St. Marianne Cope Parish

WASHINGTON.- Recientemente, la Administración de Trump emitió una “regla final interina” que casi acabaría con nuestro actual sistema de asilo. Un período de 30 días fue otorgado para enviar comentarios al Gobierno sobre la regla. La medida permitiría a la Administración impedir que la mayoría de las personas que llegan a nuestra frontera sur tengan acceso al asilo en los Estados Unidos. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos presentó comentarios el 9 de agosto y calificó la regla de "ilegal, injusta e imprudente".

El Reverendísimo Joe S. Vásquez, Obispo de Austin, y Presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB emitió el siguiente comunicado:

“Tenemos serias preocupaciones sobre la regla final interina de la Administración, emitida el 16 de julio de 2019, que limita en gran medida la elegibilidad de asilo en los Estados Unidos en la frontera sur", dijo el Obispo Vásquez. "La regla le daría la espalda a la gran mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo, exigiéndoles que soliciten protección en casi todos los otros países a través de los cuales ello transiten, dejando el acceso al asilo en EE.UU. como una remota posibilidad". No solo creemos que esta regla es ilegal, sino que también pone en peligro la seguridad de las personas y familias vulnerables que huyen de la persecución y amenaza la unidad familiar.

Además, la norma socava la tradición de nuestra nación de ser un líder mundial que provee y es un catalizados para que otros provean protección humanitaria a los necesitados. Recordamos al Departamento de Justicia y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que la forma en que respondemos a los solicitantes de asilo que llegan a nuestra frontera es una prueba de nuestro carácter moral e instamos firmemente a la Administración a que rescinda esta regla ".

Favor encontrar copia de los comentarios aquí.

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Palabras clave: USCCB, Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos, Obispo Joe S. Vásquez, Departamento de Justicia, Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, inmigración, asilo

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Contacto de prensa:

Miguel Guilarte

202-541-3200

WASHINGTON.- Recientemente, la Administración de Trump emitió una “regla final interina” que casi acabaría con nuestro actual sistema de asilo. Un período de 30 días fue otorgado para enviar comentarios al Gobierno sobre la regla. La medida permitiría a la Administración impedir que la mayoría de las personas que llegan a nuestra frontera sur tengan acceso al asilo en los Estados Unidos. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos presentó comentarios el 9 de agosto y calificó la regla de "ilegal, injusta e imprudente".

El Reverendísimo Joe S. Vásquez, Obispo de Austin, y Presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB emitió el siguiente comunicado:

“Tenemos serias preocupaciones sobre la regla final interina de la Administración, emitida el 16 de julio de 2019, que limita en gran medida la elegibilidad de asilo en los Estados Unidos en la frontera sur", dijo el Obispo Vásquez. "La regla le daría la espalda a la gran mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo, exigiéndoles que soliciten protección en casi todos los otros países a través de los cuales ello transiten, dejando el acceso al asilo en EE.UU. como una remota posibilidad". No solo creemos que esta regla es ilegal, sino que también pone en peligro la seguridad de las personas y familias vulnerables que huyen de la persecución y amenaza la unidad familiar.

Además, la norma socava la tradición de nuestra nación de ser un líder mundial que provee y es un catalizados para que otros provean protección humanitaria a los necesitados. Recordamos al Departamento de Justicia y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que la forma en que respondemos a los solicitantes de asilo que llegan a nuestra frontera es una prueba de nuestro carácter moral e instamos firmemente a la Administración a que rescinda esta regla ".

Favor encontrar copia de los comentarios aquí.

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Palabras clave: USCCB, Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos, Obispo Joe S. Vásquez, Departamento de Justicia, Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, inmigración, asilo

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Contacto de prensa:

Miguel Guilarte

202-541-3200

WASHINGTON.- Recientemente, la Administración de Trump emitió una “regla final interina” que casi acabaría con nuestro actual sistema de asilo. Un período de 30 días fue otorgado para enviar comentarios al Gobierno sobre la regla. La medida permitiría a la Administración impedir que la mayoría de las personas que llegan a nuestra frontera sur tengan acceso al asilo en los Estados Unidos. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos presentó comentarios el 9 de agosto y calificó la regla de "ilegal, injusta e imprudente".

