Newt's Immigration Stand

Since only the Republicans have a contest for president this year it has been easy to generate somewhat negative criticisms of their discussions. Today I would like to praise Newt Gingrich for his position on immigration reform.  He is right to point out how anti-family much right wing rhetoric on the topic tends to be. Earlier Gov Perry took similar flack for his support of education for the children of illegal immigrants.

Both legal and illegal immigrants come to the US due to jobs and our culture's general support of families and education. A significant part of the illegal immigrant numbers are family members of legal immigrants. For example a legal guest worker may bring his elderly parents to live with him. While he is legal his parents are illegal. would the Republicans insist that the seniors be deported?

One Pastor I know adopted two children while in a foreign country as a missionary. When he returned to the US one of the his children was 15 and a thus  legal immigrant whereas his 19 year old child was illegal due to age.  Should his oldest be deported? 

If middle of the road citizens could construct a composite Republican candidate from reasonable positions from the various candidates in the huge field now debating their way to the primaries we might have a real contender in the general election.

Review of Pope Benedict's New Encyclical

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, has provided an introduction to Pope Benedict's new Encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" (Love in Truth). Here is a short quote from his article entitled "It's a Moral Document, Not a Political One".

"Long before there was a "left wing," or a "right wing," there was the Gospel, and long after these political labels have faded into oblivion, the Gospel will remain. In light of this, it is incredibly important that we come to Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate," as a document that should inform our outlook.

We might sum up the Pope's thinking on the economy this way: Each of us must answer Christ’s question, "Who do you say that I am?" If we, with Peter, answer "The Messiah," then that should direct the axis of our life. Our most important reality must be the truth of our relationships. In this way, we can understand how the law and prophets could be summed up in Christ's two commandments: That we love God totally, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Thus we are able to speak of "caritas in veritate."
Once we accept Christ and these two commandments, we can no longer ask Cain's question: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" Instead, we must realize that our exercise of freedom cannot take the form of simply amassing the most wealth that we can. Rather, all that we do in freedom must reflect that reality and all our actions must take into account the effects of those actions on others. We need look no further than the first two words of the "Our Father," which Pope Benedict XVI quotes at the end of this document to see the common human family to which we belong."

Read Carl Anderson's entire article.

Read "Caritas In Veritate" in english.

More Pope Benedict Pictures

This photo show Pope Benedict on his way from the Pope-Mobile to the altar area in Nationals Stadium last thursday. You can clearly see the two deacons leading the way.

The ordination of permenant deacons was revived by Vatican II and Pope Paul VI and Deacons are now numerous in many areas of the world. Some America diocese now have more deacons serving the church than they have presbyters (priests).

You can read the biblical beginnings of the Order of Deacon in Chapter Six of the Book of Acts.

More on Pope Benedict's Visit

My son and granddaughter attended the Pope's Mass at Nationals Stadium last week. Their tickets put them in the upper tier and their view of the altar was blocked by some structure. They did get some good pictures of the Pope approaching the altar area, however. One of those is shown above. To see pictures of attendees from the Baltimore area click here.

Papal Mass Excitment

This is an exciting week on the East Coast. Pope Benedict comes to America and some lucky relatives get to attend the Papal Mass at Nationals Stadium. My son will be an adult chaperone for a dozen teenagers, including his oldest daughter, as they take the train from northern Maryland to attend the Mass.

Benedict has proven to be a great compliment to the charisma of his predecesor in his calm and pastoral manner and his rational speaches and books. His encyclicals on Love and Hope has attracted a wide readership just based on comment from non-Catholic pastors and friends. During my lifetime the Church has been blessed with outstanding leadership.