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O'Malley blasts Trump over ripping children away from parents at the border

WBUR reports.

Cardinal O'Malley's complete statement, which concludes:

These individuals and families are fleeing documented violence, chaos and murder in the neighborhoods of Central America. The United States is now openly before the world using children as pawns to enforce a hostile immigration policy. This strategy is morally unacceptable and denies the clear danger weighing upon those seeking our assistance.

As a Catholic bishop, I support political and legal authority. I have always taught respect for the civil law and will continue to do so. But, I cannot be silent when our country’s immigration policy destroys families, traumatizes parents, and terrorizes children. The harmful and unjust policy of separating children from their parents must be ended.


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Comments

He was rather quite under Obama!

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No, he wasn't. There may be plenty of reasons to criticize him, but his consistency on immigration issues is not one of them.

In January, 2016, he, along with other bishops, called on the governent to stop deporting mothers and children.

In November, 2014, he called on the US to continue admitting Syrian immigrants even after the Paris attacks.

In September, 2013, he sent a letter to parishoners supporting "a secure path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented persons already in this country" and an end to the separation of children from their parents.

I'm sure there's more out there, but you could probably find such stuff as easily as I could.

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Who was quite on criticizing Obama!

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is "quiet"

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I don't tend to overtly post long rants for or against national issues, but I did cover some local ramifications of Obama's immigration policy, like here, here and here.

Any other ill-informed bloviation you need clearing up? Operators are standing by, but maybe you should learn how to use a search engine first.

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Use a search engine? These right-wing bots just regurgitate what's fed to them by Fox News and always share a common theme of being unable to spell properly.

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as long as its little brown kids being locked up.

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Disgraceful comments by O'Malley. Is it a comedy act that on the same day the Boston Herald is called "damaged" and "once feisty" that Cardinal O'Malley is venerated with no mention that his once powerful Archdiocese is in freefall and in much further decline than the newspaper?

The Cardinal claims support of the rule of law and even holds a "Blue Mass" to honor those who enforce it. Illegal immigration is against the law. The Cardinal would be better served using his multi-lingual skills to inform potential migrants to stay home or else risk enforcement of the very rule of law he claims to respect. Sometimes God's love means respecting boundaries.

Maybe someday a reporter will investigate O'Malley's office and the many six figure salaries with deep ties to staunch pro-abortion Joe Biden. When I last looked, the "Superintendent of Schools" for the Archdiocese (tiny enrollment) was "earning" an outrageous salary near half a million, far more than the Superintendent of Schools in New York City (huge enrollment), yet they ask us for a "second collection for poor retired priests" at Sunday Mass. Really shameless by O'Malley.

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Truly, you embody the Christian spirit.

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It doesn't get more Christian than Exodus 20:17. I'm not sure what's worse, Cardinal O'Malley urging illegals to come here, cut the line and accept taxpayer funded benefits (coveting thy neighbor's goods), or the Cardinal paying nearly half a million dollars to a Superintendent of a few schools (though shall not steal). The pro-abortion Biden holdovers in O'Malley's office are possibly more scandalous. 'Rebuild my church" has never meant more.

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But sure, a book in the old testament definitely more Christian, than, say, the actual fucking words of Christ himself:

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It doesn't get more Christian than Exodus 20:17.

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35)

"If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?" (1 Jn. 3:17)

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Though shall not steal? Like how Trump is having children stolen from their parents? You bring up abortion like you give a shit about children then you show how you are in favor of children being ripped from their parents and placed in disgusting internment camps. How is that pro life or family values?

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"doesn't get more Christian than this Jewish scripture"
ahahahahahaha
Man you're dumb. Each post just proves it more and more.

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There's a reason Christians have no problems eating shrimp, despite the prohibition in Leviticus that observant Jews still follow.

Trivial? Not really. Somebody who professes to be an observant Christian is going to follow the precepts of Christ and his apostles - including all those un-Murrican, anti-Trumpian concepts as turning the other cheek, protecting the least among us, recognizing the beam in thine own eye, etc.

