The Practical Parson

 This week, the Bishop of Rome has chosen to issue an apostolic letter to exhort the Roman Catholic bishops in the United States against President Trump and the ongoing efforts to secure the Mexico-America border and to deport criminal, illegal immigrants in the United States.  While the Bishop of Rome is entirely within his right to tell his lackeys to do whatever he fancies at a given point in time, his claims on the Christian response to a situation with precedent not seen since the fall of Rome; are not only tone-deaf, but contrary to the natural law and the dignity of the citizens of a free nation.    It is entirely true: the United States is a nation that is built upon a bedrock foundation of immigrants from various places in the world.  Indeed, it is this tapestry of patrimonies which has given the US its unique, cultural importance on the world stage in the modern era.  But what comprises such a nation, and more importantly the national identity?...

 So this afternoon I was looking at the news, and an article being promoted by Yahoo popped up.  It purported that Donald Trump's concern with illegal immigrants working can be debunked because illegal immigrants are ONLY taking the lesser, more menial jobs that no one else wants to work; and further claims that seeking to prevent this from happening would cost the nation nearly one Trillion dollars.  Apart from the inflammatory words and terms used in the article, and the customary fluff about how the present administration wants Black and Hispanic citizens to have good, higher paying jobs; there is a diabolical undercurrent which no one seems to address, one which proves history is indeed repeating itself. I'm sure some of us will remember Nancy Pelosi's now famous line about Illegal immigrants working in the US- "Who's going to pick our crops?"  The truth is that the Democratic party in the United States has never gotten over losing the rights to slaves and...

 This evening after listening to some reports about illegal immigration to the United States, this question floated through my mind in the Julie Andrews sort of sing-song manner that some of you might have heard when you read the title of this post.  Whether the numbers are up or down at this point is completely immaterial, the truth is that over 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States over the past 3.5 years; and that number is only official encounters with Border Patrol, not including people who have entered undetected.  When one approaches members of the 2 prime political entities of the US and asks about immigration, you will usually get one of 2 manner of responses: 1. We need to scrap the immigration system as is and create something new where anyone can come in at any time for any reason.  2. We need to close all the borders and stop this here and now.    Perhaps unsurprisingly, these 2 mentalities spar furiously at the highest l...

  In light of the current President's administration and their ongoing insistence that sanctuary lamps in chapels of Catholic Hospitals are a "Fire danger" and need to be extinguished and removed; I have designed and hereby Christen the new Resistance Flag for Sacramental Churches: