Rather than passing by a suffering victim like the priest and the Levite did in the parable of the good Samaritan, Americans need to take action to support immigrants who are in this country without documents and are suffering under the government’s mass deportation policy, Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy said.
“For us as a nation we can pass by no more. We must stop, recognize the evil that is being carried out in our name, and fight every dimension of it,” Cardinal McElroy said at a Mass marking the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 27 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.
“We must seek to convert our political representatives from tolerating this evil or replace them,” the cardinal said. “We must shed our identities as priests and Levites and become like the Good Samaritan who recognized no boundaries in rescuing the victim by the side of the road….”
The concelebrants of the Mass included 18 priests who serve in various ministries in the Archdiocese of Washington, along with Washington Auxiliary Bishops Juan R. Esposito and Robert P. Boxie III and retired Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr.
Cardinal McElroy titled his homily, “We Pass On By,” and he tied together the parable of the good Samaritan with what has unfolded in the United States under the government’s mass deportation policy since last year….
Cardinal McElroy said that in the past 18 months in the United States, the biblical mandate of welcoming the stranger and respect for the American heritage of immigration “have been replaced by suspicion, division, cruelty and violence….”
The congregation at St. Matthew’s Cathedral gave the cardinal sustained applause, with most giving him a standing ovation.
From OSV News, originally by Mark Zimmermann, editor of the Catholic Standard, of the Archdiocese of Washington.
Look, the bishops are plainly wrong about Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. I’ve stopped listening to them. I just don’t want to put up with any of their $#!^ anymore.
“For us as a nation we can pass by no more. We must stop, recognize the evil that is being carried out in our name, and fight every dimension of it,” Cardinal McElroy said. “We must seek to convert our political representatives from tolerating this evil or replace them,” He is right. I hope he and other bishops are seeking the conversion of politicians promoting the killing of hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable among us, babies in the womb. I hope he speaks with politicians of all parties perpetrating evil about all evils being committed, starting with the most egregious and deadly, abortion. He could start with Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alex Padilla, Gavin Newsom and Dick Durban.
And, he should direct his new auxiliary bishop, Robert Boxie, not to financially support abortion promoting politicians.
Then, he might receive a standing ovation from the Saints and angels and even hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Amen and amen!
Reply to Curious About Consistency: You are so right. There is absolutely no consistency in anything McElroy says. All I hear is blah blah blah! Why doesn’t he just come out and say vote for Democrats who are now DSA and Communists. That is why Pope Francis put him in Washington DC. America, wake up before it’s too late.
We must seek to convert our misguided leftwing bishops.
I would say that the leftist position on abortion is far more about “suspicion, division, cruelty, and violence” than a nation attempting to enforce its immigration laws which have been broken with the connivance of bishops themselves. At the very least Cdl. McElroy should look at the mirror and apply his indignation at his own acts in facilitating the murder of unborn and born babies. What is a greater stain on the soul: promoting to bishop a man like the pro-abort Robert Boxie III or attempting to send illegal immigrants back home, with some violent reprisals against those trying to carry out the thankless –perhaps impossible– task?
Today, Sept. 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom did one good thing. He signed AB 1267 into law, establishing the minimum age for marriages and domestic partnerships at age 18. There are no exceptions allowed, no parental consent or court order of underage marriages or domestic partnerships. This will prevent any bad Muslim, Hindu or other foreign immigrant men from trying to marry an underage child. A companion bill also signed into law today, states that a child or adult who is being coerced into a marriage can get a restraining order against the bully. Now, California needs a strong law, prohibiting the practice of Sharia Law.
Many states have now banned the use of foreign or religious laws to be applied in their courts. These states ivclude: Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Caolina, Kansas, Tennessee, South Dakota, Louisiana, Arizona, Mississippi, and Washington State. These laws are designed to be neutral and to prevent use of Sharia Law. California needs to be next to pass a law like this. And the Hindu and two Muslim holidays now on the Calif. State calendar and in children’s school curriculums need to be permanently ended. We also need good laws requiring immigrants to adopt normal American ways of life, including, women and girls to dress and behave and have the same privileges as all other normal American women and girls. They are not to be sex objects for sick, pervert, filthy Mluslim men. Those who refuse to culturally adapt must be deported ASAP.