El Reverendísimo Joe S. Vásquez, Obispo de Austin, y Presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB emitió el siguiente comunicado:

“Tenemos serias preocupaciones sobre la regla final interina de la Administración, emitida el 16 de julio de 2019, que limita en gran medida la elegibilidad de asilo en los Estados Unidos en la frontera sur", dijo el Obispo Vásquez. "La regla le daría la espalda a la gran mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo, exigiéndoles que soliciten protección en casi todos los otros países a través de los cuales ello transiten, dejando el acceso al asilo en EE.UU. como una remota posibilidad". No solo creemos que esta regla es ilegal, sino que también pone en peligro la seguridad de las personas y familias vulnerables que huyen de la persecución y amenaza la unidad familiar.

Además, la norma socava la tradición de nuestra nación de ser un líder mundial que provee y es un catalizados para que otros provean protección humanitaria a los necesitados. Recordamos al Departamento de Justicia y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que la forma en que respondemos a los solicitantes de asilo que llegan a nuestra frontera es una prueba de nuestro carácter moral e instamos firmemente a la Administración a que rescinda esta regla ".

Favor encontrar copia de los comentarios aquí.

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Palabras clave: USCCB, Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos, Obispo Joe S. Vásquez, Departamento de Justicia, Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, inmigración, asilo

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Contacto de prensa:

Miguel Guilarte

202-541-3200

WASHINGTON.- Recientemente, la Administración de Trump emitió una “regla final interina” que casi acabaría con nuestro actual sistema de asilo. Un período de 30 días fue otorgado para enviar comentarios al Gobierno sobre la regla. La medida permitiría a la Administración impedir que la mayoría de las personas que llegan a nuestra frontera sur tengan acceso al asilo en los Estados Unidos. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos presentó comentarios el 9 de agosto y calificó la regla de "ilegal, injusta e imprudente".

El Reverendísimo Joe S. Vásquez, Obispo de Austin, y Presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB emitió el siguiente comunicado:

“Tenemos serias preocupaciones sobre la regla final interina de la Administración, emitida el 16 de julio de 2019, que limita en gran medida la elegibilidad de asilo en los Estados Unidos en la frontera sur", dijo el Obispo Vásquez. "La regla le daría la espalda a la gran mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo, exigiéndoles que soliciten protección en casi todos los otros países a través de los cuales ello transiten, dejando el acceso al asilo en EE.UU. como una remota posibilidad". No solo creemos que esta regla es ilegal, sino que también pone en peligro la seguridad de las personas y familias vulnerables que huyen de la persecución y amenaza la unidad familiar.

Además, la norma socava la tradición de nuestra nación de ser un líder mundial que provee y es un catalizados para que otros provean protección humanitaria a los necesitados. Recordamos al Departamento de Justicia y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que la forma en que respondemos a los solicitantes de asilo que llegan a nuestra frontera es una prueba de nuestro carácter moral e instamos firmemente a la Administración a que rescinda esta regla ".

Favor encontrar copia de los comentarios aquí.

---

Palabras clave: USCCB, Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos, Obispo Joe S. Vásquez, Departamento de Justicia, Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, inmigración, asilo

###
 

Contacto de prensa:

Miguel Guilarte

202-541-3200

WASHINGTON.- Recientemente, la Administración de Trump emitió una “regla final interina” que casi acabaría con nuestro actual sistema de asilo. Un período de 30 días fue otorgado para enviar comentarios al Gobierno sobre la regla. La medida permitiría a la Administración impedir que la mayoría de las personas que llegan a nuestra frontera sur tengan acceso al asilo en los Estados Unidos. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos presentó comentarios el 9 de agosto y calificó la regla de "ilegal, injusta e imprudente".

El Reverendísimo Joe S. Vásquez, Obispo de Austin, y Presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB emitió el siguiente comunicado:

“Tenemos serias preocupaciones sobre la regla final interina de la Administración, emitida el 16 de julio de 2019, que limita en gran medida la elegibilidad de asilo en los Estados Unidos en la frontera sur", dijo el Obispo Vásquez. "La regla le daría la espalda a la gran mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo, exigiéndoles que soliciten protección en casi todos los otros países a través de los cuales ello transiten, dejando el acceso al asilo en EE.UU. como una remota posibilidad". No solo creemos que esta regla es ilegal, sino que también pone en peligro la seguridad de las personas y familias vulnerables que huyen de la persecución y amenaza la unidad familiar.

Además, la norma socava la tradición de nuestra nación de ser un líder mundial que provee y es un catalizados para que otros provean protección humanitaria a los necesitados. Recordamos al Departamento de Justicia y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que la forma en que respondemos a los solicitantes de asilo que llegan a nuestra frontera es una prueba de nuestro carácter moral e instamos firmemente a la Administración a que rescinda esta regla ".

