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Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2017 / 03:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic bishops and relief leaders were among the critics of President Donald Trump’s order to implement stricter vetting on refugees and lower the cap for the number of refugees who can enter the United States.

Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, in his role as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, said the U.S. bishops “strongly disagree” with the halt on refugee admissions.

“We believe that now more than ever, welcoming newcomers and refugees is an act of love and hope,” he said Jan. 27.

“We will continue to engage the new administration, as we have all administrations for the duration of the current refugee program, now almost forty years. We will work vigorously to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed in collaboration with Catholic Charities without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans, and to ensure that families may be reunified with their loved ones.”

The bishops said they believe in aiding everyone vulnerable who is fleeing persecution, regardless of their religion, the Austin bishop said.

“We need to protect all our brothers and sisters of all faiths, including Muslims, who have lost family, home, and country,” Bishop Vasquez continued. “They are children of God and are entitled to be treated with human dignity. We believe that by helping to resettle the most vulnerable, we are living out our Christian faith as Jesus has challenged us to do.”

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va. said the U.S. bishops’ statement “highlighted our nation’s long and proud tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees in a humane manner, even as we have pursued a strong vetting system to ensure our safety and security.”

Bishop Burbidge encouraged Catholics to contact their elected officials to oppose the new policy.

“(O)ur communities have been and will continue to be hospitable to refugees, in keeping with our legacy of welcoming the stranger,” he said. “Together, we also pray for comprehensive immigration reform and for peace, safety and harmony within our nation and throughout the world.”

The bishops responded to a new presidential executive order announced on Friday.

“I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States,” President Trump had said signing the order. “We don't want ‘em here. We want to ensure we aren’t admitting into our country the very threats that our men and women are fighting overseas.”

The executive order itself does not mention Islam. It bars U.S. entry for visitors from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia for three months and places broader restrictions on the U.S. refugee program.

Before signing the executive order, President Trump told Christian Broadcasting News that he would prioritize persecuted Christian refugees.

“We are going to help them,” the president said. “They’ve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough to get into the United States?”

The executive order’s text does not mention Christianity either. It instructs officials involved in refugee entry “to prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of national.”

The executive order also said the entry of more than 50,000 refugees in 2017 is detrimental to U.S. interest and should be suspended until further notice. Last year, the U.S. legal cap on refugees was 117,000 people, the U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports.

However, only about 85,000 refugees actually entered the U.S. that year, the Pew Research Center reports. Of these, 38,901 were Muslim and 37,521 were Christian. Some critics have voiced concern that the lower cap on refugees would mean fewer persecuted Christians could secure legal entry even if given priority treatment.

The president raised the possibility of a ban on Muslim immigration during his presidential campaign, but has objected to depictions of his new policy as a “Muslim ban.”

The executive order swiftly drew several legal challenges and prompted several mass protests at airports around the country, but it is unclear how unpopular it will prove with Americans as a whole.

Catholic relief leaders also criticized the order.

“People seeking refuge in the United States and elsewhere are victims – often of the same terrorists from whom we must protect ourselves,” Sean Callahan, Catholic Relief Services president and CEO, said Jan. 27.

“We know the people most affected by extremists and conflict. They are people like all Americans, seeking safety and a better life for their families. In fact, in our work around the world, we depend on many of them for our own safety. They need our help - now!”

“People fleeing violence all suffer the same irrespective of their religion. Refugee admissions should not depend on religion. As Catholics we feel the responsibility to help all those in need,” added Bill O’Keefe, Catholic Relief Services’ vice-president of government relations and advocacy.

“The most vulnerable people fleeing violence will suffer the most because of these restrictions,” he said. “The Iraqi women I met have already suffered from ‘extreme vetting’ just getting out of Islamic State controlled areas in the middle of the night with their children.”

“Taking fewer refugees betrays the trust of refugee hosting allies as well as vulnerable refugees,” he added. O’Keefe said that security assessments by new presidential administrations are expected but should be “conducted in good faith and rapidly.”

