I’m going to be busy (possibly bore you), but I am going to have to follow through on my promise of yesterday and point out the fact that Catholic Bishopsare paid handsomely to do their ‘good works’—paid by you, the US taxpayer.
Once again we have a ‘welcome the stranger’ sob story with no mention of the millions of federal dollars the refugee industry, the nine federal contractors*** (including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops), has enjoyed for near FOUR DECADES!
I have a dream that one day I’ll see an article in the mainstream media that actually tells the public about the Bishop’s pipeline to the US Treasury.
(CBSDFW.COM/CNN) – The bishops of Dallas and Fort Worth are among the 16 Texas Catholic bishops who have denounced Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to reject new refugees in 2020. Texas is the first state to do so under a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The bishops released a joint statement Friday after the decision was made. They called Abbott’s decision “deeply discouraging and disheartening” and “misguided.”
“It (the decision) denies people who are fleeing persecution, including religious persecution, from being able to bring their gifts and talents to our state and contribute to the general common good of all Texans,” the statement read.
“As Catholics, an essential aspect of our faith is to welcome the stranger and care for the alien,” the bishops added. [Yes! But with private Christian charity, not with money taken from taxpayers!—ed]
Bishop Olson of Fort Worth: We need to get our MONEY! Well, no, he didn’t say that and that is why I am posting on their MONEY again.
Texas is home to about 8.5 million Catholics, nearly 30% of the state’s population. Bishops Edward Burns of Dallas and Michael Olson of Fort Worth represent the dioceses in North Texas.
[….]
Since 2010, Texas has received more refugees than any other state — about 10% of the nationwide total, the governor said in the letter. The Pew Research Center reports that since 2002 Texas has accepted more than 88,000 refugees — more than any state but California.
“Texas has carried more than its share in assisting the refugee resettlement process and appreciates that other states are available to help with these efforts,” Abbott said.
This is why they are so upset! From USA Spendingposted yesterday.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has lost millions of federal dollars under President Trump’s refugee resettlement reform effort.
From USA Spending. Federal grants to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Do the 8.5 million Catholics in the state of Texas condone the Bishops living off the US taxpayers and keeping that fact secret?
I bet the vast majority of Catholics think that they are taking care of refugees by passing the plate at mass.
By the way, the Bishops were not alone. Texas Muslimsblasted Governor Abbott as I reported earlier today.
*** For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement in America.
A ‘religious’ message from CWS’s “ministry!” CWS is one of three federally funded contractors suing to stop the President’s effort to reform the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.
And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.
The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?
Go here to see that the nine contractors sucked down over $3 BILLION in federal grants in the last 11 years.
(I plan to say this once a day from now on!)
I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.
And, they are accompanied by a paper company executive who wants a small community nearly 60 miles from Harrisburg, PA to ‘welcome’ refugees the company wants to employ.
I have been saying for twelve years that there is an unholy alliance between businesses seeking cheap labor and ‘religious’ resettlement contractors acting as their head hunters!
Additionally, in case you thought I didn’t have my facts, here we see clearly that this US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ subcontractor*** is talking about the 100-mile radius from their office in which refugee resettlement agencies can place refugees.
We should be thanking the President for his September Executive Ordereven if the contractors succeed in killing it in the courts because we are learning new things every day and citizens like those in Juniata Terrace, PA, like those in Beltrami County, MN, are being educated.
Catholic Charities is out and about lining up new locations within a hundred miles of Harrisburg!
JUNIATA TERRACE–The public was out in full force Tuesday night for the Catholic Charities group presentation of their refugee resettlement plan to the Juniata Terrace Borough Council.
Anne Lusk and Amin Habeeb [Egyptiansee here.—ed] from Catholic Charities spoke about the resettlement to the public and the council. Lusk and Habeeb wanted to lay out the facts so the council and the public had a better understanding of the program. The resettlement will not be happening any time soon. [But they are getting people primed because they think that when the Dems regain the White House, the gates will open wide.—ed]
Programs like this are popping up all over the country and Pennsylvania is no exception. Lusk spoke on the major presence of resettled refugees in areas like Lancaster County, noting that Cumberland County had also recently passed the program for their area. [Juniata Terrace is in Mifflin County so it appears the county itself has not consented (so far).—ed]
Seeking locations within 100-mile radius!
The program is based out of Harrisburg and is attempting to resettle refugees within a 100-mile radius. These refugees are fleeing issues in their home country, whether religious prosecution, war or other struggles.
Catholic Charities lining up future locations!
For now, the charity is visiting different locations in Mifflin county to provide information to the boroughs so they can decide whether to adopt the program at a later time. The refugees who are part of the program are “very educated and very hard workers and are respectful to the community,”according to Lusk.