Favor encontrar copia de los comentarios aquí.

---

Palabras clave: USCCB, Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos, Obispo Joe S. Vásquez, Departamento de Justicia, Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, inmigración, asilo

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Contacto de prensa:

Miguel Guilarte

202-541-3200

WASHINGTON— Recently, the Trump Administration issued an “interim final rule” that would nearly eviscerate our current asylum system. A 30-day period was given to submit comments to the government about the rule. The move would allow the Administration to block most individuals arriving at our southern border from gaining access to asylum in the U.S. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted comments on August 9th and called the rule “unlawful, unjust, and unwise.”

Most Reverend Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin, Texas, Chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, issued the following statement:

“We have grave concerns about the Administration’s interim final rule, issued on July 16, 2019, that greatly limits U.S. asylum eligibility at the southern border,” said Bishop Vásquez. “The rule would turn our back on the vast majority of asylum seekers, requiring them to apply for protection in almost any other country through which they transit, leaving access to U.S. asylum exceptionally rare. Not only do we believe that this rule is unlawful, but it also jeopardizes the safety of vulnerable individuals and families fleeing persecution and threatens family unity. Further, the rule undermines our nation’s tradition of being a global leader providing and being a catalyst for others to provide humanitarian protection to those in need. We remind the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security that how we respond to asylum seekers arriving at our border is a test of our moral character and strongly urge the Administration to rescind this rule.”

Please find a copy of the comments here.

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Keywords: USCCB, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, immigration, asylum

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Media Contact:
Mark Priceman
202-541-3064

Panama City, Panama, Aug 8, 2019 / 02:38 pm (CNA).- The standing committee of the Panamanian bishops' conference has expressed its concern over a migration reform bill, asking that it be humane and respectful of the rights of immigrants and refugees.

They urged that immigrants and refugees not be seen as a threat, or blamed for the social ills affecting the country.

The bishops released their statement after the Government, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Commission of the National Assembly approved a bill seeking to establish tighter migration controls.

Zulay Rodríguez, the bill's sponsor, said that in recent years many foreigners have abused the good things about Panama, and taken jobs from Panamanians: "They've taken away and stolen from us our country. We're the excluded ones, so now we are going to make decisions.”

In their statement, the bishops recognized that the debate on the migration law reforms “has created tension among some sectors of society.” However, they called for not seeing migrants as a threat since “they're people looking for better conditions for their lives because of forced displacement, human trafficking, violence, poverty, political persecution, and terrorism.”

“We can't hold them responsible for the social ills affecting us as a country. Instead we should seek ways of encounter, dialogue, and peace that make us grow in fraternity and solidarity,” they said.

The Panamanian bishops said they are “aware of the need of the Panamanian state for a comprehensive migration policy that respects the rights and dignity of migrants and refugees.”

However, they pointed out that “this requires an analysis based on official data, the revision of current laws and decrees on migration, in order to adopt public migration policies that guarantee peace, solidarity with the helpless, security, and mutual respect between all the inhabitants of our country.”

Panama “has historically been a been a country of transit, consisting of migrations, some forced and others driven by the search for a better quality of life.”

They recalled that the country “has always kept its arms open to receive people from all over the world and this spirit of solidarity and fraternity must be strengthened, especially at this time.”

Mendoza, Argentina, Aug 8, 2019 / 11:50 am (CNA).- The trial has begun for two Catholic priests and a former employee allegedly involved in sexual abuse of 10 students at an institute that cared for deaf children. Their alleged victims say one abuser should have been exposed seven years before his arrest.

Father Nicola Corradi, an 83-year-old Italian, sat in a wheelchair as his trial began at the Mendoza province’s Palace of Justice Aug. 5. Father Horacio Corbacho, 59, and Armando Gomez, 63, both of Argentina, are also charged.

Corbacho pleaded not guilty to the charges, while neither Corradi nor Gomez have entered pleas, the AP reports.

The abuse allegedly took place at the now-closed Antonio Provolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing Impaired children in Argentina’s Mendoza province. The trial concerns 28 cases in all, including charges of rape, sexual touching, and corruption of minors. The students were allegedly forced to watch pornography or perform sex acts among themselves.

