The following comes from a November LA Times article by Makeda Easter:
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez led an interfaith prayer service Thursday evening in which he stressed the importance of unity and reassured immigrants in the country illegally that the church would continue supporting them after the election of Donald Trump.
More than 100 people, including Mayor Eric Garcetti and religious leaders, gathered for the event in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.
“In the past couple days since the election … we have children in our schools who are scared,” Gomez told the congregation. “They think the government is going to come and deport their parents.”
During his campaign, Trump promised to build a wall along the the U.S.-Mexico border and deport people in the country illegally.
“Tonight we promise our brothers and sisters who are undocumented, we will never leave you alone,” Gomez said, drawing applause.
Ernesto Vega, a Mexican immigrant who is the archdiocese’s coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for Adults, attended the service and expressed fear about the fallout from the election.
“I’m close to becoming a U.S. citizen,” Vega said. “But I think of my brothers and sisters who have recently immigrated, who are barely learning the language and who are being punished because of the color of their skin.
“When I came here to this country, I did feel discrimination — in the Catholic Church, in society and in school. But I thought that we had gone way ahead,” Vega said. “Now it seems like all this effort that society has done is in danger of being destroyed.”
Illegal aliens should be deported. They shouldn’t be here, and they don’t belong here. They broke the law by entering the United States illegally and they SHOULD fear consequences of that bad decision.
Why won’t the Archbishop defend what the Catechism states about immigrants respecting the laws of the country they immigrate to and that nations have a right to maintain sovereign borders?
Gomez is utterly wrong, aiding and abetting criminality and immorality, and has taken a stance that diminishes his already low credibility and moral authority in my opinion.
Archbishop Gomez should have rather held a prayer service thanking God that the United States was spared from having a president who is pro-abortion, anti religious freedom, anti-Catholic, and would have stacked the Supreme Court with justices that would have ruled in ways that impeded the Church and Christians from having freedom in American society.
Has Gomez thanked God for delivering the United States from the disastrous rule by the Left?
Archbishop Gomez has the wrong priorities. He preaches a false gospel. He is blind in severe ways.
This POV is deficient on so many counts. The Archbishop is the local spiritual shepherd for all Catholics in his area REGARDLESS of their immigration status. It is perfectly fine, and I think called-for, for Gomez to reassure his flock that the Church will not deny Catholics her services regardless of who is in the White House.
The Church is not about tearing families apart. Did you even think of that before unjustly attacking Gomez? The Church is not the bride of any one political party. The Church, in the traditional societies and countries from which many of the immigrants come from, is a big and major institution, and so it is natural for these undocumented immigrants to turn to the Church after they have been misled by the…
media to expect the worse from the President-elect.
I say, what you and many here should be wondering is how can Trump make good his campaign vow concerning immigration without splitting families apart. Already, I am predicting a possible broken promise.
Nobody is for tearing families apart, rather upholding the just laws of the land so that families will not risk tearing themselves apart because of the lure of breaking just laws.
Unrealistic is Ann Malley: Your “theory” works at one end of the immigration journey, namely the front end which even before they get here. What are you going to do with an undocumented couple living in the US who has teenage kids all born in the US?
Sawyer….l you have said everything correctly!
All of the things about Clinton are 100% correct and I hope the eyes and minds of many are now opened?
Amen!
All he needs to do is see what is going on in Europe with the Muslim invasion — rapes, areas that want to have Shariah Law which is so backward that it encourges cutting off hands and feets for theft, and then he should know that whites are just as scared and want no more of them over here. That’s mainly is why most want that wall. Besides all Americans need to know who is coming over here and what they did back home. Sorry folks, no borders, no safety for anyone.
Correction: “feet” not “feets”. My computer should have caught that one.
Sorry for the typos.
I have no problem with people being brought over here from Mexico and other places legally. That protects both sides as it keeps criminals on both sides of the border from harming others. The same with produce. I have been to Mexico many times in the past, and I never took anyone or anything other there illegally, nor did I bring anyone or anything back illegally. There needs to be mutual respect.
Correction: over there illegally.
To the extent that B. Gomez is advising illegal immigrants that the Church will not deny them sacraments (although it was an “interfaith service” if that even matters to Catholic leadership anymore), then he is free to make this statement. However, B. Gomez should be promising illegals that they should prepare to return to their countries, and then work to assist them to relocate. Perhaps President Trump will work out some sort of worker visa program. But these people have been played a cruel trick by the Democratic Party, which sees them as “voter chum” to insure continued political power. How did that work, Hillary?