Bishop Vasquez said over 65 million people have been displaced from their homes worldwide. He said the Catholic Church will respond to this “extraordinary level of suffering.”

 

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Quebec City, Canada, Jan 30, 2017 / 05:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The deadly mosque attack in Quebec on Sunday prompted massive grief from the city's cardinal, and pledges to support the victims and their families.

“Whether we are Christians or not, an act of violence such as that experienced at the Great Mosque of Quebec touches us all,” Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix of Quebec City said Monday from Rome. “Hatred is the darkest expression of our humanity.”

“The people of Quebec have always been recognized as a people who want to live in peace and respect,” he added. “We will respond to these hateful acts through our solidarity and pledge ourselves to continue building a society where social peace and respect for all cultures guide our daily lives.”

Six people were killed and several injured after a gunman opened fire inside the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec during evening prayers Jan. 29.

One man has been arrested in connection with the attack, Alexandre Bissonnette, who had a history of provocative views and antisocial behavior, the Quebec newspaper La Presse reports. He allegedly had made comments critical of foreigners in the online chat room of a refugee advocacy organization.

Authorities initially sought two suspects, but now say one of them was only a witness, the New York Times reports.

Cardinal Lacroix was in Rome at the time of the attack. He was received by Pope Francis early Jan. 30, and discussed the attack.

“Pope Francis assures us of his prayer and his closeness in these painful moments. By giving me his embrace I felt that he was pressing the whole population of Quebec to his heart,” the cardinal said. “The Pope accompanies us in prayer at this hour of pain.”

The cardinal offered to the families affected by the shooting “our most sincere condolences and the assurance of our prayer.”

Leaders of the mosque said they did not know the suspect. However, the mosque had faced harassing acts ranging from hate mail and swastika vandalism to a pig’s head left in front of the building, the New York Times reports.

In response to the attack, Catholic churches have opened for prayer.

Quebec’s Notre-Dame-de-Foy Church was scheduled to host a prayer service Monday evening and a Mass on Tuesday evening.

The diocese encouraged broad participation in a Feb. 4 solidarity gathering at the mosque.

Pope Francis also delivered a message in response to the shooting, voicing his prayers.

“The Holy Father strongly condemns the violence that engenders so much suffering,” Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in a message to Cardinal Lacroix.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue voiced “deep sadness and outrage” at the attack on Muslims gathered in prayer in a place of worship.

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Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2017 / 06:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite recent legislative successes, the pro-life movement must reach hearts and minds to build a lasting culture of life, a panel of pro-life leaders maintained following Friday’s March for Life.

“We may win some important legislative and judicial battles” but “we’re going to have to work hard not to lose the war,” Kim Daniels, a member of the Vatican Secretariat for Communications, told an audience of pro-life college students and advocates at Georgetown University on Saturday.

Daniels was part of a Jan. 28 panel discussion at the 18th annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Moderator John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, praised the late Cardinal O’Connor, who was Archbishop of New York for 16 years until his death in 2000, as someone who put “defending the life of the unborn child” at the “center of his life.”

While he was Archbishop of New York, Cardinal O’Connor formed the Sisters for Life, counseled expectant mothers, and regularly participated in the March for Life.

Saturday’s panel focused on “working toward a truly pro-life politics,” and Daniels acknowledged that pro-lifers are joyful over recent legislative and executive successes.

Last week, President Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy, which forbids U.S. funding of international non-government organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas. The House also passed the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act, which would make current policy – the Hyde Amendment, banning taxpayer funding of most abortions – law.

Vice President Mike Pence became the first sitting vice president to address the March for Life on Friday, and President Trump has promised to nominate a pro-life judge to the Supreme Court.

However, the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement must be more than passing laws that limit or outlaw abortions and nominating pro-life judges, panel members insisted.

Advocates must work “to build a culture of life and love where mothers and babies are welcomed and supported,” Daniels said, and “in order to consolidate the pro-life gains that we hope to get, we have to build this kind of culture.”

“For instance, if you don’t tie legislative efforts that support life to legislative efforts that also help women and children, there’s certain to be a backlash, and that backlash won’t just be federal, but will be in states as well.”