People who have abandoned those principles and instead take Old Testament sections out of context and get all vengeful and wrathful, are they really Christians anymore? They're certainly not Jews (trust me on this) and they should stop treating the Old Testament as some sort of religious smorgasbord. And they should frickin' keep the Judeo out of their alleged Judeo-Christian "heritage," because they are contravening what Jews (Orthodox Union possibly excepted) believe in.

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Law enforcement is ugly.

A lack of enforced laws is uglier.

Says this Jew who's not Orthodox and enjoys his ham and cheese sandwiches.

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...non-ugly law enforcement?

You have a blinkered imagination, Roman.

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asking politely with an implied threat of asking politely a second time?

Your comment seems to imply you've led a sheltered life. That's not a bad thing, it just means you need to be more aware of your blind spots.

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Pay no attention to those dead civilians.

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Sleeping through Catechism won't save you, Fishy.

I was always taught that the old testament was not the way of Christians - that the teachings of Jesus were the only god law you need.

Too many ignorant "Christians" wearing abominable poly-cotton blend shirts while screaming KILL HOMOS and ripping children from their mother's breast.

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I was always taught that the old testament was not the way of Christians - that the teachings of Jesus were the only god law you need.

ummm.... Glad I didn't have your teachers, then.

A few observations -

  • The first Christians were born of the Old Testament.
  • The Old Testament - The Jewish people - First people called by God, and are Christians' elder brothers in faith.
  • Jesus came in fulfillment of the prophecies and teaching of the Old Testament (and to turn the world upside-down, yeah).
  • You might want to go back over that New Testament/Christian stuff about "in the beginning there was the Word and the Word was of God and Jesus is the Word made Flesh" Jesus was there from the Beginning.
  • When Jesus spoke of law and commandments - the lesson about the two greatest commandments - he said that "All of the rest of the Commandments and the Law are contained in those"

In short - (a) the Old Testament is very much the way* of Christians, and (b) all you need is what Jesus taught, yes, but you need to think a bit about what it was he was teaching.

* that way being (hopefully) a little more nuanced than what Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder might describe one-dimensionally as "wanting the Old Testament God of Vengeance to come out of retirement"

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To continue the discussion here, if somebody's going to follow the Old Testament, you need to really follow it and not just pick out the stuff about vengeance and smiting, because there's a lot more to it. Take Leviticus 19:34:

The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 10:19 says the same basic thing.

Personally, I think some people could benefit from reading the Song of Solomon, but to each his own.

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I particularly enjoyed the Star Trek novel somebody wrote about Sarek's early days on Earth. He meets some religious "fundamentalist" at a reception. Somewhere in conversation with this chapter & verse literalist, Sarek asks him (in all non-emotional cultural curiosity) if that philosophy of strict adherence extends to whichever O.T. book/chapter/verse that specifies how (in the desert) to go out, have a bowel movement, and scrape yourself clean afterwards with a piece of wood or something.

Amanda, who's with him as he's telling this story to Kirk & McCoy, adds that the aftermath of the conversation stirred up some interest from the 23rd-century successors to trash tabloids: Demon Alien Pursued by Angry Mob

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between "illegal immigration" and seeking asylum from violence . And imprisoning children including babies and toddlers in a concentration camp solves nothing and is hateful and harmful.

These comments from you are hateful and despicable, but we have come to expect nothing less from you.

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There is a process for asylum, see the Tsarnaev family. I'm a firm believer in Matthew 25:40, "whatever you do for the least of my people, you do for me."

O'Malley should use his overpaid staff to make copies of the application for citizenship or asylum, then hand them out and get them submitted to the proper authorities. Cutting the line is not the American or Christian way.

The Vatican or Holy See is a country recognized by the United States. As a prince of the church and potentially in-line for head of state there, O'Malley should work with our U.S. Ambassador and President, not against them.

O'Malley's far-left political grandstanding only confuses the flock, much like the elaborate funeral and burial of Ted Kennedy who opposed Catholic teaching whenever possible. When churches continue to empty, it's because the flock is asking, "why bother?"

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There is a process for asylum

Indeed there is. Now show me where in that policy it calls for separating families.

I'm a firm believer in Matthew 25:40, "whatever you do for the least of my people, you do for me."