Political chum is what has just been made of those industrial workers who have been promised that Trump will bring back jobs from mexico. He has no plan to entice that to happen, let alone any authority to force it to happen.
I recall the promise to repatriate steel jobs to western Pennsylvania from Japan in the early eighties. This was Reagan’s plan. It never ever happenned. Those families voted once again for false Republican promises. They will be burned once again, trust me.
YFC, it pleases me that you must be stewing about Trump’s victory: a wholesale rejection by Americans of every ideological value you hold and espouse. Now when things improve in this country as a result of Trump and a Republican Congress, and you are proven wrong, will you rethink your worldview? The middle-Americans whose lives will be improved by turning away from Leftist governing ideology certainly will begin to realize the foolishness of Leftism, and America will realign solidly conservative.
I’m sure YFC emptied out all the safety pins at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Well, at least he can retrain and educate them for another job. That did happen in the Bill Clinton era because the Republicans (House and Senate) put Clinton’s “feet to the fire”.
How is it that you know that President-Elect Trump “has no plan” to bring back companies and jobs to the USA, “YFC”? Does your commentary reflect the Democratic-Podesta speaking notes for its blogging minions? P-E Trump will bring new people — many non-political — to the fore in an attempt to achieve what he has promised. Give him a chance to do this, at the very least.
The Democratic Party Media — such as with SUN’s Sixty Minutes — cannot stand the principle that others than their Planned Parenthood inspired members will now be providing leadership to this Country.
Would that it were, “L.A. Archbishop Celebrates with the Pre-Aborted after Hillary’s Defeat.”
The good Archbishop should not offer false hope! President-elect Trump made promises; two of which are to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it and deport illegal aliens. The American people are going to hold Mr. Trump and his cabinet accountable for fulfilling these promises.
Where is he Bishop’s compassion for American children and women who are regularly victimized by criminals and criminal gangs. The American Bishops in too many cases are aiding and abetting crimes of violence against the innocent or is it they can’t hear the cries of true victims because of the ringing of the refugee cash register at Catholic. Charities.
At a young adult group in Spanish, a young man asked me what the church could do for those chose to enter and stay against the U.S. law like him. I responded that all are welcome in our church: we will have Mass for you, all the sacraments, all the faith teaching, and every privilege given to every Catholic (there are even special privileges for Holy Matrimony when immigration status does not permit civil marriage). Then he asked, what the Church can do to make his status legal. I responded that this is a civil matter, but that Catholics have always worked in the past to help refugees and others, but that the laws here and even in Mexico do not guarantee Catholics will be able to assist a person to stay who has come here outside the immigration system.
Thank you, Fr. Perozich, for your post. There is also something else to consider. Children do not do well in school when they are constantly batted back and forth from one country to another as I am sure you already know. There are other ways of legally helping Mexico. One thing is buying their products, which may get higher, but in the long run should even out.
R E S P E C T…..Respect our country by respecting our laws. Come here within the system and work hard to become a legal citizen or go home and work hard to make your homeland better for generations to come. Charity is happily given but demanding it is just wrong. Speaking of charity…..Does the wealthy USCCB (property, mansions, land) donate to these people thru the Catholic churches in Mexico? Why ‘steal’ Mexico’s people from their homeland? Why not help them there where they have family, church, friends, no language issues, etc? Shame on the USCCB if they never reach into their own deep coffers but expect every American to pick up the tab.
Archbishop Gomez should be speaking out to the leaders of Mexico and other Central American countries. He should tell them to respect their people. The leaders of these countries are the reason their citizens are fleeing their homeland to go to a foreign country. Their citizens freedom and rights are being abused by their leaders.
Most of the immigrants are CATHOLICS, there is ZERO compassion or empathy from their ‘brothers and sister’ Catholics here in the United States.
They choose COUNTRY, before GOD!
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
Catholics are not exempt from obeying immigration laws. Is that too difficult for you to understand or accept?
We should help our Catholic brothers and sisters to uphold just laws, Tony. Giving others a pass to break just laws, thereby risking the tearing apart of their own families is wrong.
God doesn’t encourage us to break just laws and then blame others after the fact. Or pretend that the duty of state of others who must enforce just laws is somehow evil.
