LA Cardinal Mahony lashes out at anti-immigration sentiment

Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony

Function: Archbishop of Los Angeles, California, USA

Title: Cardinal Priest of Ss Quattro Coronati

Birthdate: Feb 27, 1936	Country: USA

Elevated: Jun 28, 1991	More information: www.catholic-hierarchy.org

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LA Cardinal Mahony lashes out at anti-immigration sentiment
Mar 04, 2006
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony says he would instruct his priests to defy any federal legislation that would require churches to check parishioners for legal status before providing assistance.

(Associated Press, Mar. 01, 2006) LOS ANGELES - Mahony, in remarks made Tuesday, was referring to provisions in the immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and in the version that the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin debating this week.

The Cardinal denounced what he called a growing "hysterical" anti-immigration sentiment and said he plans to use Ash Wednesday to ask all 288 parishes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese to pray and press for humane immigration reform.

"The whole concept of punishing people who serve immigrants is un-American," said Mahony, a longtime advocate of immigrant rights. "If you take this to its logical, ludicrous extreme, every single person who comes up to receive Holy Communion, you have to ask them to show papers.

"We're not about to become immigration agents."

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops support a guest-worker program, legalizing undocumented immigrants and more visas for migrants' families. Mahony on Tuesday also criticized efforts by immigration control groups including the Minuteman Project to police the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Mahony isn't considering the costs of illegal immigration on low-wage American workers, local governments, public schools and the health care system.

"Charity is an important tenet of the Judeo-Christian faith, but there are limits," Mehlman said.

Chris Simcox, president of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, said its border patrol efforts were not mean-spirited but were meant to stop drug dealers, human traffickers, gang members and others who prey on U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.

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