Our American Catholic prelates should help build up Catholic and Christian faith and morals among Americans to help make a better country with good family values. Our prelates really must promote all Christian holidays such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter and all American customs regarding our traditional holidays– and celebrate them well, prominently placed on our calendars. We need American Jews to celebrate their Hanukkah with their families and children. Foreign immigrants must not be allowed to destroy America and our traditional American culture and way of life.
If Muslim women want to wear a pretty headscarf, with their entire face exposed, so that anyone can relate normally with them, that is good. But it should be their choice, they should not be forced by anyone to wear a pretty headscarf. In any culture, I think it is very important to be able to fully see the face of a man, woman or child. No one should be forced to hide their face for any reason. Modesty should be a cultural norm, no exceptions. All Americans must dress modestly in public, and have good manners. Good Dress Codes and good manners are necessary in society, for children and adults. And children must be safe around adults, no immodest clothing or behavior of adults should be allowed. These are my thoughts.
Besides some American girls and women who dress inappropriately there are some gay men who are partially or fully nude in public places or who wear sado-masochistic leather outfits with a gay lover beating him with a long whip publicly in a cruel and sick sexual game. And there are the sickening drag queens even performing in schools and at local Library story hours for small children– that should be illegal. All of these offensive people are even shown on TV during Pride parades and events. This should all be illegal. Children should be kept far away from all of these. And there should be good dress codes prohibiting prostitute-style dress in teenage girls and women. America needs a return to good public dress codes.
At Masssometimes we see women in jeans and t-shirts, even married women with small children and their husbands dressed in shorts and t-shirts and teen girls and boys dressed likewise. We need a good dress code for our churches as we used to have before Vatican II.
Your Eminence, what immigration laws, specifically, are of “suspicion, division, cruelty and violence….?”
And, were they so when Barack Obama and Joe Biden were presidents?
Were they so when these other presidents built “cages” and deported illegal immigrants?
You received your doctorate in political science from Stanford, so are you aware of the political implications of what you’re saying?
Did you just endorse some politicians who are running for office by calling for some office holders to be replaced?
Aren’t clergy to refrain from endorsing candidates and focus on spiritual and moral matters?
And, why are you urging, “We must shed our identities as priests?” A priest (and bishop) is who you are, not merely a job you do.
Praying for you.
Lets stop addressing immoral and incompetent religious in a respectful manner , they are not worth of their office much less our respect and support . I would not address a mccarrick , a rupnick or any of that ilk in a respectful manner . They do not respect the laity , much less faith , reason and the laws. our contempt for them is justified , clericalism does none of us any good.
You’re right, Anon99, clericalism does no good for anyone. And, I agree with you regarding McCarrick and Rupnik. (They are clearly, and have been proven, not spiritual fathers.)
Yet, we should still respect those who are shameful and not respectable. Don’t get in the gutter, or swamp, with others. Take the high road. God will judge Cardinal McElroy, as He will each of us.
McElroy has a particulalry bad case of TDS
The delays in comments being posted to this website, and the malfunction of the website in not showing comments that the sidebar says should be there have made this website aggravating and unenjoyable. Bye.
We can welcome the stranger and still have respect for our nation’s sovereign borders. They’re not mutually exclusive. It is right and just to screen all entrants for contagious diseases, or to block degenerates from entering this country. Aren’t we screened everywhere we go, all of the time?
McElroy has had a cushy life in the inner sanctums, housed, fed, cosseted and protected from the real lives that we live. He’s a fool.
Why do I cringe every time I hear McElroy speak? Where did he stand during the late Cardinal Theodore McCarrick abuse scandal? McElroy talks about cruelty and violence. What about the cruelty and violence perpetrated by many illegals against Americans? Doesn’t the government have the right to remove illegals that are committing serious crimes? Europe is on a serious course of self destruction because of mass illegal immigration. Does McElroy want the same thing to happen to America? A nation without borders is not a country any longer. It’s time to stop listening to these wolves in sheep’s clothing. Before McElroy can convert these so called politicians he speaks of he must first be converted himself. He’s nothing more than a so called Harvard educated leftist progressive who basically speaking to a largely Democratic audience during this church service. Our Lady of Fatima pray for Cardinal McElroy’s conversion.
