Bishops Told Immigration Is Key to the Future of Catholic Church
| More news stories on Immigration |
|---|
Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), June 13, 2008
Immigration has not weakened the Christian identity of the United States but rather strengthened it, the director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life told Catholic bishops here Thursday.
{snip}
[Luigi] Lugo presented findings from Pew’s sweeping U.S. Religious Landscape Survey to some 240 Catholic bishops attending their annual spring meeting.
The survey, first released last February, measured the changing and diversifying religious affiliations of some 35,000 American adults. Researchers found that Catholics lose more adherents than any other religious group; one in 10 Americans are former Catholics.
Despite those losses, Catholic numbers have held steady during the last two decades, at about a quarter of the U.S. population. That’s thanks in large part to immigrants, notably Latinos. About one-third of U.S. Catholics are Latino, which is helping offset the more secular attitudes that have gained ground in Europe, Lugo said.
{snip}
(Posted on June 16, 2008)
Comments
Christianity like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc is now a mainly non-white third world religion! As a lapsed Christian this some what saddens me but then since the west is so prosperous religion is the first thing to be discarded anyway, look at Japan fifty years ago it was fanatically Shintu but now its more secular then western Europe! The Christian Churches will live on but I fear if the white race will.
Posted by AD at 7:18 PM on June 16
Tell me again about Odin, Loki and Thor. I`m ready to listen this time…
Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 7:33 PM on June 16
“Bishops Told Immigration Is Key to the Future of Catholic Church.”
Well, somebody finally said what everybody has known all along.
Yes, follow the money for the answer to anything.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 8:49 PM on June 16
As Roman Catholicism is a supposedly world religion, this “gain” in Catholics in the US represents a loss of Catholics in Mexico and other parts of South America. Thus, it is not a real gain, only a geographical transfer. There is also no evidence that I am aware of that hispanic immigrants to the US do not eventually leave the Church as have its more traditional European Catholic immigrants. In fact, it is likely that hispanics who come to the US are more likely to produce children who are less religious than their parents, producing an overall decline in the total number of the world’s Catholics.
The US Bishops are no doubt very happy about the hispanic invasion but they are very short sighted in their thinking. They should be much more concerned about why so many traditional Catholics have left the Church in the US and other developed european countries rather than about the current numbers of US Catholics. As Americans they should also be concerned about their country being inundated by relatively low IQ, uneducated foreigners.
My general impression is that most US bishops are merely administrators who are interested in counting the numbers rather than in properly religious questions.
Posted by at 10:21 PM on June 16
Undoubtedly some Catholics want immigration, but most Catholics are what Jesses Jackson and Al Sharpton would call racists. In other words good old fashion Americans. Also bishops and priests know there is no gold in them there hills of immigrants from Mexico. The one in ten Catholic leaving is the paying customer whose patronage they should be working to get back.
Posted by Walter Lewkowski at 10:54 PM on June 16
This whole Catholic support for mass “immigration” is the most naked example of self-serving doublespeak going on today. Their concern is with numbers, contributions and an ever-fading belief-system that fewer and fewer Caucasians can buy into. All this mumbo-jumbo about the “morality” of immigration, etc., is nothing but typical Church guilt-mongering and manipulation. The more things change the more they really do remain the same!
Posted by Hank at 10:55 PM on June 16
Let me tell you that latino Catholics are not like European/American Catholics. They are full of superstition and ignorance. I saw “Hail Mary Spray” in a regular convenience store frequented by latinos. They believe that if you spray it around, the virgin Mary will protect you from evil spirits. They cheat on and beat their spouses, rape, rob, do drugs, form gangs, and drink to excess,then claim that birth control is against their religion. Latinos cling to the Catholic church because the RCC has been the source of food and relief for their laziness and substandard intelligence. Many of us Catholics hate what is going on in our church just as other denominations do. Catholics from Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Bavaria have done so much good for the US, yet Obama’s “Irish priest” and the Kennedys (“one more bullet left”)get all the press.
Posted by Sister Butrille at 11:13 PM on June 16
Can anyone answer a question that’s been on my mind? With the explosion of Latinos, I’d like to know if the US is only allowing legal Latinos to immigrate ahead of other races, or are they all illegal? Something has to be a major factor in this seemingly unbalanced ratio of Hispanics to other races. If this continues, I think that within ten years they will become a majority and will vote accordingly. Do you suppose we can count on free education, medical care and other benefits when we are the minority? We’ve been a superpower that bested all our enemies, but this one only had to walk in and colonize without our government lifting a finger. What a way to go!