If I believed your God existed, I'd say you just set yourself up for some epic cosmic payback. You arrogant, sanctimonious fool.

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He thinks Baby Jesus should have been torn out of the arms of Mother Mary and locked in a cage. Firm belief.

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JESUS AND HIS FAMILY WERE MIGRANTS WITHOUT RESOURCES.

MARY WAS A TEENAGE MOTHER.

Any questions? Try getting your answers from this conservative Christian minister: https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/06/08/god-has-nothing-to-do-with-trump-be...

(this should have gone under Rottenhatefish's statement, not sock puppet's)

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these modern day concentration camps and the policies, not laws, that enable them. Really shameless by Fish.

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fucking that chicken. Fish.

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Christianity has a very clear moral teaching on this issue (hint: check out how Jesus answers the lawyer discoursing on the law):

Luke 10:25-37 King James Version (KJV)

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

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Follow Jesus, or Trump

How anyone can claim to do both without their heads imploding is beyond me, but a person's faith is none of my business

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"Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don’t go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

Deut. 24 (MSG)

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Using "pro-abortion" tells me all I need to know about you.

You "pro-fetus" types love the idea of babies until they drop out of the mother. Then they are just breeders taking from society and you leave them to fend for themselves. "Have the baby but then f*ck you - you shouldn't have been having sex you dirty whore."

"We love children" say the pro-fetus - we just won't feed, educate, house, insure or help them. Fake ass Christians and you've been duped by the biggest fake Christian "running" the country into the ground. Baa baa sheep...baa baa.

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they ask us for a "second collection for poor retired priests" at Sunday Mass.

To be specific, it's the up-front, first-and-only collection on Christmas and Easter (along with some fundraiser events). For someone who's there so much, you don't seem to be paying attention.

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that you are not a fan of O'Malley?

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That this is wrong, you should probably stop using this site as a blog to bitch about Trump, if you want to remain credible. The economy is freakin' booming (and No, not because of Obama), and as long as Trump doesn't start a nuclear war with North Korea and/or Russia, he will 100% win again in 2020... so get over it.

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If you don't think this site is credible, or that I shouldn't post anything about the statements of the leader of the largest religious group in the Boston area, that's fine. There are plenty of other Web sites out there for you.

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Reporting on a public figure's negative comments about Trump == "Bitching about Trump"

It is the patriotic duty of all journalists to only report things that portray our leader in the most positive light.

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When you say the current economic situation is "not because of Obama" you lose all credibility.
The state of the current economy is due to a mix of Obama and Trump policies and several factors that have nothing to do with government

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Trump inherited a strong economy from Obama just like Trump inherited his wealth and business from his daddy. Those are the facts whether you like them or not. Obama set the record for most months of job growth. The streak only ended because his second term did.

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The state of the economy under Trump is similar to what it had been in recent years under Obama. Some advocates of the "things are good now" view cite statistics and markers identical to what they were when they used them 2-3 years ago to say thingswere stagnant, hollow, smoke & mirrors, etc... under Obama.

To be frank, the economy was not then and is not now good. Some of the numbers may be good (or good-ish), like a strong pulse - but a pulse means only so much without context. This economy is not healthy - is not now and has not been for years (decades). Deficit spending will eventually crash and ruin us. Especially Bush43 doubled the national debt from nearly $5 trillion to nearly $10T, Obama went and doubled that again, and the "great businessman" hasn't put the brakes on that yet.

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He has bet the ranch on economic growth that is in the stratosphere and essentially unattainable with tax cuts. Yhen he doubled down with a bipartisan spending bill. And he wantscstill more for infrastructure.

Oh, and the wall...

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I'm not even sure which infrastructure he'd actually spend on.

He's hostile to the Northeast Corridor bridge and tunnel work in NJ/NY. If that stuff fails - result is regional economic chaos which will translate to national economic impact.

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Because the government has their finger on the scale.

For most of the Obama administration they kept interest rates ridiculously low, and probably too low for too long. When all that leverage resets at higher rates - hold on to your hat if you're lucky and bend over and kiss your butt good-bye if you're not (if you're a homeowner in Boston, it's the primary reason our taxes haven't gone up much for the past 10 years - if rates keep moving higher - watch what this does to your property taxes).

