Guterres also said the US must show the world how to be generous to refugees (bring in the Syrians!) and that European nations are just flat out “very selfish” (note he didn’t chastise the Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, which refuse refugees and deport any who sneak in).
Antonio Guterres is the former Socialist President of Portugal and noted in his tet-a-tet with the Bishops that not much in the violent world has changed in the ten years he has been the UN High Commissioner for Refugees—gee I wonder why—could it be continued Muslim aggression?
Before we tell you about the meeting, keep the following information firmly in mind. This is where the USCCB Migration and Refugee Services gets its money—mostly from the US taxpayer! From their most recent published annual report, here (p.11). The USCCB is effectively a federal agency! They are the largest of the nine major federal refugee contractors.
Revenue (in rounded numbers)
Federal grants/contracts: $66 million
Refugee travel loans (your tax dollars too): $3.6 million
Total revenue: $71 million (which leaves less than $1.5 million from private charitable giving)
Guterres visits the Bishops (he was probably in town to lobby the Obama Administration to open our doors to Syrians). From the National Catholic Reporter:
The role of the Catholic church is invaluable in keeping refugees safe, said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, but his agency and others working with migrants need much, much more.
Speaking to a meeting of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration and staff members of church agencies that deal with migrants, Guterres said the church is vital to helping victims of situations such as the volatile upheaval in the Central African Republic.
There, although the recent conflict is often described as a Christians versus Muslims crisis, the reality is that “religion is being used by unscrupulous political partisans,” Guterres said. That created an environment that’s very difficult for humanitarian agencies to handle. “They began using religion for propaganda.”
Guterres said several times during his meeting Monday that although much of the violence in Central African Republic appears to be based upon religion, the reality is that in many hot spots there, the Catholic church is keeping Muslims safe. That includes the chief imam of Bangui, Omar Kobine Layama, who has been sleeping in the home of Bangui Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga for safety.
Conflicts unchanging over ten years!
Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, said in the nearly 10 years he has headed the U.N. agency charged with protecting and resettling the world’s refugees, he has come to see that the type of conflicts around the world are both unchanging and multiplying.
We are all for free speech, but it is just so infuriating that this is being said on our dime! Europe trying to save itself from cultural and economic annihilation is selfish? Johnny and Antonio probably went off to a lavish lunch on us as well!
European nations, for example, “have become very selfish,” he said. Although many European countries are dependent upon migrants to maintain the vitality of their society, new laws are making it difficult for refugees and other migrants to resettle.
Guterres: Catholics need to keep lobbying the government to bring in more refugees, especially the Syrians!
He urged the church to continue to advocate for the U.S. government to set an example for the world of generous treatment of people who must flee their homelands.
“The U.S. has the largest refugee resettlement program in the world,” Guterres said. “The way the U.S. behaves is extremely important” to how the rest of the world responds.
He said he hopes the U.S. will soon announce a resettlement program for Syrians…
Every American Catholic concerned about the Bishops’ hands being in the taxpayers’ pockets (and thus possibly being controlled by the federal government) must start speaking up in your parishes.