swallowed hook, line and sinker.
*Addendum: I forgot this earlier. When I went to Justice for Immigrants site I noticed they linked to a study about how immigrants supposedly help the economy. But then I howled with laughter. They are citing a report from the Extreme Leftwing at George Soros Center for American Progress. So if you have any doubt about how entwined the Bishops are with the Far Left this should help dispel any doubt.