Meeting in Los Angeles for their bi-annual conference, the bishops said an enforcement-only approach to immigration had failed and that stronger border fences and a piecemeal approach would do nothing to deter those seeking to find work in the United States.

"Over the past 12 years, our government has spent $25 billion on enforcement of our border. During the same period, the number of undocumented in the nation has nearly doubled," said Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, who heads the U.S. Catholic Bishops committee on immigration.

"We urge congressional leaders and the President to seize this historic moment and enact a just and humane immigration measure," Barnes told a news conference.

"Either fix it, or five years from now there will be 20 million illegal immigrants here," said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose vow to disobey any laws that would criminalize illegal immigrants and those who help them has made him a leading voice in the national debate.

Lawmakers are struggling to reconcile a bill in the House of Representatives that focuses strictly on border enforcement with a Senate bill that would also create a temporary work program denounced by many conservatives as equivalent to an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The bishops said all undocumented workers currently in the United States should be given a "viable and workable earned path to citizenship," not just those who have been here longest.

They also backed a temporary worker program and reforms that would reduce family immigration backlogs They acknowledged that the issue was emotional and divisive. But they said they believed their lobbying of the past six months and the mass immigrant marches around the nation were helping to change minds and giving immigrants a human face.

"Why are we involved? Fundamentally it is because it is our Gospel mandate ... to welcome the stranger," Mahony said.

"The immigration debate ... is ultimately a humanitarian and moral issue," he added.

Mahony is at it again touting his support of the McKain/Kennedy Amnesty Bill (SB2611)! As citizens mounting nationwide campaigns to end all public assistance to illegal aliens, we could easily overlook an important source of "safety-net assistance" to illegal aliens: government funding to "non-profit" groups who knowingly and intentionally provide assistance to illegal aliens. Federal law (USC Title 8, Chapter 12, subchapter II, Section 1324) has a name for this: "aiding and abetting illegal immigration." It's a crime punishable by a fine and/or jail time. Several seemingly "faith-based" groups are involved (Lutheran Social Services, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, American Friends Service Committee), but the largest is Catholic Charities USA.

Most people believe Catholic Charities is funded entirely by voluntary donations, but they couldn't be more wrong. In FY 2002, over 60% of CCUSA funding came from government grants and contracts, another term for "taxpayers' money!" Don't let the ostensibly "religious" title fool you, because these groups often promote a communistic/atheistic agenda.

Only by public disclosure of these groups and their activities can Citizens demand that Congress cease funds to such groups. Since President Bush often meets with "faith-based" representatives in the effort to increase "immigration/refugee" numbers, contacting the President is futile.

Various Catholic Charities officials have openly admitted "aiding and abetting," and the organization's website (www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/advocacy/legislative/index.cfm) openly promotes its open borders agenda:

"Welcome Refugees, Asylees, and Immigrants

Immigrants-including documented and undocumented workers, refugees, and asylees come to the U.S. seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Often, they are fleeing racial, religious, social, or political persecution in their home countries.

All immigrants are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. To this end, CCUSA promotes legislative reforms to restore federal benefits to legal immigrants, increase admissions of refugees and asylees, create better opportunities for illegal aliens to earn legalization, allow aliens to reunite with their families more easily, and improve protections for immigrants under federal laws, including labor laws."

Those agencies who openly aid and abet illegal immigration and in other ways "bite the hand that feeds them" is not only an insult to every American taxpayer, but an indictment to every government official charged with administering public money. Giving taxpayers' money to groups who openly defy our laws is an outrage!

Oregonian Barbara Anderson published a website report to Catholic Citizens of Illinois how two "Catholic Charities" groups use taxpayers' money to undermine and violate our laws.

"Time was when the poor widow in the pew gave her mite, assured that she was helping someone even more vulnerable than she was. That is no longer true, as the money being given may or may not end up feeding the poor, clothing the naked, etc. Two of the "Catholic" charities sanctioned by the bishops have become circuitous routes leading to unexpected ends." ¹

Stephanie Blank "exposed the labyrinth of entities used to divert money to causes most Catholics would not support. CCHD is not a Catholic charity, strictly speaking, as its literature casually points out. From money given by Catholics, grants are made mainly to groups who agitate, politically and otherwise, for causes many Catholics know nothing about, and would not give their money to, if they knew. A current prominent cause is the promotion of illegal immigration. This takes the shape of supporting groups who are formed to lobby politically for illegal immigration. It is one example of how money is spent, mostly without the knowledge or acquiescence of Catholics who do not want to aid and abet lawbreakers (illegal aliens). Catholics have always been taught to obey the laws of their countries, and that the end does not justify the means.

