Commentary: Cardinal Mahony and immigrants
I got raked over the coals by a letter writer
over the Record Gazette editorial I wrote last week regarding illegal
immigration and the lies and misinformation that are being spread about the
issue.
The letter writer apparently had no problem with my assessment of
the overall issue, but took strong exception to comments I made about Los
Angeles Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony and his role in the issue.
Here is
the letter:
Dear Editor:
Your April 14 editorial "Tragedy of lies
and misinformation" contains two sentences apparently written in haste and not
consistent with the facts:
"Even Los Angeles
Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, a man who on countless occasions has refused to
identify members of his own clergy who were involved in child molestation, is
guilty of inciting this anti-American, pro-illegal immigration behavior. The
media keeps calling the Cardinal 'pro-immigration,' when in fact the religious
leader is strongly pro-illegal immigration."
The complete list of accused
priests and their alleged offenses could be read at the Los Angeles Archdiocese
web site www.archdiocese.la from 2002 until mid-2004. The document is still
available by written request or online at
www.bishopaccountability.org.
Cardinal Roger Mahony says we should feed
and clothe the poor and give them medical care without asking their immigration
status. Here in the Pass Area, organizations like Carol's Kitchen and San
Gorgonio Memorial Hospital do this every day. This is not anti-American,
pro-illegal immigration behavior.
You said that the media keep calling
the Cardinal "pro-immigration." This charge has never been made by a newspaper
or by a radio or television station. It's true that he opposes sections of HR
4437 that would force priests, ministers and rabbis to become "quasi-immigration
enforcement officials." The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee also opposes these
sections of HR 4437. This stand is neither "strongly pro-illegal immigration"
nor shameful.
Editorials in the Record Gazette should be written
carefully and accurately.
Terrence Halloran, Beaumont
For
starters, I am grateful that people like Mr. Halloran read the Record Gazette
and care enough about their hometown newspaper to try to guide us in the right
direction when they feel we have strayed.
I wasn't clear about his
comment about the media "charging" that Cardinal Mahony is "pro-immigration."
The media continues to refer to Cardinal Mahony as "pro-immigration," but that
is meant as a compliment and not as a "charge."
The fact is that most of
us, including me and Cardinal Mahony, are pro-immigration. The issue on the
table at this time is pro-illegal immigration and what our nation needs to do
about the millions of people who are here illegally.
Mr. Halloran also
took exception to the comment I made in the editorial regarding the Cardinal's
unwillingness to release information regarding priests who have been accused of
molesting children. He argues the Cardinal has been forthcoming in this matter
and cites a website where information is available.
However, if that is
the case and the Cardinal and the Catholic Church has been so cooperative with
prosecutors and alleged victims, why did the U.S. Supreme Court this week order
the release of information of an on-going investigation into a pair of child
abuse cases that the church has been refusing to release for four years? That's
certainly not cooperation.
We all pray for the leadership of the Catholic
Church to put the needs of its parishioners over the need to protect the priests
who have been accused of these terrible things.
I stand by the editorial,
which correctly points out that the debate of the day is not over immigration,
as some have claimed, but illegal immigration and the impacts it is having on
our nation.
I do need to apologize for misspelling the Cardinal's last
name in the editorial.
I spelled Cardinal Mahony's name "Mahoney," like
the Winchell & Mahoney cartoon show's Jerry Mahoney. I was a big fan of that
show as a child.