The cases involve 10 students, though about 20 have made abuse accusations. The alleged abusers especially targeted children who spent the night in the institute’s shelters, and the alleged victims said they were afraid to report for fear of living in poverty after being expelled or for fear their parents would be punished.

The students were typically from poor families and had communication limitations. The school did not teach sign language but followed a methodology that aimed to teach children to read and speak like those who could hear, the Washington Post reported in February. Students at the school who used sign language would be smacked.

Some cases have a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, while others bear a penalty of 50 years in jail. The crimes allegedly took place from 2004 to 2016, when Corradi, Corbacho, and others were arrested and the school shut down.

The plaintiff in the trial is the human rights group Xumek.

Alleged abuse victims and their relatives protested outside the court. One sign referred to sign language, saying “With Our Hands And Our Voices We Break The Silence.”

Corradi is a member of the Company of Mary, an Italian religious community which operates schools for deaf children in several countries. The schools are named for Antonio Provolo, a nineteenth-century Italian priest who founded Corradi’s religious community.

Corradi worked at a sister school in in La Plata, Argentina from 1970 to 1994, and ex-students have accused him of abuse there as well. Before that, he worked at an Antonio Provolo school in Verona, Italy. He was first accused of abuse in 2009, when 14 Italians reported that they had been abused by priests, religious brothers, and other adults at the Provolo Institute in Verona, over the course of several decades.

They could not face civil prosecution due to statutes of limitations.

After a Vatican investigation, five priests at the Italian institute were sanctioned; but Corradi, then living in Argentina, was not among them. A Vatican investigator believed his sole accuser was a victim of abuse, but because Corradi was accused by so many of abuse and his story showed apparent inconsistencies the investigator doubted the plausibility of his claims, according to the Washington Post.

As the Argentine trial opened on Monday, among those protesting outside of the court was ex-student Ezequiel Villalonga, who is now 18.

“Those of us from the Próvolo in Mendoza said: ‘no more fear. We have the power’,” he said, according to the Associated Press. Like many other abuse victims at the school, he is harshly critical of Pope Francis,

“Francis was very quiet about the abusive priests, but now the sentence is coming,” said Villalonga. “I know that the pope is afraid because the deaf have been brave.”

Advocates for the victims have called for the the abusers to be dismissed from the clerical state.

The Archdiocese of Mendoza has said it didn’t know the Italian priest’s background when he came to Argentina. It said the priest depended on his Italian-based religious congregation for support. The archdiocese voiced “solidarity and closeness” with the alleged victims and said that in its view the responsibilities and punishments for the alleged crimes should be established.

“As part of the people of Mendoza, we desire truth and justice, and we put in the hands of God … the work of whose who have the task of imparting it,” the archdiocese said in an Aug. 2 statement.

Two religious sisters who worked at the Mendoza school are accused of participating in the abuse or knowing about it, as are former directors and employees who are accused of knowing of the crimes but not taking action. In 2018 one employee was sentenced to 10 years for rape, sexual touching, and corruption of minors.

Pope Francis previously served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He headed the Argentine bishops’ conference when the alleged crimes were reported in 2009 and 2010.

In 2014, Corradi was the subject of a letter sent to Pope Francis from Italian victims of sexual abuse who were concerned about the priest’s ongoing ministry, despite the accusations against him. In 2015, the group handed a list of priests accused of abuse to the Pope in person, according to the Washington Post.

The group reportedly did not hear back from Pope Francis, but did hear from a Vatican official, Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, who wrote to the group in 2016 to tell them that he had informed the Italian bishops’ conference of their request for an investigation.

Later that year, Corradi, as well as Corbacho and another employee of the school, were arrested. When Argentine authorities arrested Corradi and Corbacho, the Washington Post reported, local officials said the Church in Argentina was not fully cooperative with the investigation.

Bologna, Italy, Aug 8, 2019 / 10:03 am (CNA).- The first image to greet visitors to the basilica containing the tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna, Italy is a mosaic of the saint next to a dog carrying a flaming torch in its mouth.

This is not a depiction of a pyromaniacal game of fetch, but a reference to a dream which foretold the 13th-century preacher’s mission in the world -- to be the bearer of divine fire across Europe, illuminating the darkness of heresy and sin with truth and charity.

“When St. Dominic's mother, Blessed Jane of Aza, was pregnant, she had a dream of a dog with a torch in its mouth, running around the world and setting everything on fire. She went to the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos and asked a monk what it meant. He replied that the child in her womb would be a great preacher, who would set the world ablaze with the fire of his words,” Dominican Fr. Ezra Sullivan, lecturer at the Angelicum University in Rome, told CNA.

