Comments on: Latin America bishops call on US to ‘love the stranger’ in statement on immigration policies

By: william dailey

william dailey — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:49:50 +0000

When will the constant rant that Americans are racist stop? The Episcopal hierarchy seems compelled to make us wear this hair shirt until we are to worn down to resist. Perhaps the Bishops should travel to these failed countries instead of Alaska to get a sense of reality.

By: Terry Francis

Terry Francis — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 08:38:53 +0000

What is it going to take to get people like Bruce Rienstra to realize that immigrants who come here LEGALLY will always be welcomed to this country by most Americans. Yes we are a nation of immigrants but we are also a nation of laws. Progressives seem hopelessly incapable of knowing the difference between legal and illegal immigrants!

By: BD Howes

BD Howes — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:14:25 +0000

Advice to Bruce Rienstra. Stop with the talking points! Not all of our families immigrated to the US but that, like the rest of your spin, is irrelevant. This is not terribly difficult for me. We should all fear becoming a country with arbitrary laws and arbitrary application of laws.

By: Joe Prasad

Joe Prasad — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 02:10:21 +0000

Corruption and poverty are serious problems in many countries including Latin American countries. Latin American countries like many others such as Middle East and South East Asia have not been able to freely elect their own government which means that often their economic and foreign policies are dictated by outside powers. In such situations, government officials often tend to be corrupt which in turn breeds more corruption and poverty.
When confronted with poverty and corrupt governments, citizens often try to go to countries where they can get decent wage and live with some respect and dignity. It is not surprising that in the Western hemisphere, Latin Americans try to come to US or go to Canada.
In items 9 &10 of the letter, the Bishops do take up the issue of migration with some of the Latin American countries. I like to say that economic prosperity leads to higher standard of living and this in turn reduces corruption and poverty. It is highly unlikely that citizens will migrate if they enjoy a decent life within their own home country.

By: william dailey

william dailey — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 23:11:39 +0000

The deeper problem here is the fact that a large number of US Church officials agree with the characterizations of the United States. Criticism of American values is the trend. Exporting citizens from failed states only creates more failed states. Europe is the prime example of this. US church leaders find it simpler, and self satisfying, to be critical of the US than to recognize and attempt to deal with the real problems and issues facing our Nation and the church today. If this continues there is no happy ending for the Church or our Nation.

By: Bruce Rienstra

Bruce Rienstra — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 12:31:12 +0000

I have no problem with these bishops commenting in this way. They referenced the House of Bishops statement from 2010 and are being supportive to TEC. There is something very disturbing about a nation of immigrants forgetting that they too were immigrants and were welcomed. We should be continuing that tradition.

Sure Latin America does not have an unblemished past neither does the US. To say ‘because of your past you have no right to speak now’ can be applied to a lot of societies. What if someone had said, “USA because of your ethnic cleansing of North America you have no right to criticise ethnic cleansing in other countries.”

By: Miguel Rosada

Miguel Rosada — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:33:52 +0000

Their time would have been better spent addressing the serious injustice, corruption, racism, violence in their own countries that force people to flee and break the laws of another country in search of a better life. I also do not recall any statement by these bishops addressing the migratory crises created by the communist government of Cuba over the last 5 decades, nor the plight of Cuban refugees often abused and exploited while trekking through Central America to seek sanctuary in the US. It is the business of American citizens and their elected officials to decide how to solve the crisis of millions of persons living illegally in the US. Hopefully that can be done with compassion and regard to the dignity of all persons. That however should not be the business of bishops who live elsewhere and have plenty of issues they should be concerned about in their own homes!

By: PJ Cabbiness

PJ Cabbiness — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 20:35:04 +0000

I would encourage the Bishops to focus their attention on the corruption, poverty, violence, sexism, homophobia and malaise within their own countries rather than insulting and unjustly criticizing the United States. Their position is self serving, hypocritical and highly offensive to me.