Biden’s handlers are talking about bringing 30,000 Afghan refugees into the country and the U.S. Catholic Bishops are excited. Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, and Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, issued a statement calling on the government to hurry, and make the arrival of these unvetted migrants from a jihad terror hotspot a top priority. What could possibly go wrong?
With admirable understatement, Dorsonville and Malloy wrote: “We have known that the withdrawal of American forces and evacuation of vulnerable Afghans, including those who supported our military or worked with NGOs and other organizations, would be a complicated process that had the potential for instability in Afghanistan.”
“A complicated process that had the potential for instability” is a nice way of saying “an appalling human catastrophe of poor planning, wishful thinking, and woke politics,” so give the two bishops points for diplomacy. But they want action: “The images and videos coming out of the country are difficult to view, as people make life or death decisions in desperation. We are particularly concerned for all those requiring evacuation, as well as Afghan women and girls, who risk losing opportunities gained over the last two decades and now face potential mistreatment.”
The bishops announce that the Church is ready to help: “For the past few weeks, staff from the USCCB, Catholic Charities, and other partners have been at Fort Lee in Virginia, assisting the U.S. government in the welcoming and resettlement of SIV applicants and their families. We will continue that work as long as necessary until those who are in harm’s way are brought to safety.”
But time is of the essence: “The government’s goal to relocate as many as 30,000 SIV applicants to the United States remains a monumental task that hangs in the balance. We know that time is of the essence to help our brothers and sisters in need, and we call on our government to act with the utmost urgency, considering all available avenues to preserve life. We also join the Holy Father in praying for peace in Afghanistan—‘that the clamor of weapons might cease and solutions can be found at the table of dialogue.’”
Dorsonville’s urgency stems in part from his belief that we haven’t brought in enough migrants. Last April he complained: “The number of refugees who will be welcomed this year is far short of what we can do as a country and is not an adequate response to the immense resettlement need.” At that time, Business Insider pointed out that “the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services is one of nine nonprofit organizations that partner with the US government to meet the needs of refugees who arrive in the country.” And significantly, the USCCB noted Tuesday that “the President authorized use of up to $500 million from the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for meeting the urgent needs of Afghan refugees and SIV applicants.”
It is highly profitable to partner with the U.S. government. Behind their high-minded rhetoric, the U.S. Catholic bishops have hundreds of millions of reasons to call for more “refugees” and disregard the safety and security of the American people. Capital Research Center reported in 2018 that “the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is the largest. As Table III shows, in FY 2018 USCCB received $47.7 million for resettlement purposes. However, USCCB participates in other federal grant programs and that year received a total of $363.9 million from the federal government. And 2018 was a slow year. In FY 2017, USCCB received $531.5 million.”
Indeed. LifeSite News reported in 2017: “Over the past nine years, the USCCB has received a total of $534,788,660 in taxpayer dollars for refugee resettlement programs.” Capital Research Center notes that the USCCB “administers programs as diverse as Global AIDS, Food For Peace Development Assistance, USAID Foreign Assistance, and even the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program, which provides volunteer technical assistance to farmers in developing countries.”
With that kind of money involved, is it any surprise that the bishops want Biden’s handlers to act with urgency on Afghan “refugees,” and show no concern whatsoever for the possibility that they might be facilitating the entry of criminals and jihad terrorists?
There is another consideration that the bishops are ignoring as well. What about one’s obligations to one’s own community, to try to preserve their freedom and the stability of one’s society? Could “refugee” intake be limited on that basis? That would be selfish, Mario Dorsonville would likely say. Do the U.S. Catholic bishops feel any obligation to support measures that would protect Americans from jihad attacks? Apparently not. The message that the bishops are sending to Americans is simple: drop dead.
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