Peter King, the recreational boxer with a combative record during nearly 14 years in the House, is now taking on the Roman Catholic Church. King is co-sponsor of a bill that would strengthen the nation's borders and make it a felony to knowingly aid illegal immigrants, a measure that has outraged Catholic activists who work with them. King (R-Seaford) has no patience for the mounting criticism of him and his bill, even from his own church's leaders. "Stopping alien smuggling gangs is doing God's work," King said in an interview Thursday. "These people who are supposed to be speaking for God, saying this
is a sin, and they should go to confession, he added.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) added to the religious nature of the debate Wednesday at a news conference when she claimed that a Republican-supported immigration proposal would judge "Jesus himself" as a criminal. King was as outspokenly critical of Catholic leaders Wednesday as he was Thursday. He said Catholic leaders opposed to the bill are politically correct liberals who "should spend more time protecting little boys from pedophile priests."
Thomas Wenski, the Catholic bishop of Orlando, Fla., was outraged by King's Wednesday comments.
Wenski said he recognizes that comprehensive immigration reform is needed but maintains that the bill senselessly criminalizes millions of undocumented people by making it a felony for immigrants to overstay their visa. "To content himself at taking cheap shots at the bishops shows that he is unable to engage us on the issues -- because his position defies logic and certainly does not represent the 'compassionate conservatism' of his party's leader," Wenski said of King. Yanira Chacon-Lopez is the director of the Casa Mary Johanna at the Saint Brigid's Church in Westbury, which provides classes, after-school programs and religious instruction to the Hispanic community.
Chacon-Lopez fears that if the immigration bill is turned into law she will be prosecuted because the church provides its services to everyone, regardless of whether legal documentation is provided. "We cannot turn our backs on anyone," she said. King said he would fight to soften the provision against those who help illegal immigrants in a final
version. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been considering its own version of an immigration bill in the past two weeks but has struggled to reach a consensus. It is scheduled to vote on a bill on Monday.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usking0324,0,204939.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
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