Digital Discovery Sale: 25¢ for Unlimited Digital Access |
An inhospitable laboratory
As you likely could have guessed, the Catholic Church in Texas is getting more than a little concerned about how state leaders are treating migrants.
Even before Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier this year sued Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit that has helped shelter and feed asylum-seekers for decades, church leaders were expressing concerns about the lengths Texas leaders were going at the Texas border. Paxton has accused the charity of operating as a "stash house" and taking part in "human smuggling."
Earlier this week I was at Rice University's Baker Institute where the bishop of the Diocese of El Paso talked about how the Catholic faith has deep roots in "attending to the needs of the displaced," which includes caring for migrants. The Rev. Mark J. Seitz said he understands the need for borders and loves Texas where he was first ordained as a priest in 1980. But he said he also fears Christian hospitality - caring for those in need - is under attack.
"Texas is also the state that has become a laboratory for the most inhospitable and dehumanizing immigration policy," Seitz said. "We are witnessing a new stage of in the deadly militarization of our border with Mexico - a country with which we are not at war, which is a friendly country."
He said Texas is no longer just dabbling in dangerous territory.
"We are there," he said.
He said in migrant shelters, the shared humanity and compassion on display offer a "place where the disjointedness of the world is being woven back together again" for the people who have arrived here.
"The attack of Texas on hospitality represents to me an attack on religion as a way of being and a way of life and that is quite dangerous," he said.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's up, who's down
Up: Matt Gaetz.
The Florida Congressman who was instrumental in ending former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's tenure is scheduled to speak at the Republican Party of Texas's state convention in San Antonio next week. It's another sign of the Pensacola Republican's growing national persona.
Down: Henry Cuellar.
The Laredo Democrat's bribery trial will begin March 31, 2025, a federal judge declared after rejecting his defense team's push to have it moved to next fall. The Congressman, whose district includes more than 60,000 people in San Antonio, has been accused, along with his wife, of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank in return for official favors, according to an indictment. They have denied the charges.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
|
|
|
|
Pick of the day
Photo by: Nadya Hassan
The Quorum Report's Scott Braddock and I are back for another edition of the Texas Take Podcast where we will get into Gov. Greg Abbott's move to pardon the man who was convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. We also have the audio of what happened when U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, during a hearing in Congress started taking a jab at U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, for her appearance.
What else I'm reading
The Dallas Morning News reports that the National Rifle Association could receive up to $1 million in state and local money as an incentive for holding its annual meeting in Dallas this week, state records show.
 |
Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Notice
Houston Chronicle
4747 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77027
© 2024 Hearst Communications
No comments:
Post a Comment