Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien (CR, Oct. 28) dares to take Catholics to task for not embracing immigrants. He calls it a “scandal” and a “disgrace.” He is out of touch with the average Catholic American.
What is a scandal and a disgrace is priests abusing children. What is a scandal and a disgrace is closing schools while maintaining the upper class lifestyle of the church hierarchy. What is a scandal and a disgrace is the total lack of understanding on the Archbishop’s part of why middle class and working class and poor Catholics may feel that immigrants don’t belong here. When you understand that your spiritual flock has to worry about paying the rent or mortgage … where one financial crisis can cause the collapse of your family, then you’ll know what we really deal with.
Illegal immigrants are here because our government refuses to protect our borders. The government turns a blind eye to employers who knowingly take on illegal employees. Once illegal immigrants are here, they take advantage of social programs, especially our schools. Our taxes increase as a result, especially if the children require any special education or English as a second language instruction.