“In fact, the word ‘Dominican’ is a play on the Latin, Domini canes, which means ‘dogs of the Lord,” Fr. Thomas Petri, dean of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, explained.

Throughout history St. Dominic has been depicted in paintings and statues standing beside a canine companion.

“One source recounts that the dog Blessed Jane saw in her vision was a greyhound. That seems right to me,” Petri said. “St. Dominic should be associated with breeds that are fast and useful for herding.”

“Imitating Christ himself, St. Dominic is a hound nipping at your heels to bring you to God,” he added.

“In the early thirteenth century, the Church was experiencing increasing devotion among the lay faithful that was unmatched by the clergy. At a time when bishops, priests, and monks were living extravagantly and rarely preaching, St. Dominic came to see that the Church needed priests who lived in poverty but who were also preachers of grace and truth, especially in the face of heretical cults that were leaching the faithful away from the Church of Jesus Christ,” Petri explained.

St. Dominic Guzman was born in Caleruega, Spain on Aug. 8, 1170. Throughout his life, he is said to have converted some 100,000 people through his preaching missions. He spread the devotion to the rosary, and played a key role in doctrinal debates combating the Albigensian heresy, a revival of Manichaeism, which had taken hold in southern France.

Dominic founded the Order of Preachers - the Dominicans - in France in 1216, adapting the Rule of St. Augustine in obedience to the pope, with an emphasis on study and community life in poverty. He died in Bologna, Italy after several weeks of illness on Aug. 6, 1221.

Benedict XVI said in Feb. 2010 that St. Dominic “reminds us that in the heart of the Church, a missionary fire must always burn.”

“Saint Dominic was given the grace not only to have a fervent zeal and love for Jesus Christ, especially Christ crucified, but also the wisdom to preach the Gospel with force and conviction,” Petri said.

Fr. Sullivan noted: “It was also said that 'he always spoke either about God or to God,' and therefore his words were like fiery darts that always hit their targets.”

St. Catherine of Siena, a third order Dominican, is frequently quoted as saying, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

However, Fr. Petri explained that a more accurate translation of what St. Catherine wrote in a letter in her dying days is, “If you are what you ought to be, you will set fire to all Italy, and not only there.”

She wrote this to her follower Stefano Maconi because she was “concerned that he was tepid in his devotion and pleaded with him to go to Rome to light the fire of Divine charity there amid the turmoil of schism and infidelity the city was experiencing,” Petri said.

St. Catherine of Siena spoke of cultivating the ‘Divine fire’ as “cultivating the charity of God in one’s soul,” he explained.

“The way we cultivate charity is by committing ourselves to be with Christ in prayer, in study, at work, in the home, and at every other moment in our day,” he said.

“Most especially, however, such communion with Christ is nourished and strengthened by receiving the Sacrament of Charity—the Holy Eucharist—in which the One who is Charity itself comes into us and lights our souls aflame in love for him and for our neighbor.”

WASHINGTON— Today, Bishops from three committees at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed their deep concern about racism and xenophobia that apparently motivated this weekend’s massacre in El Paso and that have motivated numerous other recent mass shootings in the United States. The Chairmen called on our elected officials to exert leadership in seeking to heal the wounds that these shootings have caused and to deal with the scourges of racism, xenophobia, and religious bigotry, including refraining from expressing hurtful, painful, and divisive rhetoric that dehumanizes and polarizes people on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.  

Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, chairman of the Committee on Migration, Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Bishop of Venice, FL, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Social Development, and Bishop Shelton J. Fabre, Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism offered the following comments.

“The tragic loss of life of 22 people this weekend in El Paso demonstrates that hate-filled rhetoric and ideas can become the motivation for some to commit acts of violence. The anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic sentiments that have been publicly proclaimed in our society in recent years have incited hatred in our communities. Hatred and harsh rhetoric were echoed in the El Paso shooter’s explanation about why he committed this weekend’s shooting, as well as being evident in the motivation of the shooters who attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last year and the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015. We, therefore, renew our call to all to act swiftly to stop using hate-filled language that demeans and divides us and motivates some to such horrific violence. Instead, we ask our leaders and all Americans to work to unite us as a great, diverse, and welcoming people.”

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Keywords: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre, El Paso, Shooting, Cielo Vista Mall

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Media Contact:
Mark Priceman
202-541-3064