Catholic Charities USA indicates on its website the amount of lobbying being done to influence lawmakers to effect its "social justice" programs. CCUSA also mentions that it helps all people, regardless of race, religion, etc. It, too, advocates aggressively for illegal immigration. Most of its advocacy could have been lifted from the Democrat platform. For example, CCUSA lobbies for the DREAM Act, which would allow children of illegal immigrants to take advantage of in-state tuition. Since most colleges have tight enrollment capacity, this would mean that some citizens would be passed over in favor of children of illegal aliens. Even the term "illegal" is anathema to CCUSA and like-minded supporters, who say that nobody should be classified as illegal. Of course, that is the term the U.S. government gives to those who come into this country without permission. CCUSA has been successful in blurring the line between legal and illegal. Most people would support some legal immigration, with its checks and balances, but more than seventy percent of Americans polled say they want illegal immigration stopped. Apparently, the bishops have determined that this country doesn't have enough poor people, so we must import poverty.

From birth (free for anyone who goes into a hospital in America) through Head Start and higher education, through all the welfare systems, CCUSA is there to lobby our lawmakers. It seems that the bishops have given up on pure charities, such as St. Vincent de Paul, in favor of putting their considerable clout behind lobbying government for their social justice programs. In some dioceses St. Vincent de Paul is treated like the proverbial stepchild and receives little or no support from the Catholic charities. Pro-life groups are given lip service, but not the power of the bishops in personnel, publicity or funds. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not agree with the Vatican when it indicated that politicians who publicly support pro-abortion groups and positions should not be given communion. Dare we ask if it was because to do so would have weakened its traditional allies, the Democrats, at election time?

Is pure charity and advocacy for life of no value to CCUSA? Is no tax too great, no government welfare program too expensive and expansive, for support from CCUSA? It is fair to ask if the bishops have lined up at the government trough." ²

Could it be that "Islamic charities" aren't alone in providing a front for activities that wouldn't stand up to public scrutiny? I can hear the outraged howls as I suggest that groups under the "Catholic Charities" umbrella could be equally guilty, but the facts are clear; Catholic Charities receives billions of public dollars to serve an agenda that is not only opposed by most Americans, but systematically undermines our entire legal and political system. On the evening of September 26, 2003, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church (in Denver), the Catholic Archdiocese at the highest level, welcomed the illegal alien Freedom Riders on their way to Washington, DC to demand amnesty and benefits for all illegal aliens in the United States.

The Catholic Church is credited with inventing the "City of Sanctuary" program for illegal aliens. The Catholic Church has aided and abetted illegal aliens since the late 1960's. They employ well-paid lobbyists to knock on congressional doors to secure taxpayers' funds for the "branch" of the church known as "Catholic Charities." These "Catholic Charities" organizations receive billions of taxpayer dollars annually, with absolutely no oversight. They are rolling in the dough to support a haven for illegal aliens and YOU are paying for it.

"Taking America Back" means shining the light on such "religious" racketeers as Cardinal Mahony and his "Catholic cronies" who steal from American taxpayers to support lawbreaking illegal aliens. We can no longer allow traitors, quislings and spineless sellouts to take over America. The United States has an open borders advocate his first name is Roger and his last name is M-A-H-O-N-Y! Importing poverty is what Cardinal Roger and his friends are all about.

Oh, and by the way, I'm a documented Catholic who was confirmed by Cardinal Roger.

¹ Jill Sergeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) June 14, 2006 "U.S. Catholic bishops on Wednesday urged the U.S. Congress to resolve differences on immigration reform and seize a 'historic moment' to give all of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship."

² Barbara Anderson, "Bishops at the Trough," CatholicCitizens.org, March 8, 2005