Rather than follow through on a promise to send National Guard troops to Arizona’s border, President Obama appallingly slapped the governor last week with a frivolous lawsuit over the constitutionality of her state’s immigration law(s).

 Equally reprehensibly, Obama’s third-in-command, Nancy Pelosi, preached amnesty as immigration reform last month to Catholics at what appears to be a contrived “first-of-its kind” forum in Washington, D.C.

 Besides stretching the limits of the First Amendment, Pelosi played Pope to 1) cite a Catholic view of Scripture that inspires her viewpoint, 2) tell Catholic bishops to teach her view to the faithful, and 3) call all Catholics in the pews to endorse her progressive policies.

 Pelosi told conferees in a May “briefing” at Trinity University, “the Church is going to have to play a very major role (in how illegals) are treated. … I want you to speak about (reform) from the pulpit…to instruct your (people who) oppose immigration reform … and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels.”

 Can the Speaker, and the President, not hear the masses’ outcry for immigration reform? Do they not see that Americans do want reasonable treatment for illegals – but most assuredly, protection for Americans?

 The President illogically pressures the governor not to defend Arizonans; and Pelosi crazily pressures Catholics to defend all illegals: “As a practical matter, we can’t say to (12 million people), go back to wherever you came from, or go to jail.”

 As immigration reform unfolds, illegals who seek better lives here, and contribute, should earn assistance. However, rather than hogtie the states, federal officials should coordinate with them (and home countries) to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute illegals who commit heinous crimes in America.

 His lawsuit typifies Obama’s inability to respond effectively to a plight like Arizona’s. And in delusional style, Pelosi blithely turns her gaze from Arizona’s border, where citizens daily battle transgressions like trafficking, rape and murder, to call fellow Catholics to manifest her utopia by advocating that compassion trumps law!

 Sensible Christians know that compassion succeeds when transgressors amend their lives. Unrepentant, unreformable, criminal illegals who repeatedly break America’s laws and harm her people are due justice (Matthew 18:23-35).

 Now, how could Pelosi’s intimate sharing of motives and agendas from state to church transpire? Pelosi is a 1962 graduate of Trinity, which co-sponsored the Catholic forum, with National Catholic Reporter.

 Founded in 1897 as a Catholic women’s college, Trinity today is uber-liberal. Its president, Patricia McGuire, labels pro-life Catholics “uber-guardians of a belief system we can hardly recognize” (Catholic News Agency, May 18, 2009). Founded in 1964 by laity and clergy, NCR is independent and often dissents from Catholic teaching.

 Another speaker at Pelosi’s forum was Sister Simone Campbell, director of Network social justice lobby, who organized women religious to sign a letter, against bishops’ teaching, that influenced fence-sitters to vote to pass the abortion-friendly health care reform bill.

 Prominent among panelists was Sister Carol Keehan, CEO of Catholic Health Association, touted by NCR as “the organization that played a pivotal role in the health care reform debate.” Sister Keehan and CHA also disregarded bishops’ teaching to endorse the flawed bill.

 A panelists list includes Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, though his office confirms, “He did not attend.”

 On the back burner since 9/11, immigration overhaul is overdue. The U.S. Bishops advocate well-reasoned reform “that keeps immigrant families together, adopts smart and humane enforcement policies, and provides undocumented immigrants with a set of rules by which they can earn legal status and begin a path toward citizenship” (Archbishop O’Brien, May 6 Catholic Review).

 Nancy E. Thoerig

Mount Savage