Yesterday, the Catholic League criticized the anti-Catholic bigotry displayed by the San Diego Minutemen against St. Peter’s Church in Fallbrook, California. The anti-illegal immigrant group is protesting the cooperation that the church’s pastor, Father Edward “Bud” Kaicher, has shown in helping day laborers find employment in the San Diego suburb.
Today, the group accused the Catholic League of creating “hatred amongst Catholics nationwide against Americans standing up for what’s right and legal.” It also accused the illegal immigrants of increasing “crime and disease in our communities,” and said that the “corrupt Catholic church” was committing “outrageous crimes and deeds.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:
“We have learned that the San Diego Minutemen are unaffiliated with either the Minuteman Project or the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. As such, our comments are solely directed at the San Diego Minutemen.
“The Catholic League is calling upon non-Latino Catholics in Southern California to join with Latino Catholics to condemn the flagrant anti-Catholic bigotry of the San Diego Minutemen. Regardless of whether one is sympathetic or not to the plight of illegal immigrants—and/or the grievances of legal immigrants—there is one issue that all fair-minded persons should be able to agree upon: there is no role for bigotry in this dispute.
“We are prepared to work with other Catholic organizations in the San Diego area to put an end to the Catholic bashing. To think there can be a realistic chance of achieving reconciliation without first addressing the issue of anti-Catholicism is pure nonsense.”