The problem is that Trump then doubled down on that in one fell swoop with his ridiculous tax cuts (and then both sides of the aisle put in a side-bet with their spending plan). It's basically like you've been barely paying your bills and then someone gave you a giant adjustable rate mortgage and you took the money and went on a massive spending bender. At some point a) your rate will go up and you won't be able to afford it and b) you won't have any money left to pay for anything anyway.

This has the potential to make 2008 look like child's play.

to your point - we may still be spending the proceeds of that giant mortgage in 2020 - so maybe he will get re-elected - only to ultimately be known in the history books as the man that toppled the empire.

Unfortunately all this is way too complicated for the average person to digest - but if young people don't start voting to fix this - they will be in a very sorry state somewhere down the road.

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Yup. Trump's "tax cut" was nothing but a transfer of wealth from young middle class people to old rich people. The republican plan is nothing but greed and shortsightedness. But they don't care because they got theirs and they will be dead by the time their bill is due. I'll be paying for this tax cut for the wealthy, plus interest, for the rest of my life.

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Was it ten years ago yet you started making the prediction that Boston homeowners' taxes would soon grow up drastically and I laughed at you?

A stopped clock is right twice a day. Your prediction will inevitably come true, given a long enough time frame.

Myself, I'm also betting we have a cyclical downturn before too long. Of course, not betting really, because who can time these things?

I used to be worried that Trump's acceleration of deficit spending (like a party on the national credit card) would overheat the economy and the Fed would have to step in to tamp it down, thereby worsening the deficit. But now it looks like his protectionist tariffs may take care of that job.

I used to imagine that Infrastructure Week would finally come, and all that government borrowing would be spent on building things that actually are worth something and pay dividends of public usability, but then somebody told me the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist either and I got all sad.

Still, making a big pile and setting it on fire in a billionaire hookers-and-blow party would work too, no?

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Per my post, there's a giant finger on the scale.

Commercial real estate is massively artificially inflated because the fed did things they've never done in history and that's the only tjing keeping residential taxes dowm. The side effect is deflation of residential taxes. If rates go to 5% versus the lows around 2% that we had, the process reverses unless the city changes the rules which they have done in the past. My math and economics were perfect.sans massive government intervention. I just underestimated the insanity of the bureaucrats.

We don't get out of this for free if history is a guide and interest rates are on the rise. Modest changes this December, noticeable changes next if nothing changes. After that, depends on that giant finger in DC, and I'm not talking the size of Trump's hands.

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"But, I cannot be silent when our country’s immigration policy destroys families, traumatizes parents, and terrorizes children."

Why was the church silent when the children were being terrorized by Father Shanley, Geoghan, et al?

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That O'Malley was brought in to clean up the the horror that his predecessors allowed, right?

October 28, 2015 - Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley statement regarding release of Spotlight.

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O'Malley's politics might please you and other non-Catholics, Adam, but he should have devoted himself to the faith not the politics. A trained investigator or committee could have easily identified the priest sexual crime problems, most knew it was originating at the seminary.

O'Malley should have left the "clean-up" to the professionals and prayed with the parishoners of those parishes that held vigil against closure, I believe East Boston and Scituate were some of the last two. Instead, the faithful had to bring in non-Catholic priests to celebrate the Eucharist while paying their own lawyers to fight the chancery, once a glorified reservation on Chestnut Hill, now a non-descript office building, with a crucifix, in Braintree, filled with six figure staff.

Most of the closed churches were on high value property with connected realtors. The next time envelopes are passed out for second collection, O'Malley should include a copy of the official U.S. immigration and asylum application. I know those few of us left at church would be happy to hand them out.

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Got a cite for that? Other than you and the mouse in our pocket?

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O'Malley should have left the "clean-up" to the professionals and prayed with the parishoners of those parishes that held vigil against closure, I believe East Boston and Scituate were some of the last two. Instead, the faithful had to bring in non-Catholic priests to celebrate the Eucharist while paying their own lawyers to fight the chancery, once a glorified reservation on Chestnut Hill, now a non-descript office building, with a crucifix, in Braintree, filled with six figure staff.

