LEFT WING LOONS
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Title: Muslim immigrants benefit from Catholic church’s support
Source:
kansascity.com
URL Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/2 ... m-immigrants-benefit-from.html
Published: Jul 28, 2010
Author: MITCHELL LANDSBERG LA Times
Post Date: 2010-07-28 17:08:15 by WhiteSands
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Keywords: catholics and muslims, vatican firsters
Views: 1207
Comments: 2
Visually speaking, the John Paul II Canteen is more IKEA cafe than soup kitchen. Tucked away in a pleasant hillside neighborhood in Rome, it has clean lines, attractive furniture, track lighting and framed photographs, making it a welcome oasis for the immigrants who stream in daily from shelters, homeless camps and crowded apartments. Strolling down the cafeteria line on a recent day, canteen coordinator Maurizio deStefano boasted about the quality of the free food, which included farfalle pasta and meatballs, spinach, boiled eggs, cheese, bread and apples. “The thing is,” he said, “there are so many Muslims that the menu often doesn’t have pork on it.” That may be sacrilege in some Italian culinary circles — no prosciutto? no spaghetti alla carbonara? — but it’s hardly unexpected, considering Muslims are the largest group of immigrants in Italy. Still, as the name suggests, the canteen is run by Roman Catholics, not Muslims. Therein lies an interesting dynamic. In Europe, as in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church has assumed a leading role as a protector of, and advocate for, immigrants. But whereas the largest bloc of migrants to the United States is Catholic, the majority of European immigrants are Muslim. In the United States, some critics of the church accuse outspoken clerics such as Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles of self-interest when they support immigrant rights and immigration reform. There is logic to the argument, because Latin American Catholics are pumping new life into a church that has been losing its hold on many native-born Americans. Such an argument is more difficult to make in Europe, where the ranks of native-born Catholics are declining without being refreshed by large numbers of Catholic immigrants. Vatican officials say that, in supporting immigrants, the church is acting on principle, not pragmatism, and that the Catholic record in Europe lends credence to those who say American bishops have pure intentions in their immigration advocacy. “For the church, the perspective is … the right of the human person to be treated with dignity,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the chief Vatican spokesman. “It is a general principle; it’s not just a religious principle. It is more profound.” European nationalists, Catholics among them, worry about the Islamicization of Europe, but the Vatican has been steadfast in its support for immigrants. If anything, Vatican officials see the growing secularization of Europe as a greater threat. Because it is close to Africa and the Balkan states, Italy has long been an entry point to Europe. It has had a reputation as a welcoming place, but that has begun to change. In 2008, the government began a crackdown on illegal immigration, and last year, Parliament passed legislation establishing stiff fines and allowing the detention of undocumented immigrants for up to six months without charge. The church strongly opposed those measures, even branding the package of laws a “sin.” In an overwhelmingly Catholic country where the church influences many aspects of public life, the government respectfully disagreed. “The Catholic Church does its job. … Ours is a different vision,” said Pierguido Vanalli, a member of Parliament from the Northern League, a party that espouses strong controls on immigration and has been accused of xenophobia. “We have to temper the needs of the people who live in Italy with the problems that excessive immigration brings with it. The church sees only one aspect, whereas we have a broader vision.” For all that, Vanalli (who is Catholic) said he does not think the church has an ulterior motive for championing immigrants. “I’m convinced that it’s dictated by theology,” he said. “I don’t see what possible practical advantage they could have.” Church insiders and Vatican watchers, for the most part, agree. “It’s a theological conviction,” said Luigi Accattoli, a veteran Vatican correspondent for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “But,” he added, “there’s also a very modern reason. It’s due to the strong convictions that (Pope) John Paul II had on this subject, and this was due to his experience as a Pole. The Poles immigrated all over the world, and the Poles were political refugees who were escaping communism. And so John Paul II formulated a kind of right to immigration, and he did it very forcefully.” The Rev. Peter Balleis, international director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, said his organization’s philosophy is best expressed in the Bible chapter Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” “It really talks about basic human rights,” he said. “It’s for us a good theological base, and we can share that also with other religions.” His organization, with headquarters in Rome, works in 57 countries to help about 500,000 displaced people. “I think we can say quite clearly that most of them are not Catholic,” spokesman James Stapleton said. There are those who think the church could reap some benefits in showing kindness to Muslim immigrants in Europe. For one, Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out recently about his concern for the treatment of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries. By treating Muslims well in Europe, one line of thinking goes, the church could influence the way Catholics are treated in the Mideast and elsewhere. Speaking generally of the flow of Muslims into Europe, Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, said in an interview: “We are not people without eyes, and we must be careful about the development of this situation.” But, he added, there are those in the church who believe that under the “principle of reciprocity,” Muslims “must help the Christians in their countries if they receive a fair treatment” in Europe. Some European Catholics also suggest that the presence of so many Muslims, who are more visible in their faith, might, in effect, shock nonpracticing Catholics back to their faith. Increasingly, Catholicism is becoming a religion of the elderly in Italy, said Quyen Ngo Dinh, who runs the migration department of Caritas Rome, the Catholic social service agency that operates the John Paul II Canteen. “If you go to church, you will see that no one is less than 50 years old,” she said, with perhaps a touch of exaggeration. Still, she said, as Muslims become a larger presence in Italian life, “it becomes an opportunity also for Italians … to really think about why they are Catholic and whether they really want to be Catholic.”
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#1. To: All (#0)
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That's because they are whores and they want the money from the government contracts they get for providing all this "free" stuff.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Toss: ADL,CAIR and the Vatican into the pit they belong in.
#2. To: WhiteSands (#0)
In Europe, as in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church has assumed a leading role as a protector of, and advocate for, immigrants.
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