She has no idea if the refugees are “educated” and “respectful” because Catholic Charities, nor the county or state, is permitted to choose refugees—they will get what they get from anywhere in the world: impoverished and uneducated Congolese or demanding Somalis, or Iraqis who think low-skilled work is beneath them, for example!
We are paying for Catholic Charities to act as an employment service!
Here we see that Catholic Charities is working with business interests to supply them with workers! What the h*** ! Why are we, taxpayers, paying for this!
Donald Chapman III, president of Nittany Paper, was also present. Chapman contacted the Catholic charity for help finding workers for the paper company as they look to expand. The positions would be full-time. According to him, bringing in the refugees would not take away from the jobs for county citizens. The program is meant to have a positive impact on the local area as a whole.
The program would integrate, at most, 10 families and settle them into the area. They would have a jobs at Nittany Paper and a living space near the company, making transportation to work easier. [Living space near the company? Is the company paying for that, or are the taxpayers shelling out for the housing?—ed]
Attending members of the public expressed concerns about the program. Several citizens were worried about crime and an increase in drug problems if the resettlement were allowed. The public also expressed concern for how the community will support the influx of people. Tensions ran palpably high during the presentation, with several agruements breaking out between citizens. The Catholic Charities group will be present at next month’s Lewistown Borough Council meeting, according to Lusk.
Many thanks to The Sentinel!
*** I’m going back to correct my ‘Knowledge is Power III’post where I said I didn’t have a list of the Bishop’s subcontractors. I found it in the course of researching this story. Go hereto see the long list of subcontractors working for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The New York Timestreats us to an unnecessarily lengthy piece about the internal political machinations inside the US Catholic Church.
Archbishop Gomez the NYT says, “…created wallet-size cards for undocumented immigrants with instructions for what to do if they are approached by immigration officers.” Did they pay for those on the taxpayers’ dime?
It seems there is a major split—do they put the immigration issue above or below their anti-abortion stance? Some do, some don’t.
Do I care about their internal politics as they try to figure out how political they have been and how political they will be going forward?
No!
The only thing that troubles me about their latest political soul-searching and their choice of a Hispanic head honcho for the US Bishops is one thing!
We taxpayers are paying for their religious ‘good works.’
We pay so they can beat their chests and tell the world they care about the poor and the downtrodden (as long as those poor people are immigrants to this cold-hearted Trump-America).
Here is the story, you can read it yourself remembering that you are a primary (involuntary!) funder of their “migration” operation (h/t: Julia):
U.S. Catholic Bishops Elect Hispanic Immigrant as Leader
Not one single word about the $ Millions the Bishops suck out of the US Treasury every year!
Does the NYT even know about it, or is the venerable paper keeping that information from you?
In any case, no mention, so therefore no questions about how that money dictates their position on government policy.
And, no questions about whether we should be paying for their upkeep.
One last thing: The NYT says that fewer Hispanics are now Catholics, hmmm!
As you should all know by now, nine federal refugee contractors including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops receive a large chunk of their income from you, the US taxpayer, based on the number of refugees they place in your towns and cities.
So it is no surprise that their revenue is dropping as the President reduces the number of refugees being ‘welcomed’ to America by the UN and the US State Department.
In a story about the Bishops upcoming budget year at theNational Catholic Register (h/t Joanne) we learn that the biggest drop in funding comes from their so-called Migration and Refugee Services Office budget.
Bishops OK 2020 budget; numbers inconclusive for 2021 assessment hike
BALTIMORE — The U.S. bishops voted to approve the budget for 2020 for their conference headquarters in Washington but did not register sufficient numbers to determine passage of a proposed 3% increase in the diocesan assessment for 2021.
Both votes took place Nov. 11, the first day of their Nov. 11-13 fall general assembly in Baltimore.
The bishops approved a budget nearing $22.69 million for next year.*** Budget approval required a majority of bishops present and voting. The vote was 211-11, with one abstention.
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati
The proposed 2020 budget projects a “marginal” surplus of $49,261, about 2% of the total, according to Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, treasurer of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The figures include increases of 3.6% for policy and advocacy, 3.5% for the administrative offices, 2.7% for the general secretariat, 1.2% for the bishops’ conference staff house in Washington, and 0.4% for pastoral ministries.
The biggest budget decreases come within the Migration and Refugee Services office, which relies on federal grants for much of its revenue.
MRS operations “continue to be impacted by the very dynamic changes in the federal immigration and refugee policies and programs,” Schnurr said in a message sent to bishops prior to the meeting.