Most of the closed churches

In assorted order...

- if they were non-Catholic priests, it wasn't the Eucharist as Catholics understand it
- groups were helped on the QT by real priests who would celebrate Mass or provide consecrated hosts for lay-led services
- I'm not sure, but I think the archdiocese actually made some of the arrangements for certain services to go on during part of the appeals process
- the "glorified reservation" was sold and offices moved to the "non-descript" (mostly donated) building in order to be able to do things like pay judgments, fund needed services for the victims, put better prevention/investigative/enforcement procedures in place, and paying the professionals (who, yes, were brought in to help "clean up"). You're going to complain against both the horrible situation (which was made worse by the archdiocese) AND one of the straightforward actions that was part of starting to correct it?!
- closed churches/real estate: Accepting for the sake of argument the premise that at least some closings were necessary in the situation, I have no hesitation in saying that some were wrong, some I disagree with the particular choice made, they did a disservice to some people, and they bungled some of the business/execution.

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The Church is all about politics which is why it's high time they start paying their fair share. There is a supposed separation of church and state that the religious zealots seem to forget about when it suits them.

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Here is the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There is nothing in here that would prevent the clergy from speaking up on public issues. The purpose of the First Amendment was to keep government out of religion and to allow freedom of speech, not to restrict freedom of speech for the clergy. We would be poorer as a country if certain clergymen (MLK, for instance) did not speak out.

And, no, I'm not Catholic.

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Does freedom of speech require immunity from taxation? As I read it, that's what the previous post was about. Would taxing churches restrict freedom of speech for the clergy? We tax newspapers, or the companies that own them. And we tax individuals. Is that a violation of free speech?

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And you do realize, of course ...

That O'Malley was brought in to clean up the the horror that his predecessors allowed, right?

...and that he hasn't hesitated to speak frankly of his own boss (Francis) when he's bungled things*, right?

* the Chilean sex abuse survivors and how Francis initially dismissed some of their concerns.

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That's the month long celebration of sin and degeneracy that almost every politician here participates in.

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You homophobes lost. We have marriage equality in this country. Get over it. If you want to hate people for the way they are born then maybe move to the middle east and join the taliban. You right wingers have much in common with the taliban.

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Ohhh count me in for sin and degeneracy!!

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is so concerned about children that his subordinates haven't molested and don't have to be paid from the coffers of the collection plates.

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Exactly! This is a PR move by the church to gloss over past sins. Also worth mentioning that the Catholic Church has a strong presence in South and Central America. Why aren't they providing safe haven and aid in the countries are fleeing from? The Church has the resources to do so and could also take steps to combat violence in those countries but hasn't.

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Remind Catholics they’re supposed to be following the teachings and examples of Jesus Christ.

How will Evil-Americans feel welcome at worship anymore?

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Refrain from commenting on anything to do with children as long as he is a member of the Catholic Church.
It's funny how his input on issues is only highlighted when they agree with whoever wants some brownie points with the religious people while his conservative views on other issues are swept under the rug .
Frankly I don't care what he thinks on any issue.

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Slapped around like a red-head step child following his comments, Fish has been laying in wait hoping something would come along that he could give a full throated rant about. Never one to disappoint, his opportunity arrived albeit his work product is chock full of falsehoods, misrepresentations, lies and other completely insane musings.

Fish, maybe there is Klan group meeting somewhere you can attend to commiserate with other right-wing nut-bags.

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You mention redheads, victims of assault and stepchildren as something less than yourself. Your bigoted comments to diminish them speak volumes.

A man who was ordained a Roman Catholic priest, but was later married, stood at the (Scituate) altar of the deconsecrated church and led services for parishioners who said they intended to break away from the archdiocesan hierarchy and form an independent Catholic church. -- NY Times

My comment on loving Anthony Bourdain's show but citing his recent dispute with Hillary Clinton (with Washington Post cite) also stands for itself. If having a truthful comment deleted here is being "slapped around like a redheaded stepchild," it's a high honor.

