Here’s an excerpt from the column:
American Catholics may and do face many forms of discrimination, but none fear for their lives when attending Mass. American Catholics shuffling into their local churches today do not worry that the soles of their feet may be sliced off, that they may face a firing squad, nor that they may be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Nevertheless, two American Catholic bishops have decided to suspend the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those in their diocese who fear being arrested.
Bishop Alberto Rojas of the diocese of San Bernardino in California and Bishop J. Mark Spalding of the diocese of Nashville have issued dispensations for illegal aliens in their dioceses who fear being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claiming that “no Catholic is obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk.”
I have written extensively (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) on the Catholic Church’s teachings on immigration and so will not belabor the point beyond saying that these dispensations not only (once again) ignore and subtly undermine half of what the Church declares regarding the immigration issue but appear as a tacit condoning of illegal immigration.
Yet another troubling issue with these broad dispensations is that of “safety.” In many ways, it is a blessing that the Catholic Church in the western world — and especially the U.S. — has gone so long with relatively little persecution. But Catholics must always bear in mind that we are called to spiritual rigor and mortification, to eschew the comforts and safeties of this mortal world in order that we may be more fully attached to Christ in eternity. As the late Pope Benedict XVI reminded us, “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”
Continue reading at the American Spectator
TAKE ACTION: Contact Bishops Rojas and Spalding and let them know what you think.
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