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| Anna Escobedo Cabral |
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| Anna Escobedo Cabral |
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Anna Escobedo Cabral is an excellent example of a modern Hispanic American success story. She has produced some mighty good fruits! From 2003 to November 20, 2004, she was the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Latino Initiatives, where she promoted a policy to improve Latino representation in exhibits, and public programming among the Institution's 19 museums, five research centers, and the National Zoo. From 1999 to 2003, Mrs. Cabral served as President and CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, which partners with Fortune 500 companies to increase Hispanic representation in employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance. Under her leadership, the organization published a best practices series, and instituted a partnership with Harvard Business School to provide executive training programs in Corporate Governance Best Practices to community leaders.
From 1993 to 1999, Mrs. Cabral was Deputy Staff Director for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Orrin G. Hatch. In addition, she simultaneously served as Executive Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Republican Conference Task Force on Hispanic Affairs, a position she held since 1991. She managed this task force of 25 senators dedicated to ensuring that the concerns and needs of the Hispanic community are addressed by Congress through legislation.
A native of California, she majored in Political Science at the University of California, Davis, and earned a Master's degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in international trade and finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She currently resides in Washington, DC, with her husband Victor and her four children, Raquel, Viana, Catalina, and Victor Christopher.
The US Congress is currently debating about how best to guarantee the security of our borders, particularly that with Mexico, and what to do with the 11,000,000 Mexican citizens currently believed to be illegally in the United States. Recently, there have been mass demonstrations in favor of giving some or all of the rights of American citizens to these people, in spite of the fact that they entered or stayed in the US in violation of US laws. They are already criminals! In addition, although they avail themselves of many of the same government services as US citizens, they don't pay the same taxes, and they impose a disproportionate burden on the US citizenry by requiring many of those services to include that of a Spanish speaking translator. Their cause is championed by US citizens who refer to themselves as Hispanic Americans or Mexican Americans. Like the African Americans, their allegiance to the United States is diluted by being part Americans and part something else. Their self identity makes them de facto displaced persons - often not very nice displaced persons!
Supporters of Mexican immigration often point out that the United States is a country of immigrants and their progeny; that our unique cultural strength is based on ethnic diversity. But while it is certainly true that many persons of Hispanic descent have contributed greatly to the growth and development of the United States, such as Anna Escobedo Cabral, it is also true that a large part of this growth and development was achieved by kicking the Mexicans out. Remember the Alamo? In addition, the mass migration of the citizens of any country poorer than the United States represents an influx of people willing to tolerate, and thus create, a lower standard of living in their communities. They also represent an efflux from their homeland of people willing to expend the effort to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Not very good fruits! Both the United States and Mexico would benefit greatly if the illegal Mexican immigrants would stay home and work to better their own country, and their potential American employers would pay Americans enough to do the jobs the Mexicans take. The Mexicans claim that they are willing to do work "even black people won't do," but the truth is that they are simply willing to do it for less than, and not as well as, Americans (including black Americans) demand. Pay for the work to be done right, do it yourself, or don't get it done. That's the American way.
One of the many blessings which I and my neighbors have received from Hurricane Katrina has been the opportunity to socialize and discuss these and other things with the thousands of Christian (and other) volunteers at God's Katrina Kitchen, an evangelistic activity established by Thy Word Network of Evansville, Indiana. On the subject of immigration reform, the theory seems to be that the illegal aliens are God's children too, and we should open our doors and extend the hand of friendship to everybody.
The bananas served by the Katrina Kitchen come through the port of Gulfport from southern countries. One of my neighbors is a US Department of Agriculture fruit inspector at the port. She makes sure that only good fruit gets into the United States. This seems like a good idea to me. There are people of Hispanic descent who produce marvelous fruits, like Anna Escobedo Cabral, Carlos Gutierrez, Alberto Gonzalez. We need more people like them. Lots more! On the other hand, I am all for keeping the bad fruit out. Yaqui, go home!
Matthew 7:17-20 seems to me to be a good criterion for planning social reform, too. I saw some demonstrators in New Orleans on television the other day. One of them had a sign saying "Iraq has fairer elections." That's probably true. Only living, registered Iraqis vote, only once in each election, and they are trying to choose candidates who will work to make their country better. My impression of New Orleans demonstrators is that Government money will never fix what's wrong with their city. What needs to be fixed is the attitude of the people. That's already been pretty well accomplished in Iraq. The good fruit trees there are beginning to bloom.
There are many similarities between New Orleans and Iraq. They have both been victims of the tyranny of corrupt politicians for many years. They have just experienced a major disaster. Both situations required intervention by United States military forces. In both places there are citizens who steal and rob and pillage and loot and rape and kill each other. In both places, there are people who don't want to work, and think the government owes them a living because they are members of this or that minority. Both have marginally competent so-called leaders who want desperately to stay in power. Both have rabble-rousing clergy trying to stir up trouble, anarchy, and anti-government sentiment!
But there are differences. There are things you won't see in Iraq. Prostitutes strutting around the streets! Lewd fashions! Lascivious public behavior! Public drunkenness! Blatant homosexuality! Pornography on every newsstand! Morbidly obese people sitting around with their underwear (and even more disgusting things!) hanging out! Children cursing their parents. Parents abusing their children. Block after block of public housing stripped to the rafters of every marketable object by ignorant, self-centered residents who believe it is an essential exercise of their civil rights to spend their waking hours drinking, shooting up and fornicating rather than getting a job or going to school. New Orleans has some really bad fruit, and it needs to get rid of it before it can expect to come back from the brink of total destruction!
Of course, there are things you won't see in New Orleans. You won't see people stopping business three times a day to pray. You won't see people preparing for a time of prayer and fasting with even more prayer and fasting. You won't see neighbors risking their lives to help others less fortunate even than themselves. You won't see those whose homes and families have been destroyed quietly working to bring peace out of chaos! By their fruits shall ye know them!
Some of my Katrina Kitchen friends have expressed the belief that New Orleans is better than Iraq because New Orleanians are mostly Christian and Iraqis are mostly Muslim. The general feeling seems to be that Christians are better than Muslims because Christians Take Jesus As Their Savior and Muslims don't. According to these people, Salvation consists of being able to "get into heaven" after one dies. It's supposed to be pretty nice because it is inhabited only by Christians, the ones who Take Jesus As Their Savior. Everybody else, (about 80 percent or so of the entire human race) is destined for a place called "hell." In the words of comedian George Carlin, "Hell is a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where He will send you to remain and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever, till the end of time! - But He loves you!" The hell-bound are not necessarily bad people, you understand. Many of them are extremely good people! They just didn't Take Jesus As Their Savior. Maybe they didn't know anything about Jesus. Maybe they never even heard of him. Doesn't matter. The only way Jesus can save you is that specified by Protestant Christians. If you don't Take Jesus As Your Savior, you're going to hell!
That is NOT what Jesus said. Read Matthew 7:17-27 again.
The Five Pillars of Islam are: faith, prayer, self-discipline, care for one's neighbors, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. Catholics consider all of these to be good, holy and praiseworthy fruits, and see in the example of our Muslim brothers and sisters a challenge to us to be better Christians. Those who base their understanding of Islam on the actions of terrorists are as misled as the ones who base their understanding of Christianity on the actions and teachings of the Ku Klux Klan, or the Westboro Baptist Church! By their fruits shall ye know them!
One of the best examples of good fruits I have seen in recent months has been a young Mennonite lady whom I'll call Laura. She started working at the Katrina Kitchen along with some other Mennonite ladies several months ago. The others left, but she stayed (or possibly returned), truly a light before others. While other women her age were running around in ratty jeans with their underwear and bellies hanging out, Laura was simply attired in a plain, modest print dress. In the midst of young people proclaiming their independence with tattoos and hardware sticking out of their bodies, Laura maintained the symbol of her commitment to her faith community with a simple white bonnet. And in the midst of the college students' raucous "Jesus loving" contests, Laura was quietly cleaning off tables, washing dishes, serving hungry guests, quietly and humbly busy, working for the greater honor and glory of God in a way that illuminated all around her with the light of the Holy Spirit.
I almost felt sorry for Laura. It must have been difficult to be the most conspicuously abundant fruit tree in the orchard, separated from others of her faith. Mennonites derive support, encouragement and positive feedback from their communities, but Laura was alone in an alien world, a stranger in a foreign land. She didn't need a tee shirt or bumper sticker to proclaim herself a Christian. It was obvious! By their fruits shall ye know them!
As I say, I almost felt sorry for Laura. But I just can't feel sorry for someone whose piety, charisma and dedication to God, especially at such a young age, set a standard compared to which I shall ever be found wanting. If I ever get into heaven, it will be because of the example of people like Laura.
Anna Escobedo Cabral carries a US passport, which proves that she is a US citizen. Similarly, Laura has proof of her citizenship in the Kingdom of God by the criteria established by Jesus himself, that we love one another John 13:34, 35; 15:12, 17. She is also promised the reward of being his followers reported in Matthew 25:31-46.