As for O'Malley "supporting" those who kept vigil, read the piece I've linked to from the NY Times. There was no O'Malley support for them or the other closed parishes, including those who were forced to worship in secret in neighboring Protestant churches. The Franciscan sandals and anti-Trump rhetoric aren't fooling anyone. As loan rates increase, it might be worthwhile taking a loan to buy a Catholic Church. Many more will be on the market soon.

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You mention redheads, victims of assault and stepchildren as something less than yourself. Your bigoted comments to diminish them speak volumes.

Do your hands hurt from clutching those manufactured pearls?

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It will say what they want to hear. Telling consumers to go seek asylum or illegal entry/residence in a Spanish-speaking country isn't what these customers want to hear.

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The same people who tell the leaders of the Catholic Church to keep their views to themselves on other issues (see social issues) are praising statements like this, while those who are very happy when leaders of the Catholic Church, often the exact same people, speak out on other issues (once again, we are talking "social issues") talk about things like this, the response is to tell them to stay out of matters like this.

In fact, the thing I like about the Catholic Church is that it is not easily pigeonholed into the political norms of America (and most likely most other political systems.) Politically, I am more in favor of the US being able to enforce its borders, but that don't mean that Cardinal O'Malley is wrong.

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The Catholic Church is not easily pigeonholed into the moral norms of America either, are they?

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Between a love of guns, the death penalty, and, um, other things, it does seem like the US is not into the "culture of life" espoused by Rome.

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archaic and quite tortuous rules on abortion, the subjugation of women overall in both the faith and word and those stupid fucking hats in that "culture of life" Rome promotes.

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I was being polite, with "other things." But hey, we're America, with the most liberal laws involving abortion and guns, though we won't give people money to buy either (at least within the US.) The funny thing is that those on opposite sides of both issues don't see the common thread.

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most liberal laws involving abortion

......gonna need a citation on that one, buddy.

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The Church gets to make statements about things political. Sure.

They do not get to run the government like they were once allowed to (but never should have been allowed to).

They also do not get to use public money for secular contracts and then discriminate against people on the basis of their religion when using that money (see also: adoption, full obstetric services)

There is a difference. Learn the difference.

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When did the Catholic Church run any government in the United States?

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Really?

Ever hear of BANNED IN BOSTON? How about Cardinals dictating policy to Mayors of a certain city you well know of?

Really?

I find it amazing that you would make such a statement - perhaps, when you grew up, it was so entrenched that you didn't notice? The entire rest of the freaking country knew all about it.

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But the concept of "banned in Boston" comes from a thread of Boston history that goes back to Puritan times. Is your claim that in fact the Congregational Church ran Boston as a theocracy? Perhaps in colonial times, but not since the rise of the Unitarians. As for "dictating," again, how about showing us an example. I mean, other than what Cardinal O'Malley released yesterday, which I am sure you don't view as such.

But hey, thanks for falling into my trap in that some people love it when Catholic politicians have to deal with the pronouncements of church leaders that support their own political leanings while they yell and scream (which, in the internet world, is writing things in all caps, and I do thank you for the visual on that) when the same church leaders pontificate on positions they don't agree on.

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People picking and choosing parts of religion that they like and ignoring the parts that they don't like; well now I've heard everything

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Maybe if you had been around during the days of Richard Cardinal Cushing, you know, like I was?... you'd have seen the influence of the Catholic Church on the politics of this town.

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It was hardly the theocracy Our Lady from Medford makes it out to be. In fact, any political success Cushing had owed a lot to how politically savvy Cushing was. Unlike Medeiros (alienated the anti-busing crowd), Law (alienated the abortion rights crowd), and now O'Malley (alienating the anti-immigrant crowd), he knew what to say when.

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Did a lot more than alienate the abortion rights crowd. He knowingly moved predator priests around to other parishes where more children and teens could be abused and participated in a massive cover up.

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And if you didn't notice, when all of that came to light, his tenure as Archbishop of Boston came to an end.

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Illegal immigration was really about those terrible law breakers, Mexican rapists, hordes of MS-13 gangbangers overrunning the borders. Or even about taking away jobs from US citizens.

But it isn't and never was. It's the Know Nothing Party anti-immigration all over again, lacking the anti-Catholic component. But that's because Trump etc. know they would loose many voters if they followed the traditional hatred of Catholics.

