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In a letter to clergy, the Most Reverend Bishop Peter Libasci for the Diocese of Manchester says Catholic parishes should not be working against law enforcement. Libasci stated that the term sanctuary church was being misused by illegal immigration advocates.Thomas Bebbington, spokesman for the Diocese, told Christian Postthat the letter came in response to a meeting with several priests who expressed concerns about increased immigration enforcement.

The Christian Post reports excerpts of the letter to clergy sent by Bishop Peter Libasciregarding the harboring of illegal immigrants and the term "sanctuary church".

Some use this term and mean what I have described above a welcoming community ready to offer immediate aid to anyone in need. In these works, of course, we will always be involved, Libasci wrote in the letter.

But others use this term sanctuary to refer to churches that will allow individuals in fear of deportation to live in the church.

Sanctuary is not a designation recognized by law and provides no such legal protection, Libasci continued.

Instead, immigration law imposes criminal penalties and fines on anyone who conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, in any place, an alien who has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of the law.

In the letter, which the Diocese provided The Christian Post, Bishop Libasci explained that there were two definitions for the term "sanctuary churches" being used.

"Some use this term and mean what I have described above a welcoming community ready to offer immediate aid to anyone in need. In these works, of course, we will always be involved," wrote Libasci.

"But others use this term 'sanctuary' to refer to churches that will allow individuals in fear of deportation tolivein the church."

The bishop went on to state that the latter definition, that of allowing unauthorized immigrants to live within a church, was problematic "because it creates a false hope to tell individuals living in fear that we can protect them from law enforcement actions."

The role that the church will play in the immigration debate is crucial. Many are dividedon President Trump's building of the wall plan and his travel ban. Many religious leaders were the first to signup in protest of the travel ban and tensions run high in cities calling themselves "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants. One biblical definition of sanctuary is holy place. Perhaps political officials and advocacy groups shouldn't use that word so loosely.

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Catholic Bishop: Church Should Not Harbor Illegal Immigrants - TRUNEWS

"What we want to do is give a voice to those who have been silenced." So said one Notre Dame student leading an effort to protest Vice President Mike Pence's upcoming commencement address on campus.

The irony of protesting an alleged attempt to silence some people by silencing another is obviously lost on this young activist.

"For many people on our campus," the student said, "it makes them feel unsafe to have someone who openly is offensive but also demeaning of their humanity and of their life and of their identity."

Word salad, fresh from higher education's farm of half-baked progressive hot takes.

To break the sentence down, this student is claiming offensive speech, and the so-called demeaning of people's humanity, lives, and identities, makes her peers feel unsafe. That charge could also be viewed as demeaning to people whose safety is in legitimate danger, rather than private school students who feel as though a mainstream political opponent's worldview poses a serious danger to their "humanities" and "identities."

Another student told the school paper that the school's decision to bring the vice president of the United States to campus for commencement "goes against certain Catholic Social Teaching," charging the university with "picking and choosing" which of those teachings it stands behind.

Picking and choosing? Like choosing to ignore teachings on marriage and abortion?

Certainly, it is fair for these students to disagree with Pence's perspectives on political issues. But their inability to present well-reasoned objections to his politics, instead cobbling together an incompatible assortment of half-formed arguments, is another unfortunate reminder that the campus Left is no longer interested in reason at all.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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Some Notre Dame students think Mike Pence 'demeans' their 'humanity' - Washington Examiner

Quartz

Nearly 40% Americans lean toward Mike Pence on hanging with the opposite sex Quartz When a profile of Karen Pence revealed that US vice president Mike Pence never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won't attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either the liberal world erupted in mockery and ...

Excerpt from:
Nearly 40% Americans lean toward Mike Pence on hanging with the opposite sex - Quartz

We remember the Puritans as the people with the funny hats and blunderbusses who supposedly invented shooting Turkeys for Thanksgiving. They are also famous for their obsession with avoiding sin and insistence on deciding who merited Gods approval.

This stereotype is not completely fair, but its got a lot of truth in it. Suffice it to say if you were a time traveler in search of a great time, you would want to steer clear of 1600s Massachusetts. And if you were a Native American back then, you might have been confused by the way such moral people were so adept at stealing land and hanging each other for heresy.