And pro-lifers still face significant hurdles to building this culture of life.

“We are in the most polarized political environment that I can remember,” including polarization within the pro-life movement after the recent presidential election, Daniels said.

Pro-lifers must also be vigilant during the Trump presidency, she warned, because although Trump has pledged to sign pro-life bills, his rhetoric on other issues – such as statements supporting torture and the indiscriminate killing of family members of terrorists – has been troubling.

“The fact is right now President Trump is the de facto leader of the pro-life movement” and is “linked with it, as is his legislative agenda,” she said.

“The pro-life movement is now tied to someone who is very unpredictable regarding these issues, and lacks credibility on them,” she continued.

“It’s unlikely that he’ll treat these issues with the care and nuance that they require.”

“His policies don’t often witness,” she added, “that we’re called to respect the human dignity of everybody, from conception until natural death.”

Other panel members agreed. Ross Douthat, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, noted that the pro-life movement “has achieved sustained success,” but must not “let it become a ceiling, then, on the movement going forward.”

“To get to an actual pro-life society, you need both parties, or at least elements in both political parties, to agree,” he said.

Pro-lifers must be willing to go beyond talking about abortion and discuss “what happens then with mothers in unplanned pregnancies” and form policies on adoption and healthcare and provision of prenatal care.

Charles Camosy, an associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University, said that a new era in the pro-life movement is taking shape.

“I might argue that it had its coming-out party last week in response to the coverage of the pro-life feminists who attended the Women’s March,” he said, referring to the Women’s March on Washington that drew hundreds of thousands of protesters supporting “women’s rights” and the protection of “marginalized” minorities. One of the march’s principles, however, was promoting abortion access.

While the event officials would not let pro-life groups partner with or sponsor the march, pro-life feminists showed up to provide a pro-life message.

The women “explicitly resisted … any sense that they were represented by the Trump administration,” Camosy noted. They promoted a message of “resisting violence and lifting up the vulnerable on multiple fronts, from multiple angles” including victims of drone strikes, torture, and “discrimination against the disabled,” he said.

“Indeed, the more Trump talks about torture, building walls, deporting children, intentionally killing the parents and children of terrorists, the more I think this fuels pro-life 3.0,” he said, referring to his term for the new era of the pro-life movement.

However, one primary challenge facing this movement is the lack of an “underlying metaphysical vision,” he said.

A deformed vision of the human person is still prevalent in society and will outlast short-term legislative gains, Roberta Bayer, an associate professor of political philosophy at Patrick Henry College, warned.

Even if the Roe decision that legalized abortion is overturned, “we’re still in a culture where basically people are thought of as matter in motion,” she said, and this is “taught in our universities, that’s the whole ethos of our culture.”

“And then the next generation comes along, and that [pro-life] law is reversed,” she added.

“It’s got to be an argument which is based on a rational comprehension of what human nature is, and we don’t have that at present,” she said.

Pro-lifers should thus focus on “incremental gains” in law and in the culture, emphasizing that abortion is the ultimate injustice today, yet not the only one, Daniels said. If they successfully protest abortion along with other injustices, while making clear that abortion is the ultimate injustice, they might find others willing to join their coalition.

We must “demonstrate to people that this is a young movement, and a grassroots movement,” she said. “And it’s one that’s very diverse, it’s one that cares about human dignity across the board but recognizes the particular evil of this one great injustice that’s at the center.”

“So we talk about family policy at the same time we’re talking about pro-life changes to the law,” she insisted.

John Carr noted that, for example, Henry Hyde, hailed as a champion by the pro-life movement for sponsoring the amendment that banned taxpayer dollars from funding most abortions, also worked with Republicans and “helped pass family and medical leave.”

The Church also has a role to play in helping mothers in unplanned pregnancies get the support they need to have their child.

“The worst, most unfair charge against the Catholic Church, and Catholics, is we only care about people until they are born. No one does more for pregnant women and children,” he said, “for the hungry and the homeless.”

