Indian archbishop says accusations of conversion 'fabricated and baseless'
- Jan 27, 2021
President Trump’s new executive order states that it is designed “to protect the nation from terrorist activities by foreign nationals admitted to the United States.” Catholic agencies serving refugees see this as mere subterfuge for anti-Muslim discrimination and not based in reality. They oppose this order as they opposed the last one which was blocked by U.S. courts as unconstitutional.
The cardboard Rice Bowl box that Catholic schoolchildren, families, university students and parishioners across the United States have been filling with coins and dollars as a Lenten sacrifice over the past four decades – can have a big impact on the lives of the poor.
A senior legislative specialist for Catholic Relief Services, the overseas humanitarian arm of the U.S. bishops, says more than 3 million refugees have been resettled in the United States since the 1970s, “so you might say that their record is quite good.”
Sean Callahan, CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the international charity branch of the USCCB, argued that if President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” is in fact built, people will find ways to “go over, under and around it,” and that it would be better to invest the money the government is planning to use to fund the wall in development programs overseas.
The mainstream media has largely ignored the humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services and its partner agencies directed toward refugees in the Middle East according to Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour. The incoming chairman of the board at CRS believes it’s time this changed.
For many people in the developing world, the Catholic Church is the only voice of civil society that isn’t corrupt or driven by self-interest. It’s often the difference between people being fed or starving to death, or between being treated for their illnesses or dying of neglect.