This is a good article at Breitbart, but like most other news outlets they assume that the Catholic Church’s campaign for amnesty is being driven by its desire to add Hispanics to its dwindling flocks (and to show that they are good Christians), but few ever look at the fact that the Bishops are being funded by massive amounts of taxpayer dollars and the so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that passed the Senate will give them gobs of more money!
Right now the Bishops are over 98% funded by tax dollars* and they are being paid to get refugees and asylees hooked up with social services. S. 744 contains a slush fund for the Bishops and others of the religious Left to do that same work for the newly legalized—help them do their paperwork, find jobs, find welfare, sign them up for Obamacare, and supposedly get them English lessons.
I’m a fallen-away Catholic and the main reason is this: I want no politics mixed with my religious worship, and the Church will have to really make sure they get the Hispanics because hearing a Leftwing political message (as is planned for September 8th) from the pulpit will only serve to drive more conservative-minded people from the Church.
Breitbart (hat tip: Cathy):
If you attend Mass on September 8th, it is likely the priest’s homily will be less about spiritual matters and more about the political imperative of passing an amnesty law for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants. Last week, the Catholic Church announced a massive, coordinated effort to press Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship. Catholics make up the largest single religious group in Congress.
“We want to try to pull out all the stops,” Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the New York Times. Appleby said the immigration issue was at a now-or-never moment. “They have to hear the message that we want this done, and if you’re not successful during the summer, you’re not going to win by the end of the year.”
The Church is planning advertising, phone calls and marches targeting 60 Catholic House Republicans. Over 130 members of the House are Catholic, including Speaker John Boehner.
The Bishops are working harder on amnesty then on Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate and abortion!
The Church’s effort in support of amnesty seems broader and more coordinated than its actions against an ObamaCare mandate requiring coverage of contraception. In recent years, the Church has been more vocal in its criticism of abortion, but even that seems muted in comparison with current plans on immigration reform.
The Bishop’s lobbyist Appleby (Director of Migration Policy) will be pimping for amnesty and giving out marching orders in Minneapolis on September 4th. If you live in the area you might want to drop in on this meeting. After all, you help pay Appleby’s salary.
*The USCCB and YOUR money
Now check out the USCCB’s migration fund 2012 annual report (pdf here) and note on page 11 their income and expenses (I’ve rounded the numbers for easier reading).
Out of a revenue stream of $71 million, federal grants and contracts (that is you the taxpayer!) gave them $66 million. They also received $3.6 million from refugee travel loans. Your tax dollars pay for refugees to fly to America and then they are supposed to reimburse the government, but in fact a big chunk of whatever the refugee contractor extracts from the poor refugees, the contractor gets to keep—in the Bishops case, in 2012, that is $3.6 million that does not go back to the US Treasury.
Taking Caesar’s money! 98% of their budget is paid by the US taxpayer!
So, the USCCB only received $1.4 million from private sources of money (parishioners), but they paid salaries of $8 million!
The USCCB would wither on the vine and not be able to lobby if you, the taxpayer, weren’t funding them!
So, come on Breitbart! Let’s go a little deeper with your reporting!
Update: Here is an old story, but related. Catholic Charities in Memphis, TN dropped its refugee program in favor of spending more time and money on Hispanics. They will be well-placed for the newly amnestied!