Voting in America
I went to vote this morning, at a new polling place. I was directed to the polling place by a sign that was in both Spanish and English. When I was handed the ballot, I saw that it, too, was in both Spanish and English, with both languages appearing together in a confusing jumble.
Why are there bilingual ballots? Why isn't a knowledge of English a requirement for voting? And how can we ever possibly hope to assimilate millions of Spanish-speakers if we don't require them to learn English in order to participate in civic life?
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Mr. Piatak raises an important question that the vast majority of our elected officials would prefer to ignore. Understanding English is just one of the fundamental requirements a nation would expect a voter to possess. A verifiable address might be another, but any movement toward these minimal standards would send the usual suspects off in full howl!
Of course, in fairness, a word about the ability of native-born citizens to actually be able to grasp written English enough to make reasonable ballot choices is in order. The hysterical response here in Ohio against Kasich's initiative to limit the public sector unions is an example. While there might be reasonable grounds to oppose the initiative, my experience in talking to people - anecdotally, of course - is that those opposing it never fully read or understood the proposal; they were responding to the hype of special interests. All the state's newspapers published extensive special sections on the ballot initiatives, but I've found precious few who actually read them. Anytime I mentioned it folks responded incredulously, like high school freshmen resisting reading all the way through Great Expectations. "Read all that? You must be crazy!"
Sadly, as I contemplate it, I think maybe I am.
And when you get your ballot in North Carolina, you're asked to reveal your ethnicity. You have two choices: "Hispanic/Latino" and "non-Hispanic/Latino."
Dear Mr. Piatak. You ought to be grateful the ballots still include English. Once the Spanish achieve dominance, good-bye English; too divisive.
It's all driven by business (Republicans) and politics (Democrats). The Republicans want the cheap labor and the Democrats want the votes. Neither party cares about preserving American culture or heritage, as long as they can make a lot of money and keep getting elected.
In Miami, I have encountered more than a few postings for good career jobs that say explicitly, "You must be able to speak Spanish without any detectable accent." That is very revealing. Since they can't legally discriminate on the basis of national origin, they just shift the name of the criterion. (In all likelihood such people are also trying to discriminate against other Hispanics of different national origins from their own, as there actually are a number of Cubans in Miami who strongly dislike Puerto Ricans and Mexicans--and not surprisingly the animosity tends to be reciprocated.)
Of course, sometimes it is necessary to have a native speaker for the job. And so I wouldn't mind that so much were it not a very regular occurrence in the city.
(I speculate that Miami's status as the economic capital of Latin America is devastating to Latin American countries, as expats can do pretty much whatever they want from South Florida and not have to live with the consequences. I've never been to Latin America, but at least a few the Latin Americans I have met in Europe--who are pretty well off--have let me know that they dislike Miami because they think it gives their people a bad name in the U.S. and around the globe.)
Reading this piece I am reminded of the Mexican Revolution; and what they couldn't accomplish with it, they eventually learned that America is for sale - thanks to a political establishment in no small part, and are acomplishing by their very own oil and drug monies what they thought unimaginable a 100 years ago.
I don't know where Tom is from, but in Texas where I live all things Hispanic are appreciated more, in my opinion, than anything attached to America's value system. What multiculturalism has wrought, will be the eventual death of all the elements which made America a great Country
Whether at the polling place, super market, bill paying.......we are seeing the change - from borders, language, and culture, to a nation that will someday resemble a place like Bosnia.
Alas, more and more upper-level jobs in the local Catholic dioceses are requiring that one be bilingual in English and Spanish. Understandable, but only up to a point.
It definitely does not stop the Church from bleeding out Hispanic members, that much I know. Go down Caille Ocho in Miami and you'll find chapels of each and every Protestant sect imaginable... all operating in the Spanish language. My experience--and apparently this is borne out by statistical data, as well--
is that the offspring of less well-established Hispanics (i.e., those who trace their roots to immigrants after the 1950s rather than to the old Floridian, Texian, New Mexican or Alta Californian colonial stocks) are some of *the* most prone to defection to one or another Protestant sect of any U.S. Catholic-bred stock.
In large urban areas, the constant immigrant influx has been a boon to a Church covering up for declining regular Mass attendance since the 1950s without having to confront its own hierarchical difficulties more efficiently.
Tom Piatak's forceful note is followed by thoughtful responses. Readers of the dead-tree edition of Chronicles (December 2011) should not miss Christopher Manion's page on Jose Gomez, Archbishop of LA. Gomez is a native born Mexican, who was Auxiliary Bishop of Denver under Archbishop Chaput (2001-2004) before becoming Bishop of San Antonio (2004-2010). His appointment to succeed Roger Mahoney in LA was touted as good news, because he was more "theologically conservative." This apparently means that he was ordained as a priest of Opus Dei in Spain and was vicar for Opus Dei in Texas. On immigration and Hispanification, they are two peas in a pod. Manion's article ends, "Hispanics constitute a majority of American Catholics under 30. Whether or not the Next America is Hispanic, it appears the the Next American Catholic Church will be." On a related note, the growing Clinica Campesina clinics, one of which is in nearby Lafayette CO, aim at providing health care for the poor. Most of the posted job notices require "Bilingual in Spanish."
Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society When an immoral society has blatantly and proudly violated all the commandments, it insists upon one last virtue, tolerance for its immorality. It will not tolerate condemnation of its perversions. It creates a whole new world in which only the intolerant critic of intolerable evil is evil." -H. Gibson
Professor,
I have never met Archbishop Gomez but I have heard he is sympathetic towards attempts to maintain the integrity of the Church's liturgy, even to the point of learning Gregorian Chant while Bishop of San Antonio. Given the times, this is about all any Catholic could hope for as a local ordinary It is far too late in time for a prelate to discuss openly and honestly what happened to our beloved Church in America during the last 60 years. In fact Our Lady of Guadalupe, Empress of America, may be the one channel of grace and hope left for the American Church. For those immigrants who bring Her North, we should probably thank them; but for those willing to leave Her behind to become more American, I think we should build a taller fence and a more secure border.
Re: Archbishop Gomez
I note that his views on American identity are similar to those of Archbishop Chaput, another "conservative" Catholic bishop. They push what could be called a Catholic version of the proposition nation. Archbishop Gomez spoke at the recent Napa Institute - a video can be found here: http://www.napa-institute.org/multimedia/. (Cardinal Mahoney was also in attendance and he and another speaker also talk about immigration.) The text for the speech: http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/gomezimm.HTM.
That is one of the sad ironies of this whole fiasco: that although I would like to see a nice wall between my home country and Mexico, given the choice I think I should prefer to live in Mexico, and I imagine I am not alone.
Mr. Chan,
Thank you very much for the links. I tried to look at the one for His Excellency, Bishop Gomez, but could not get through the sappy introduction and that stupid smile of George Wiegel before collecting another speaking fee for misleading a helpless and lost flock. Since posting yesterday I did remember Gomez visiting a monastery in Oklahoma once and wearing black cowboy boots, black cassock with pectoral cross. Merle Haggard would have been pleased to meet him I am sure.
As to immigration and Catholics, the solution should be simple. Forget about what these guys dressed in black are saying or doing --- no red blooded American I know has ever cared about Catholic Church teachings in this country including most of the Catholics. The American Bishops in my lifetime have lost every major battle they have ever engaged or run from. Contraception? Divorce? Abortion? Maintaining the integrity of Catholic Schools, Universities and seminaries to even a kind of remote control of the weekly Sunday liturgy.
Illegal Immigration will be stopped when those promoting it want it stopped. Roman Catholic Bishops in America can say or do whatever they want -- they can like it or dislike it --- but to think they have any influence in American political discourse what-so-ever is foolish, misleading and easily confirmed by the sad statistics of what is left of the Catholic Church in America, as well as the practices of most Catholics who still have the temerity to call themselves Roman, Papist or otherwise. Our Lady of Guadalupe , Pray for us.
The Catholic bishops seem to have been quite successful in some areas: their advocacy of open borders immigration (as a "human right"), their repudiation of the Bible and Aquinas on capital punishment, the replacement of the Thomism that sought to balance the roles of reason and tradition (ratio et consuetudo) with the rationalist neo-Thomism of Jacques Maritain and, e.g., Robbie George. On the issue of the liturgy, Jimmy Fallon told Terry Gross of NPR's "Fresh Air" what a little contemporary worship can do to a young Catholic: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/21/141430697/jimmy-fallons-giant-list-of-thank-you-notes
You can click on the audio part ("Listen to the Story") near the top of the page. JF starts talking about religion about 32:50 and ends about 35:42 of the 39:09 interview. (Most of the rest is trivial.) Hostess TG tries to explain it all away by seeing his years as an altar boy as being about his love of performance. JF maintains a light touch, but the implications are rather touching.
Professor Kopf,
Yes, popularizations of St Thomas Aquinas by Gilson and Maritain failed as they should have failed. The church has not repudiated the BIble or St. Thomas so far as I know, but nothing surprises me anymore. With Aids and homosexuality so rampant in our nations pentitentaries, with routine killings by the gangs that attempt to run our prisons and with political GOP types cheering for the number of executions Governor Bush and Mr. Perry have presided over down in Texas, along with routine abortions and the endless killing of Americans in the Middle East and Aghanistan, I have tried to gracefully ignore the silly liberal pleadings of American Catholic prelates in regard to criminals and capital punishment --- assuming perhaps with naivete, that anyone who loves the smell of death and justice can still get a nose full of it today. And of course the media simply loves traditional Catholic practices as evidenced below. And from what I know about the Missouri Synod, my wife is a type of Lutheran, your theologians and Bishops are not fairing much better. These are not favorable times for respecting the dead --- saints, sinners or the poor souls in purgatory. God Bless and thanks for your always good posts.
Washington Post
Protests of Va. parish’s move away from altar girls reflects wider Catholic debate By Michelle Boorstein November 19, 2011
Mass had just begun at Corpus Christi Catholic Church when Jennifer Zickel, a Sunday school teacher, glanced at the church bulletin and saw something that made her sick to her stomach.
Tucked in with announcements about a new electronic donation system and a church dinner at Margarita’s Mexican restaurant was news that Zickel, the mother of two girls, had been dreading: Corpus Christi would no longer train girls to be altar servers.
Zickel burst into tears and ran to the bathroom.
“I knew right then that our family couldn’t stay at this church any more,” Zickel said, her voice breaking. “I’m a mama bear, and they’re going after my girls.”
The decision last fall by Corpus Christi’s pastor, the Rev. Michael Taylor, and the response of Zickel and about a dozen other families who left the 1,100-family South Riding church reflect ongoing tensions among American Catholics over the role of women. About 50 families from across the country wrote letters of protest to the Arlington Catholic Diocese, and a vigil is scheduled for Sunday outside the diocese’s offices.