Nobody wants to be called a Puritan anymore, but the Puritans are still with us. And theyre not just fanatical English Protestants. They hail from all religions and ideologies. They are Republicans and Democrats, Muslims and Christians, the uneducated and academics; all ready to take to social media or the pulpit or the classroom and denounce heretics. These people are passionate about their causes, almost obsessed with them at times to the point of rigidity, ready at the drop of a hat to eviscerate those who disagree with them and pronounce them not just mistaken, but bad people whose opinions must be silenced.

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The recent tempest in a teapot over Vice President Mike Pences marital habits he accidentally revealed that he tries very hard to be faithful to his wife was an odd example of this. The people tearing into him on social media for being a Puritan revealed more than a little of this Puritan rigidity in themselves an impatience and disgust with anyone who violated their standards of how to live.

The Puritans werent all wrong, of course. Its with some bemusement that I listen to people who have no patience for the religious convictions of fundamentalists take their own no-compromise stances on other moral issues, like racism or womens rights.

Theyre right to take a stand on those issues. But if they were just a tiny bit more open minded, they might see what they have in common with the Puritans. Modern people think sexual assault is destructive and repugnant. The Puritans agreed, and also said adultery was destructive and repugnant.

Feminism, racial issues, abortion, poverty these are moral debates. And they divide people with strong moral passions. Even those who attack religion, it turns out, have their own moral orthodoxies, and need to guard against that little Puritan on their shoulder whispering in their ear.

Where some of the Puritans went wrong, like many have since, was to lose their balance on that awfully delicate high wire of living life with both passion and compassion, with conviction and tolerance; being firm in their beliefs and yet living amicably with those who arent; standing firm on core values but being flexible on others.

Many of us struggle with that high-wire act. And that should give us compassion, for each other, and for those darn Puritans.

Andrew Sharp is a producer at The Daily Times and delmarvanow.com. Email him at asharp@delmarvanow.com. Find him on Twitter @buckeye_201 and on Facebook @andrewsharp201.

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Mike Pence and the attack of the Puritans - Delmarva Daily Times

After a recent Washington Post profile of second lady Karen Pence noted that her husband never eats meals alone with other women or attends events where alcohol is served without her, ravenous liberals used that detail to smear Vice President Mike Pence as a sexist who reduces women to sexual temptresses and stalls their professional advancement. This week, however, Pence's policy received some unintentional backup from an unlikely source former Gov. Robert Bentley, R-Ala.

In a dramatic conclusion to the made-for-television sex scandal involving the governor and his senior political advisor, Bentley resigned on Monday and reported directly to the Montgomery County Jail where he is currently serving a 30-day sentence. Tracing Bentley's career-ending relationship with adviser Rebekah Mason to its origins, reports indicate that increasing occasions where the two spent time alone was an early signal to observers they were engaged in extramarital relations, or moving in that direction at least.

A report in Al.com claims the governor's wife, Dianne Bentley, began "having concerns about the amount of time her husband" spent with Mason in 2013, noting Mason "frequently [texted] her boss and [was] seen in close conversations" with him. Staffers also reported that Bentley and Mason were "often behind closed doors."

According to an ABC interview with Jason Zengerle, a GQ writer who published an investigative report on the affair last summer, sources close to the governor said they would "walk into a room where the governor and Rebekah Mason were together and both the governor and Mason would be startled as if they were doing something they didn't want other people to see."

Nobody knows exactly when or how the affair began, but, as Al.com reported, Dianne Bentley started noticing changes in her husband in 2013, around the time Mason was selected to run communications for Bentley's re-election campaign and the two started "spending more time together." Again, it is not clear if meals the two shared, or mutual attendance at alcohol-fueled events, ultimately lead to the affair the only occasions Pence's policy actually prevents.

But, of course, if Bentley had committed to refraining from increased one-on-one time with staffers of the opposite sex, he likely would not be behind bars today.

That goes for Mason, as well.

To be clear, people of the opposite sex need to be able to spend time alone together professionally, and it is important for men to respect women enough to make that possible without sexualizing the circumstances. Any restrictions on those interactions should probably apply to working people of both sexes in a marriage as well. (We do not know if the Pence's rule also applies to Karen.)

This is not to say the Pence policy is right for every marriage, but in politics, where rising powers such as Bentley and Pence work odd hours, often with female staffers, the temptations are unique.

Also from the Washington Examiner

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It is not unreasonable, then, to erect unique boundaries either.

Bentley's affair is a case study in how the dynamics of political life can combine to form a perfect storm of variables that swirls around even the happiest of marriages, claiming victims unprepared for the impact.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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What disgraced Gov. Robert Bentley could have learned from Mike Pence - Washington Examiner