As far as the illegal immigrants are concerned, part of the problem is that US citizenship is a free gift. No one has a right to be or become an American citizen, or can do anything, by himself, to become one. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are Citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." I would like to see an amendment adding the words "of mothers who are citizens thereof" after the word "born," but that is not now a requirement. Nowadays, if your Mexican mother sloshed across the Rio Grande and gave birth to you on this side of the border, you can claim US citizenship if you are caught here sometime later. In such a case, American citizenship is a gift of your mother and the US Government. There are also various ways Mexicans can become naturalized American citizens, but they are subject to change by Congress at any time. (Watch this space, folks!). Naturalization is therefore a free gift of Congress. Mexicans (and nationals of other countries) can do things specified by Congress to qualify for citizenship, but it is Congress who gives the citizenship to them. There are criteria for identifying US citizens, such as a birth certificate or a naturalization certificate. Even in the absence of such a certificate, there are ways that a person can demonstrate that he is a citizen (with a US passport, for example). But nobody earns US citizenship. It simply can't be done!
Anyone can lose US citizenship, of course. One can simply give it away and become a citizen of another country.
Salvation is like that. It is a free gift of God. No one has a right to be saved, or can do anything, by himself, to gain his own Salvation. Catholics believe that Salvation was gained for the human race by Jesus Christ, and that he established a Church to confer it upon all mankind. Jesus himself established the criteria of Salvation, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5. We believe that the best way to be "born of water and of the Spirit" is to partake of the sacrament of Baptism, which he established. Matthew 28:19 Thus, if your mother took you to church and had you baptized as an infant, your Salvation is a gift of Jesus, your mother, and their Church. You don't have to do anything to get it. Fact is, you might not know about it for several years. (I didn't!)
There are also various ways adults can be granted Salvation (including being baptized as adults). Catholics believe that the desire to know God is built by Him into every human being, so that people come to know some kind of God, by their own intelligence. If they do what they truly believe is their responsibility to the God they know, Catholics believe that they are saved through the merits of Jesus, who is "the way, the truth, and the life," unless through whom no one comes to the Father." John 14:6 We call this "baptism of desire," by which Jesus, who died for everyone and desires that everyone be saved, manages to arrange that for people who are doing the best they can. There is also "baptism of blood," by which those who die for God, such as the Holy Innocents, the Church's earliest canonized saints, are saved as well. People can thus do things specified by Jesus to qualify for Salvation, but it is Jesus, who himself established the sacraments of his Church as the most reliable way, who gives it to them.
The criterion for identifying persons who have been saved is their rebirth "through water and the Spirit." Catholics believe that baptism confers new life, called "sanctifying grace," which is a participation in the life of God, and makes a person a new and different creature, one that is able to fully appreciate heaven. It also makes him a citizen of the Kingdom of God, in which he will participate fully after he dies. Reception of sanctifying grace also marks the human spirit (soul) forever. Thus, someone who has been saved is identified forever as one who has become a child of God.
But Salvation, once acquired, can be lost through sin. One simply gives it away in preference for slavery to evil. This is why Catholics are so involved in avoiding sin and doing things which they believe strengthen them against the forces of temptation. If they do commit serious sin, and lose their Salvation, we believe that Jesus established a means by which the representatives of his Church are enabled (by him) to forgive the sinner and reestablish his citizenship in the Kingdom of God. John 20:23
Regarding Taking Jesus As Your Savior, Jesus said that he IS the way, the truth and the life, not that confessing that makes one his disciple. (In several of his letters to new Christians, St. Paul suggests that they need to acknowledge that, but not that everyone does. Paul was trying to counter an unhealthy emphasis among early Christians on their identity with their own mentors. Read 1 Corinthians 1:11-18.) Jesus himself suggested that taking him as one's savior is simply not enough, and it is certainly not enough to identify one as his disciple. Read Matthew 7:21-27. and John 13:35 again. Indeed, Jesus was very specific about how the saved would be separated from the damned, and he didn't say anything about taking him as their savior. I usually end the discussions on this topic by tapping the nearest Holy Bible and saying, "Show me." So far, I've had no takers.