Posted by June at 8:54 AM on June 17
Ha! Good post from the Desk of Tim McHugh!
I also am getting burned out on Christianity, especially after reading “What Jesus Meant” by Garry Wills (did you know that he was an egalitarian, anti-property, feminist who caused miracles to “work themselves” much like “Baal Shem Tov”? Oh, yes, Baal Shem Tov—I had almost forgot about him!)
What could the European religions have become, if they had been allowed to evolve naturally, without their adherents being murdered?
Posted by Garvin Alfred Schmaltz at 9:19 AM on June 17
Why must immigrants be the future? A better future would be to see more traitorous Catholics emmigrating to serve THEIR Church, not MY Lord, in some Third World country with the black and brown people.
Posted by Kellie at 10:12 AM on June 17
More Catholic Church bashing from AMREN.
Once again, the Catholic Church has no control over our border and does not dictate immigration “policy”.
I can assure you Catholics do not like immigration anymore than Protestants do.
Our next President (Obama or McCain) will be Protestant. Let’s see how he does in controlling the border.
Posted by Dennis at 10:56 AM on June 17
Unfortunately,immigration from Latin America will weaken, not strengthen, the Church. Latin Americans are much less likely than American Catholics to practice their faith (10-15% of Latin American Catholics are regular mass attendees vs. 25-30% of baptized Ameican Catholics). Latin America is also the homeland of “liberation theology”, a quasi-marxist heresy rampant there. I live in Southern California and can vouch for the fact that various Protestant “Iglesias” catering to Hispanics abound here (testimony to the alienation of Hispanics from the Church).
Posted by at 11:00 AM on June 17
To Garvin Alfred Schmaltz and Tim McHugh
I doubt there will ever be an Odinist or druid revival in the west any more then there being a christian revival! The big problem in the west (North America especially) is that materialism and consumerism (ie: money) is the new religion, the shopping malls are the new cathedrals. To save the western man you have to have pride in your race and its achievements, if you want to keep christianity then make it ETHNOSPECIFIC like the Russian Orthodox Church or the Lebanese Maronite Church!
Posted by AD at 11:35 AM on June 17
I am a Catholic and I am FED UP!…the moment the church got involved in politics and the immigration issue…giving aid and sanctuary to the ILLEGALS…is the moment that their TAX-EXEMPT STATUS should have been REVOKED!…and ANY OTHER CHURCH doing the same should also have THEIR tax-exempt status revoked!…I am FED UP with the IMAGE they portray as being CHARITABLE!…their CHARITIES are being PAID by the government with OUR tax dollars!…which is a VIOLATION of the SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!
Posted by Suzan Donoghue at 11:47 AM on June 17
I’m a lapsed Catholic. I attended Catholic prep school (Canterbury School) and a Jesuit university (Georgetown). At one time I wanted to be a priest.
But over the years, I came to disagree with the Church’s left-wing views on immigration, Hispanics, culture, Jews, race, etc. I became disgusted by the Church constantly apologising for everything. I think the Church does not focus on saving souls. The Church is focused on solving poverty and empowering non-white people in the Third World. I think ultimately, I disagree with Christianity’s focus on “turning the other cheek,” which to me is a policy of weakness, cowardice, nihilism, and despair.
Today, I am marrying into a Sunni Muslim family, so I am undergoing conversion to Islam. It’s a remarkably easy process.
Posted by Tucker at 12:34 PM on June 17
If 1 in 10 Americans are former Catholics, that seems to suggest that 1 in 3 whites who were born Catholic have left the religion.
Nice going, John XXIII and your Vatican II. Nice work, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.
Posted by Brendan at 12:52 PM on June 17
There is a distinct anti Catholic bent on this website. To act as if Catholics are the only ones who support illegal immigration, or Fr. Pfleger, priest scandals is absurd. This is all absolutely saturated in most denominations of Protestantism especially those of ethnic flavor.
This is humorous to say the least. As a convert to the Catholic church and former “fundamentalist” christian I can tell you that you should probably look to protestantism as it’s almost moral/ethical relativism is ubiquitous and almost rivals secularism in it’s scope and breath.
