Births Must Keep up with Immigrants

Keith Michael Patrick Cardinal O‘Brien

Function: Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain

Title: Cardinal Priest of Sts. Joachim and Anne at the Tuscolano

Birthdate: May 17, 1938	Country: Scotland

Elevated: Aug 21, 2003	More information: www.catholic-hierarchy.org, www.archdiocese-edinburgh.com

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Births Must Keep up with Immigrants
Oct 17, 2004
Cardinal Keith O’Brien has said that Catholics must have more children or face seeing their faith eclipsed by the religions of immigrants.

(The Scotsman, 16 Oct 2004) In his remarks the cardinal said members of the Church hierarchy fear immigrant groups could "take over" in western European countries because they have more children than indigenous Christians.

Recalling a trip to Vienna, Cardinal O’Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, described the fears of a guide who showed him around the Austrian capital. "She said: ‘You know, we are losing our Christian Catholic community. We are not having babies, but the immigrants, they love babies, love families, love family life, have many many children, and soon they will be taking over’," Cardinal O’Brien said, adding: "Basically, that reflects the views of some of our own Church leaders at this time."

Ministers and business leaders have argued that more immigration is the answer to labour shortages, and the cardinal lent some support to that effort earlier this year, encouraging Canadians of Scots descent to return to the country. But he suggested that, for Catholics in Scotland, the focus should be on increasing the number of children they have. "I would say to our own people, have a look around, remember the joys of your own family," he said.

The cardinal’s remarks about immigration were made in a BBC radio interview broadcast last month.

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