“The chicken comes home to roost” is a phrase that applies to the disaster that has attacked the immigrant community. The rejection of sick and injured immigrants by our society is among the sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. The marked increase of immigrants in recent decades has seen the employment of more and… continue reading
Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform 2005
August 1, 2005 by
In early May 2005, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington and Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo held a news conference announcing the beginning a campaign by the U. S. Catholic Bishops and 20 Catholic organizations for just immigration reform, called Justice for Immigrants: A Journey of Hope. The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform. The goals of… continue reading
How Can We Reform the Church? Personalist Revolution Starts with “I,” Not “They”
June 1, 2005 by
At a recent gathering of Catholics who had had several intensive reflective sessions together, the participants were asked to comment upon the impact of the meetings and how they had changed them personally or deepened their faith. The group leaders were disappointed when they received the written comments. They were quite surprised that almost without… continue reading
Train, Friend or Enemy for Central American Immigrants?
June 1, 2005 by
Jake was a Catholic Worker in Houston until very recently. He will be going to medical school in the fall. The hiring hall at Casa Juan Diego sits alongside a railroad line. Several times every morning a long freighter rumbles by, blaring its horn as a greeting and a warning, holding up traffic and waking… continue reading
The Victimization of Smuggled Immigrants
June 1, 2005 by
Yvonne Parks is currently enrolled at the University of Houston’s Graduate School of Social Work where she is working on her Masters Degree. The number of undocumented immigrants entering the United States is on the rise despite efforts to increase the number of border patrol officers. Immi-grants who manage to find work and achieve moderate… continue reading
Fraudulent Scholarship, Whether Archaeological or Neo-Gnostic, Misleads Christians
April 1, 2005 by
The headlines jumped out at us. Newspapers across the United States highlighted the indictment of four professional archaeologists and collectors in the Holy Land for fraud. Another indictment followed. Major artifacts had been forged and sold, charged the Israeli government, with the goal of changing history and religious beliefs (especially Catholic and Jewish) and to… continue reading
Bishop Ramazzini in Danger: Assassination Plot in Guatemala
April 1, 2005 by
A friend of the Houston Catholic Worker is in danger in Guatemala. Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini, who collaborated with us in the development of Houses of Hospitality for immigrants and refugees in Tecun Uman, in his Diocese next to the Mexican border, has received very serious death threats again in his home country. Bishop Ramazzini has… continue reading
Slave Wages Condemned by Pope John Paul II
April 1, 2005 by
There has been a great effort in recent years by neoconservative and libertarian Catholics and Calvinists to revise Catholic Social Teaching in favor of the enormous corporations which control so much of the property and pay slave wages around the world to gain more property. Just as they opposed the Pope on war, so they… continue reading
Pope John Paul II Speaks on the Psalms
February 1, 2005 by
Pope John Paul II, in his weekly audiences, has been presenting catecheses on various Psalms. VIS, the Vatican Information Services, has provided excerpts from his texts on powerful themes for the life of the Christian. Several of these follow: DO NOT BASE YOUR LIFE ON FALSE VALUES VATICAN CITY, NOV. 10, 2004 (VIS) The Pope… continue reading
Why Catholics Should Be Wary of “One Nation Under God”: Richard Neuhaus in a Time of War
February 1, 2005 by
1. “I ALWAYS THOUGHT JESUS WAS AN AMERICAN” “I know you’re all going to think this is crazy, but I always thought Jesus was an American.” This statement was uttered by a young woman in a seminar at the University of California at San Diego on the first century of Rome and the dawn of… continue reading