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters

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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum intended to restrict the entry of terrorists coming to the United States in the guise of refugees, the action brought quick response from Catholic and other religious leaders.

The largest response came from more than 2,000 religious leaders representing the Interfaith Immigration Coalition who objected to the action in a letter to the president and members of Congress. The heads of Catholic charitable agencies, organizations working with immigrants and Catholic education leaders also decried the president's action.

The action also drew supporters, with organizations such as the Heritage Foundation and some church leaders saying it was necessary to protect the country's security.

Trump signed the memorandum, titled "The Protection of the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States," during a Jan. 27 ceremony at the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes as new Secretary of Defense James Mattis was sworn in. The president also signed a second executive action designed to build the strength of the U.S. military.

Regarding the refugee action, Trump said it was meant to keep "Islamic terrorists out of the United States. We don't want 'em here. We want to make sure they don't enter the country." He added, "The only ones we want to admit into our country are those who will support our county and deeply love our people. We will never forget the lessons of 9/11."

The memorandum suspends the entire U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days and bans entry of all citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries -- Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia -- for 90 days. It also establishes a religious criteria for refugees, proposing to give priority to religious minorities over others who may have equally compelling refugee claims.

The seven countries previously were identified under guidelines established in the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015. The act includes a provision that allows the Department of Homeland Security's to limit Visa Waiver Program travel for certain individuals who have traveled to the seven countries.

The religious leaders' letter said the U.S. has an "urgent moral responsibility to receive refugees and asylum seekers who are in dire need of safety." The correspondence called on elected officials to "be bold in choosing moral, just policies that provide refuge for vulnerable individuals seeking protection."

The leaders also insisted that the U.S. refugee resettlement program remain open to all nationalities and religions that face persecution. They decried "derogatory language" about Middle Eastern refugees and Muslims in particular, adding that refugees "are an asset to this country," serving as "powerful ambassadors of the American dream and our nation's founding principles of equal opportunity, religious freedom and liberty and justice for all."

Among Catholics signing the letter were Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Jesuit Father Timothy P. Kesicki, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States; Mercy Sister Patricia McDermott, president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas; and Sister Ellen Kelly, congregational leader of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

In an interview with Catholic News Service Jan. 30 from Geneva, Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, secretary general of the International Catholic Migration Commission, recalled church teaching that holds "we should always welcome the stranger" just as "Jesus taught us by his example."

He explained how the commission has helped about 1 million people since it began collaborating with the U.S. government in 1975. The commission has helped refugees with their applications for entry into the U.S. because of the complexity of the process and its attention to national security.

Msgr. Vitillo called that work an "overwhelmingly positive" experience. He also recalled how much of America was settled by immigrants and built by their contribution.

"I hope the U.S. will stay faithful to that kind of response," he added.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore called for prayer as the country responds to the series of immigration- related memorandum signed by the president since Jan. 20. He specifically cited the need for prayers for the nation's leaders and "the people who call this country their home, including our immigrant sisters and brothers."

"While we affirm the right of sovereign nations to control their borders, we likewise affirm our moral responsibility to respect every human being's dignity. We must remember that those fleeing horrendous and unspeakable violence and grinding poverty have the right, as children of God, to provide for the basic needs of themselves and their families," Archbishop Lori wrote in a Jan. 30 open letter to Catholics in the archdiocese.

Soon after Trump signed the memorandum, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, who is Catholic, commended the action, saying "our number one responsibility is to protect the homeland."

"We are a compassionate nation, and I support the refugee resettlement program, but it's time to re-evaluate and strengthen the visa vetting process. President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country," Ryan said.

Later in the evening, Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, expressed concern for the change in U.S. policy.

"I am especially worried about the innocent children and mothers who have fled for their lives without support and are now caught in this regrettable and terribly frightening situation," she said in a statement. "While I certainly appreciate the importance of vetting to ensure the safety of our country, I also believe we must treat those who are most vulnerable with compassion and mercy and with hearts willing to be opened wide in the face of dire human need."

Officials with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. said the memorandum erodes the U.S. commitment to protect refugees, weakens national security and harms the country's standing in the international community.