Immigration hysteria is about purity and impurity. It's about fear. It's about giving demagogues a reason to ply their snake oil of saving the culture, the society, saving whatever.

Immigration is the tinder that lights up the waiting mob's hatred and violence. It is the ladder by which creatures such as Trump, who can years away smell the stench of a growing mob, climb to the top so that they can crap on everyone.

This nation thrives on immigration. Legal and illegal.

On the other hand, and I'm sure Sessions, Trump, Ryan and McConnell would all gladly sign onto this idea, make a pact with every illegal immigrant. Indentured servitude for 7 years. If they behave they are allowed to stay. If they don't they go away, to wherever.

We can't have slavery anymore (although I'm sure quite a few folks regret that). But indentured servitude? Cheapest labor guarranteed.

Everybody wins. Demagogues win; people who buy groceries win because the labor cost of fruit and vegetables will be even cheaper. Corporate owners of farms win because they will rake in more profits than they could cry over.

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The key part is the illegal part.

I love immigrants and immigration, but why is it that those who enter the country illegally, or stay in the country longer than they agreed to, are viewed as great people when they are breaking the nation’s laws by being here. And you better believe that even “progressive” nations like Canada and France don’t support people being in their country illegally.

George W. Bush almost settled all of this 10 years ago. Now people are just insane on the issue.

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The only reason anyone has any concern, beyond people actually affected (who if any?) is because the issue of illegal immigration makes for a terrific group of scapegoats.

Has there ever been a time when illegal immigration did not exist? Yes, at the same time that there were not laws one way or another defining what was legal or illegal.

Immigration is today's boogeyman. It is the purity of the US being tainted and diluted by those wetback brown skin people.

This is the ugliness, meanness, viciousness and grotesque face of humanity showing its ugly mug. Call it by its other names, Know Nothing, Eugenics, Nazi. It's about purity; it's about declaring who is in who is out.

What was most telling? Trump's attack of a Federal judge who is a US citizen and with Mexican heritage. Trump saw brown skin. All he needed to start vomiting the verbal feces that he loves to spew.

Had nothing to do about legal or illegal. It's simply the ugly side of humanity rearing its monstrous head.

Many human beings need somebody to hate. The usual targets of hatred, the usual scapegoats are hard to hit nowadays because they hit back. Catholics, Gays, women, blacks. The haters who need to hate - the people who at their core are cowards - know that their usual targets hit back just as hard. So attack the folks who are the easiest targets: immigrants.

Proves that people who need to hate are cowards.

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Is that you offer the rationale for the side you distain.

But hey, somewhere on the internet there are websites were people claim that your side of the argument want to destroy America by throwing open the border for anyone to come in. I never visit such places, since my gut is that the other side of the equation is simply that the US should assist those in need. But that's just a rational person writing.

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We have blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, by doing two things:

  1. Making the immigration bureaucracy so difficult and costly to work with as to make it nearly impossible to immigrate legally unless you have staff, lawyers, etc.
  2. Making it clear that we need and welcome workers: 'if you come here, work at a job, pay taxes, and don't commit crimes, the immigration bureaucracy won't hassle you.'

We've pretty much said, 'yeah, that's the law, but you don't really need to comply with it.' Kind of like a lot of other laws that are on the books but not really enforced.

This has had the effect of creating a second-tier class of residents here in the USA; which is great for employers because it keeps wages down and because anyone who complains about workplace safety, harassment, working conditions can be deported. It's not a healthy situation at all, but everyone agrees that our economy depends upon immigrant workers, whom we have pushed into this limbo legal/illegal category.

We could solve the problem pretty quickly by creating a reasonable path to legal immigration, consistent with our best estimates of the number of immigrants our economy needs plus some sense of how many refugees we want to take on, and then just close out the semi-legal category with stricter enforcement. But in the current political environment, that's not going to happen.

It's also worth remembering that Congress did not choose to make it a crime to simply be here illegally: The person who arrives on a tourist visa, overstays, and starts working is in violation of the law but is not in violation of any criminal laws unless he or she makes false declarations to immigration officials, uses forged documents, etc. The majority of illegal immigrants have not committed any crime.

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