Well, McElroy was a terrible SF leftist, LGBT activist priest. And even worse as a bishop and cardinal. He along with many other faithless clerics should all have been excommunicated years ago. Worthless, shallow intellectuals with no true religious faith, and no Christian morals. Overeducated, terribly misplaced in clerical garb, destroying our Church and society. When will the Vatican finally stop all of this evil?
The Cathedral in DC has a rectory, but the Cardinal doesn’t live there. Anyone know why or where he lives?
I’m not looking for an address, simply the type of residence.
I’m asking only because it’s easy to call for open borders when one lives behind gates and fences, like good Catholic grandmother Nancy Pelosi, SCU grad Newsom and others.
A policy of: “suspicion, division, cruelty and violence …”
Isn’t that the official Church policy toward the SSPX?
If only the Vatican would turn away from its leftist bent and have some good discussions with the SSPX on Vatican II and the old Latin Mass. The SSPX made a canonical mistake (the errors of Rupnik, Cupich, McElroy, James Martin, McCarrick, Boxie, etc. are far worse), but the SSPX does respect the Pope, and they want to be in the Church. And they do not disagree with everything in Vatican II. They felt forced to ordain more bishops because they have many seminarians, many yearly priestly ordinations, and tons of Confirmations, plus other bishops’ religious duties worldwide. They are rapidly growing. It would be great if they could be properly regulated under the Church. Regardless of the SSPX– the Catholic Church honestly should have a big review of Vatican II and see what improvements truly need to be made. And get to work on it. They are so full of immaturity, corruption, and sin– and many Catholics have just given up and left. Now the Vatican has a big project connected to the horrific Synod on Synodality, to change canon law to include more laymen and women in Catholic leadership roles. Dishonest, sinful, corrupt Church.
Since Cardinal McElroy is a fifth-generation San Franciscan, couldn’t y’all have kept him there?
I guess I should be grateful that Pope Francis didn’t send him to Texas.
Pope Leo gave Bishop Garcia back to us.
selective outrage?
virtue signaling?
performative activism or performative politics?
For centuries since the time of Christ it has been famously known that “no one can serve two masters.” (Matt. 6:24) A person devoted to Christ must shun the corrupt ways of the world, withdraw for prayer and study, attend Holy Mass and religious devotions frequently during the week, and lead a Christian life, totally different than the world. The Christian must be an example of Christ to the world. That is where the post-Conciliar Church has badly fallen. You cannot engage the world and turn the Church into a worldly, secular place. You must either honestly serve Christ– or leave and let truly dedicated servants of the Lord replace you. Today’s post-Conciliar, secularized, dumbed-down, worldly Church is extremely dishonest and corrupt.
At the celebration of the 10th anniversary of heretical “Amoris Laetitia” at the Vatican, Oct. 7-14, the U.S. delegation will include the USCCB President, Abp
Paul Coakley, Vice-President, Bishop Daniel Flores, along with the Three Stooges– Cardinals McElroy, Tobin and Cupich– along with Notre Dame Univ. moral theology professor, David Cloutier. They were all personally invited by Pope Leo. The bishops and Church lay leaders of the world will all engage in a synodal discernment on pastoral care and family ministry.
The Synod on Synodality is discussing possible changes to Canon Law to give Catholic laymen more clerical roles. One thing that is being discussed, is to give lay women the ability to officiate marriages. I think that is a terrible mistake. And the “Three Stooges”— Cardinals McElroy, Tobin and Cupich– invited by the Pope to help lead the Synod on Synodality’s 10th anniversary– do not honestly follow Catholic teaching on the Sacraments, anyway– they give Communion to anyone, even gays living in sin, and political leaders who promote abortion– etc. And they support the LGBTs and gay unions. I don’t think they care about giving Communion to the civilly divorced and remarried without annulments, either. They no longer value the Sacraments.