Shame on you for promoting such nonsense.
Dear Tony, you really need a remedial course in civics. Without borders u don’t have a nation, when that nation happens to be America then there will b nothing left in the world to protect YOUR right to worship. Suggestion, stop the leftist empathy/ I care more than u game…not impressed. Actions carry the day, not making urself feel good because u think u have better intentions than those with whom u disagree. The Archbishop is heterodox at a bare minimum.
Tony de New York = Mr. Shame, Shame, Shame! Americans, Europeans and faithful Catholics can see right through your RULES FOR RADICALS Game, Game, Game. Read the Tony de New York Times and recognize your defeat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/world/europe/donald-trump-marine-le-pen.html
You don’t “build unity” by breaking laws and undermining God’s natural law. Archbishop Gomez is sending a clear message that he’s ignoring the freedom from religious persecution train because Archbishop Gomez is riding on the tracks of the La Raza train. It is one thing to comfort with the sacraments, it is quite another thing to ignore that there ARE illegally immigrated criminals and law breakers who scare everyone. Did Archbishop Gomez reassure traumatized priests and lay Catholics that he was not endorsing same sex marriage when he allowed a same sex couple to use an adopted child to publicly cross the border of Catholic teaching? Yes, good priests are very troubled by Archbishop Gomez’s SCARY betrayal.
Fellow Catholics, this is not about reassuring and comforting, this is about an agenda that has nothing to do with guarding the faith or our borders. Americans saw right through this in Hillary’s agenda and faithful Catholics can see through this in certain Church leaders. The progressive pro abort, Mayor Eric Garcetti does not mind crossing what should be the safest border, (a mother’s womb) to traumatize and murder a defenseless baby. Mayor Garcetti’s pro-abort actions speak so loudly it’s no wonder he’s happy to join in. They are painting the false narrative that anyone who wants our country’s laws or Church laws to be upheld are “rigid” “homophobic” or “racists.” America & the Church Militant reject their attempts…
and notice how the people in Europe are also being called the same names. France is fighting back too! Pray the rosary! In the End My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph!
After Trump Win, Parallel Path Is Seen for Marine Le Pen of France’s Far Right By ADAM NOSSITER•NOV. 11, 2016
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/world/europe/donald-trump-marine-le-pen.html
“They called us sexists, homophobes, demagogues and populists,” Mr. Grillo wrote in a blog post. “They don’t realize that millions of people already no longer read their newspapers and no longer watch their television.”
continued…..
The idea that Mr. Trump’s supporters had delivered a double blow — to the establishment’s ideas and to the “elite” itself — had wide support.
“The left and the corrupt establishment, which considers itself so superior, are being punished blow by blow by the voters and voted out of various positions of responsibility,” said Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, a serious contender to win the country’s presidency on Dec. 4.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/world/europe/donald-trump-marine-le-pen.html
Tony de NYC:
I believe your point is well taken. Wonder if anyone here will take a few moments to ponder the “remote” possibility that you are correct.
Viva Cristo Rey !
Sadly, the Archbishop doesn’t care for the welfare of American Citizens, judging from what he says, but only illegal aliens. Personally, I am tired of hearing such nonsense from Bishops such as himself who didn’t criticize, to my knowledge, any so-called Catholics who supported abortion on demand.
As Franklin Roosevelt once began a speech “My fellow immigrants . . . ”
My Grandmother showed me a sign from 1910 Boston, “Irish need not apply ..”
Aincient family lore has it a moderately large amount of ‘grease’ passed to get an ancestor across the Canadian US border after the US Civil war.
Mayor Eric Garcetti should stick to his own knitting and bring Los Angeles, the first Sanctuary City in the USA, in line with Federal law. We had enough lawlessness with Barack Hussein Obama and now need to bring the crime rate down. At a minimum to keep getting the Federal freebies.
To hear him tell it, the moment diocesan minister Ernesto Verga sets foot here–or pops the trunk–he sees nothing but discrimination, here, there, everywhere. Yet he stays. Yet they stay, and keep coming.
They pay usurious fees, buy into sham marriages, and like Marines, risk life and limb on air, land, and sea, all in search of that omnipresent will-o’-the-wisp called American discrimination. Oh sing it, Neil Diamond.
Like his boss, Verga’s a common agitator and fraud.