Day: September 28, 2010

Update on Iraqi refugees: conditions no better

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Iraq: The Ignored Victims is the title of a September 14 article by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in the New York Review of Books. He visited Iraq and surrounding countries to see the situation for himself. What he found seems little changed from previous reports.

The humanitarian consequences of this seven-year war on Iraqi civilians are too often unreported. Since 2003, 2.5 million Iraqis have fled the country, mainly to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, while another two million have been dislocated inside Iraq, many of whom are now living in makeshift camps on the outskirts of Baghdad and other cities. Neighboring countries have by and large been willing to allow in fleeing Iraqis, though often without offering them any legal status; and this influx has created severe strains on their own populations and resources. To be fair, the international community, led by the United States, has provided basic assistance to these Iraqis and a small number have been resettled in third countries, including in the US and Europe, but a long-term solution to this mass displacement has been elusive.

At one point a couple of years ago the Iraqi government was making attempts to get refugees back and to settle the property disputes that prevented many of them from returning. I haven’t heard anything about that for a long time, and since a government hasn’t been able to form since the elections months ago, it’s doubtful anybody is thinking about refugees at all.

The Cardinal reports briefly on the situation for Christians:

Moreover, Iraqi Christians continue to be targets of systematic violence, especially in Mosul and Ninevah. These Christians belong to ancient communities that once grew and thrived in Iraq but now face potential disappearance there. Christians in Iraq told me of threats they had received to abandon their faith or risk death. Others described how their homes or churches had been attacked.

On August 25, at the time of the US troop withdrawal, Iraqi soldiers reportedly filled the streets of Mosul, anticipating a resurgence in sectarian violence. If there is not an increase in security in Christian neighborhoods, any chance for Christians to return to Iraq in the near future and reestablish their communities is not bright.

This too sounds just like what was being reported a couple of years ago. Since numbers are hard to come by, the reports at that time let me to expect that the Christian communities were pretty well on their way out. It sounds like they’re hanging on, but we still have no idea of what that means in terms of actual numbers.

I doubt the future is bright for any of these refugees. We have some responsibility for the situation, but I doubt there is the will to put forth the effort to create a law-abiding society, to figure out how to get the refugees back safely, or to protect the threatened Christians. Perhaps it’s not possible to do this at all.

Catholic “leaders” push Dream Act and you pay for it

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars

This is a topic I’ve discussed before, but it bears repeating (again and again!).  

US taxpayers are paying for the lobbying work of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.   And, I’m betting the average Catholic parishoner has no clue, nor would many approve of the Church taking government money to lobby for amnesty, or taking government money for anything!

This is from the Catholic News Service yesterday:

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although the U.S. Senate failed to pass legislation that would have helped children of undocumented immigrants work toward legal status and get a college education, an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed confidence Sept. 24 that the idea “is gaining more support on the merits.”

“These issues take some time to pass, even if the American public is ahead of their elected officials,” said Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy and public affairs for the USCCB Office of Migration and Refugee Services. He was commenting on the Senate’s 56-43 vote Sept. 21 against a defense authorization bill that included the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act as an amendment.

[…..]

The DREAM Act, introduced in Congress in various forms since 2003, has been supported by Catholic leaders and those in Catholic higher education.

2009 USCCB annual report tells the story

Now check out the USCCB Office of Migration and Refugee Services annual report here.   Note that in an overall annual income stream of $62 million, $58 million comes from the taxpayer!   Only $1.3 million comes from collections taken up during mass.  

And, do you see that $2.2 million for the collection of travel loans?  That is mostly your money too.  Refugee airfare loans come from other taxpayer funds, but the USCCB is the collection agent for the refugees they resettle and the State Department lets them keep a cut of what they extract from refugees.  It’s their collection fee just as if they were a commercial collection agency.

Oh, and one more thing, there are millions more of your tax dollars that go directly to Catholic Charities in your cities for refugee resettlement and other services.

So whatever happened to private charity?  And, why does the ACLU turn a blind eye to this issue involving the separation of Church and state?  Could it be because the Catholic Bishops promote the same far Left political goals as the ACLU?