MRS administration is being cut $6.6 million “due primarily to the reduction in refugee arrivals which directly impacts pass-through funding to the dioceses for local administration and direct assistance to clients,” Schnurr said. [LOL! pass-through funding after a huge slice is taken out for salaries!—ed]
MRS’ resettlement services office is being scaled back by $2.6 million “largely due to the closure of the Cuban-Haitian program by the end of 2019,” he added. MRS’ executive office is cutting its budget $178,00 for 2020, and its special programs office will be down $53,000 from 2019 levels.
Overall the numbers of refugees admitted to the country who are helped by MRS “continue to track downward,” Schnurr told his fellow bishops.
Rarely do we see reports on the number of refugees any of the nine contractors resettled.
In fiscal year 2016, MRS settled about 4,200 refugees. In 2017, the number swelled to 7,800 refugees, but last year MRS resettled 6,350. And as of Sept 30 of this year, the number of refugees settled was 4,350.
Interesting that in 2016 the Bishops had a smaller share (only 5%) of the incoming refugees than they do now (14%). It can only mean that as the overall number of refugees drop, the Bishops are getting a bigger cut. I wonder why that is?
Or, it could mean the Catholic Bishops received a lot more federal money because they also contracted to take care of the mushrooming numbers of ‘Unaccompanied Alien Children,’ funding for which comes under the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“Staff remains vigilant and where possible, proactive” in pushing for higher federal intake numbers, he said.
You can bet they are proactive and lobbying for more refugee paying clients and ultimately Democrat voters!
***But, here is what I don’t get. The Bishops reported a substantially higher income in 2018. Yes, they had more paying clients, but did they have so many fewer last year and expect even less in the coming year that their budget dropped by half from 2018?
That would be a great headline—-Under TrumpCatholicBishops lose at least $20 million in two years!
Maybe someone with accounting experience can jump in and explain—could they have lost half of their federal money in just two years?
BTW, in 2018 93% of their Migration Program was funded by US taxpayers!
From their consolidated annual reporttheir Migration and Refugee Services Program for calendar year 2018 shows over $48 million from the feds. So what I want to know is if their budget for the coming year will be only $22 million (as reported above) that indicates a enormous drop in federal funding over two years. Again, could that be true?
Only a little over $3 million was raised from private charitable giving by parishioners! page 38
Doing well by doing good!
Check out that 2018 financial report and notice that over $8 million went to SALARIES to compensate for their good works to benefit refugees. So much for ‘religious’ charities!
See myprevious post this morningabout the numbers of refugees admitted over the last ten years. I needed some of that data to figure what percentage of incoming refugee clients the Bishops are getting—I’m guessing they are getting the biggest chunk of the flow into your towns and cities.
CNN is reporting that as the 2020 fiscal year approaches (a week from tomorrow) some refugees who had plane tickets for October are being notified that their flights are canceled.
By the way, we are on the hunt every day for the Presidential Determination for how many refugees will be admitted as your new neighbors in the next fiscal year. At one point, leaks (by deep state actors within the federal government) suggested the number could be zero. That, of course, sent the contractors, whose budgets depend on your money, into fits of rage at the President.
Flights to bring some refugees to the US are being canceled
Flights for some refugees who were approved to come to the United States have been canceled, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move has sparked concern among resettlement agencies that have booked travel for refugees into October, anticipating the continuation of arrivals in the upcoming fiscal year. It also has the potential of leaving some refugees who were approved to come to the US in limbo.
Rachel Pollock
“It concerns me that our local offices have done a bunch of work and started to make plans for these cases to come. It’s so atypical,” said Rachel Pollock, director of resettlement services for United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, one of the nine resettlement agencies that work with the State Department to place refugees.
“No one really knows what’s coming or what’s going to happen. It seems like a further move away from what we’ve come to expect from this program,” Pollock added.
[Don’t miss my post yesterday about the Bishop’s “summer of discontent” with Donald Trump. Come to think of it, wouldn’t you think the Bishops would cut Trump some slack since he is a staunch defender of the unborn!—ed]
The International Organization for Migration [an organization within the UN-ed], which is in charge of booking refugees on their travel, sent cancellation notices out Monday morning.
A notice obtained by CNN [leaked to CNN by a contractor or some denizen of the deep state most likely—ed] includes the travel itinerary for individuals whose travel was booked for October and canceled. The stated reason for cancellation: “FY20 moratorium extension.”
The notice doesn’t provide an end date for the extension.
The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration directed the International Organization for Migration to send the notifications, according to a department spokesperson, who added the moratorium is being extended through October 21. The department is working with the organization to rebook the flights contingent upon the refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal year 2020.
[….]
As a result of the declining admissions under the Trump administration, all nine resettlement agencies have had to close offices or pause their placement programs — chipping away at a system designed to not only place refugees but also help them integrate into communities across the country.
As of April 2019, around 100 offices have either closed entirely or suspended their refugee resettlement program, a third of offices nationwide, according to a Refugee Council USA report released this year.