"Refugees have enriched our society in countless ways. These newcomers seek protection and the promise of equality, opportunity and liberty that has made our country thrive. When we reject refugees, we negate the welcome that was given to so many of our ancestors," Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Orange, California, chairman of CLINIC's board of directors.

Jeanne Atkinson, CLINIC executive director, added that the U.S must protect refugees rather than reject them because of misplaced fear, especially "when war and persecution have driven more people to flee in search of safety than any other time in modern history."

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, writing on his blog Jan. 27, raised the 40-year-long concern of the U.S. bishops of the need for comprehensive immigration reform. He wrote that the status of 11 million people who are in the U.S. without documents must be addressed with compassion and with respect for the country's laws.

"The Catholic voice in the immigration debate calls for reform based on reason, compassion and mercy for those fleeing violence and persecution," the blog post said. "At a pastoral level, in our country and in the Archdiocese of Boston, the church must be a community which provides pastoral care, legal advice and social services to refugees and immigrants, as we have done in this archdiocese for more than one hundred years. We will continue this important work through our parishes, Catholic Charities and our Catholic schools.

"Our country has the opportunity to respond to the reality of immigration with policies and practices which reflect our deepest religious and social principles. Together let us make the commitment to be a beacon of light and hope for those who look to us in their time of need," Cardinal O'Malley said.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit sent a letter Jan. 28 to the Imam's Council of the Michigan Muslim Community Council to express his support for migrants and refugees of all faiths and countries of origin.

The letter, he wrote, reaffirms his "solidarity" with the statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposing Trump's executive memorandum.

"Please know that the Catholic community will continue to speak out and care for immigrants and refugees, no matter their religion or their country of origin," the letter said.

Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, called on Trump to rescind his action because it "halts the work of valued students and colleagues who have already passed a rigorous, post-9/11 review process, are vouched for by the university and have contributed so much to our campuses."

If the new policy stands, "it will over time diminish the scope and strength of the educational and research efforts of American universities, which have been the source not only of intellectual discovery but of economic innovation for the United States and international understanding for our world," Father Jenkins said in a statement. "And, above all, it will demean our nation, whose true greatness has been its guiding ideals of fairness, welcome to immigrants, compassion for refugees, respect for religious faith and the courageous refusal to compromise its principles in the face of threats."

"I join with my brother bishops in the effort to work vigorously to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans," said Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina. He noted with disappointment two refugee families scheduled to arrive in Charlotte the week of Jan. 30 have been turned away.

The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Jan. 29 voiced "strong opposition" to the president's immigration policy. "We stand in solidarity with other Catholic and higher education organizations that recognize the moral obligation of our country to assist migrants, particularly those who are fleeing any kind of persecution," the organization said.

Also opposing the memorandum were the Franciscan Action Network, Leadership Conference of Women Religious and PICO National Network.

One portion of Trump's executive memorandum -- the creation of safe zones for victims of Middle East conflict -- was welcomed by In Defense of Christians, a Washington-based advocacy group.

"The creation of these zones in the Middle East demonstrates a renewed commitment of U.S. leadership in the world, which will advance the national security and humanitarian interests of the U.S., Andrew Doran, the group's vice president and senior policy adviser, said in a statement.

In Defense of Christians said vulnerable groups in war-torn countries should be assisted in efforts to promote local security and governance that stabilize communities and protect civilians so that peace and reconciliation can occur.

The organization also called for implementation of improved security screening by U.S. agencies to ensure the safety of refugees and American citizens.

The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Jan. 28 urged the U.S. to continue its leading role in resettling refugees, especially in a time when the needs of migrating people have never been greater.

"We strongly believe that refugees should receive equal treatment for protection and assistance, and opportunities for resettlement, regardless of their religion, nationality or race," the agencies said in a joint statement.

Members of Congress lined up primarily along political lines, with Democrats opposing the measures and most Republicans supporting them. About 20 Republicans voiced reservations about portions of the action, with some describing its potential to inspire terrorists overseas and its need to have been vetted more widely before implementation.

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