Is Mahony over the line on immigration?
Re “A cardinal truth,” editorial, March 3
Is it time for the Internal Revenue Service to look into the Catholic Church’s tax-exempt status? It seems as though Cardinal Roger Mahony is getting involved in politics, and I thought that was a no-no.
Give me your hungry, poor, etc., and send them to Mahony. He will welcome them with open arms, paying for their health and welfare, thereby relieving the overcrowded rolls that we taxpayers are paying through the teeth for. What do you not understand about the word “illegal,” Mahony?
ALDA PEARSON
Valencia
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Has the notion of a “right” been diminished to the point that The Times can refer to a “right to drive” and expect anyone to take your editorial seriously? Does this mean I can go to the DMV and demand a license without going through any qualification -- and expect to continue no matter how many violations I may commit?
Although you use the word “illegal” several times in the editorial, you offset that with perceived rights being conferred on someone whose ability to take advantage of them is predicated on having broken American laws.
KEVIN HILL
Van Nuys
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History’s moral tragedies were often accompanied by clergy who were timidly and quietly complicit with the destructive governmental policies of their day. Reasonable people no doubt differ on how to identify and solve today’s moral issues. It is, however, unreasonable to claim that Jesus and the other prophets do not have something to say about a doomed, unjust, immoral war; state-sanctioned torture; deprivation of civil liberties; unconstitutional domestic spying; international silence in the face of genocide; the criminalization of both undocumented immigrants and those who serve them; state-sanctioned murder through the death penalty; marriage inequality; underserved public education; and children without healthcare.
It is unreasonable for the IRS or any other governmental arm to censor or intimidate preachers who must keep faith with centuries of prophetic moral authority in offering criticism, alternatives and, at times, as Mahony wisely notes, a call for disobedience of unjust laws in the interest of obedience to a higher authority.
ED BACON
Rector, All Saints Episcopal Church
Pasadena