Posted by at 1:06 PM on June 17
Hope they enjoy it. How embarassing!!!! The Catholics will soon be as disgusting as those black churches. The Bishops should take a look at Latin America and see how cahtolicism worked out for those Indians and metizos.
Corruptionm, cronyism, chaos and criminality, that is the future of the church in America.
Anyone remember the 20th century when catholic school kids scored the highest in every possible test from 1st grade to SAT’s?
With the cahtolic schools full of mexicans they are goiing downhill to the level of the mexican impacted public schools.
Posted by at 1:44 PM on June 17
To Garvin,
Christianity is a big reason why Europe turned into the super-power it did. Europe is pretty much the first continent to take up Christianity so put 2 and 2 together.
The problem is, there are a lot of leftist ministers who’ve taken up positions in various Churches and they’ve infected the minds of their congregations.
****
Read the Old Testament and you’ll see that much of it is about protecting your people, avoiding miscengenation, and keeping large groups of foreigners out of your country. You’d be shocked by how much the OT supports the notion of protecting your people, and nation-state!
Posted by RealityCheck at 2:13 PM on June 17
Regarding demographics and the vote, the citizens of the United States can vote all they like, but that doesn’t mean that they have the power. Even when the Mexicans have the demographics on their side, they won’t be the ones pulling the strings (even though it might be made to look that way). They are just a new slave class. As racial unrest and general dissatisfaction increase in America, the government will become more and more totalitarian in order to keep us in line. Our military crosses oceans to invade other countries, and it could certainly defend our border if it wanted to. Our rulers want the border to remain open, and they’re not just going to let the invaders waltz in and steal their lunch. Certainly ours, but not theirs.
Posted by Joe at 3:11 PM on June 17
“As Roman Catholicism is a supposedly world religion, this “gain” in Catholics in the US represents a loss of Catholics in Mexico and other parts of South America. Thus, it is not a real gain, only a geographical transfer. There is also no evidence that I am aware of that hispanic immigrants to the US do not eventually leave the Church as have its more traditional European Catholic immigrants.”
^ Well stated.
What we have to remember is that the Church of Rome is about their power in the world first and foremost.
You certainly can be an authentic Christian and not have anything to do with modern Catholicism or the Church of Rome. I would argue you should.
Modern Catholicism isn’t the universal Catholicism of apostolic times nor is it the Catholicism of the middle ages which pulled together Western Civilization and insulated it.
This modern Catholicism I can do completely without thank you very much.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 4:45 PM on June 17
Yes, Mr. Kelly, the race problem is and has always been (in my opinion) primarily fuelled by the love of easy money, made unjustly.
Posted by at 1:14 PM on June 18
Ceasar wasn’t an Aztec, so don’t call a Mestizo “Latin”, otherwise, I am going to have to call Blacks “Saxons” just because they speak in English.
Getting on the topic, well, what do you expect from the Catholic Church?
Posted by Walter at 8:09 PM on June 18
Religious zealots are the curse of mankind.
Posted by at 10:55 PM on June 18
Laughable that we see consistantly on this website the “racial sins” of the Catholic Church I find that in reality it is predominantly protestant “churches” orbasically several people who pick up the Bible and read it without any context or historical understanding beyond the limitations or their intellect, creativity, and intelligence.
Actually as a Catholic convert who understands the Catholic church as the only mainstream church which accepts the basic concepts of evolution I find it interesting that those who support racial differences dislike the Catholic church. Think about it, without the belief in evolution there really can be no scientifically or genetically based racialism. The vast majority if not all protestant churches dispute evolution and attribute it to sin and whatever else they derive from the Bible personally.
Posted by at 12:51 AM on June 19
The Catholic Church has long been a communist front organization dedicated to Liberation Theology rather than the teaching of Christianity. It preys on the ignorant, superstitious and uneducated. This is why it is so popular throughout Latin America and Mexico. American whites increasingly recognize the Catholic Church as a communist front and a country club for pedophiles. They are leaving the Catholic Church in droves. This is why the Catholic Church seditiously supports Hispanic illegals. They need to fill pews with the gullible and the priest’s private quarters with trusting and malleable third-world children…
http://www.knology.net/~bilrum/libtheo.htm
Posted by at 11:14 AM on June 20