The assertion that only Christians can be saved is simply not Scriptural. There are several passages that suggest (but do not specifically say) that, but that's interpretation, not Scripture. We interpret Scripture, too, and come to a different conclusion, one that puts far more trust in the ability and desire of Jesus to save everybody. (That's why we call ourselves "Catholics." "Catholic" means "for everybody.") On the other hand, there are Scriptural passages that say that there are other criteria. Specifically, Matthew 7:17-20, Matthew 25:31-46, and John 3:5. All of them apply to people who are old enough to make decisions and none of them says you have to Take Jesus As Your Savior. Do you suppose he just forgot about the babies, the Jews, the Buddhists, the Taoists, etc. etc. etc.? Of course not!
I like to illustrate this point by handing my listener one of the dollar coins, usually an Eisenhower or a Susan B. Anthony dollar, I carry around for the purpose. Sometimes I just drop it into his pocket, occasionally without his even knowing. I tell him about it later. Now, the intrinsic value of any of the dollar bills or coins is actually a small fraction of a dollar. The face value of the coin, namely one dollar, is guaranteed by the US Mint. The value of paper money is guaranteed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The directors of both report to the Treasurer of the United States. I think it's safe to say that the Treasurer is the person responsible for the value of our money. (The Treasurer's signature is on every piece of paper currency.) People use money, spending it for things they buy and receiving it for things they sell, without even knowing who the Treasurer of the United States is! The fact is, they don't have to know! The fact of who the Treasurer is does not imply in any way that people who use money need to know that fact! The money users don't make the Treasurer of the United States responsible for the value of their money, the Senate does. Christians believe that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life." But Catholics do not claim that you have to know that! You don't make Jesus your Savior, He does, and Jesus desires that everybody is saved!
Another way to look at this whole "way, truth and life" business is to plan a trip to Philadelphia. It's pretty simple, really. You get a road map, plan the route, get in your car, and go. Or maybe you can take the train, or fly, or have someone else drive you. The idea here is that it helps to know how to get there. Of course, you can always head in the general direction of Philadelphia and keep going. Maybe you'll take a wrong turn. Maybe you'll pass it and have to go back. Maybe you'll think you've reached Philadelphia when you're really in Baltimore. The second way is harder, but you'll eventually get there if you just keep on truckin'. There are those who claim that if you don't follow an approved road map, it's simply not possible to get to Philadelphia, but they're wrong. But either way, you take the same road(s). There is only ONE Way, and Truth and Life. Not everybody knows who that is, but he's still it, and he wants all of them to be saved.
Christianity, of course, recognizes that Salvation is available to the human race because of the merits of Jesus Christ. For Christians, Taking Jesus As Their Savior is a no-brainer! What other choice is there, Mickey Mouse? Al Gore? Angelina Jolie? Christian "dollars" are like new bills, which have the signature of the Treasurer of the United States printed right on them. But there are other kinds of dollars too; Eisenhower, Susan B. Anthony, Sacajawaia, the new "President" dollars. And of course, there's change; four quarters, ten dimes; twenty nickels, a whole handful of pennies, and those 302 other combinations....
But, like Salvation, they're all valid dollars. You can use any of them to buy the same value of goods. They all work the same way (and truth... and life...), and they're all guaranteed by the same Treasurer of the United States, who is the only one who has the authority to do that.
The dollars that I hand out are free gifts, just like Salvation. I earned their value by doing my work as Jesus earned Salvation by doing his. The recipients don't have to recite some magic incantation; they don't have to take anyone as their Treasurer; they don't even have to know they've got it. It's free! Once they receive it, of course, they can spend it, lose it, or throw it away. On the other hand, they can save it, protect it, invest it, show it to their friends, or keep it locked up in a safe. They can do what they want with it. It's theirs!
Of course, if they want to keep it, they'd do well to devote some time and effort do protecting it and avoiding misplacing it. Those little suckers are surprisingly easy to lose! A little girl to whom I gave one promptly dropped it and it rolled under a drink machine. Her father had a devil of a time (a little religious humor there, folks) getting it out of there! (One of the functions of parents, the direct personal representatives of God to their children, is protecting their salvation.)
Most of us don't know who the people are who are responsible for the major blessings of our lives. Who assisted your mother at your birth? Who made your childhood vaccines? Who built your grade school? Who was your fifth grade teacher? (Sister Mary Aloysius Gonzaga) Who invented fire? The wheel? Bread? Electricity? Soap? You do not have to know that who did these things for you. It is sufficient to benefit from them that they were done by somebody, somebody to whom you owe a great deal!
Mexicans accept US citizenship by doing what immigration laws require to become naturalized. Christians accept Salvation by being baptized or by doing other things commanded by Christ as a certification of their love and devotion to him. Jews accept Salvation by professing and practicing the faith given to them by God Himself. Muslims and Buddhists and Easter Islanders accept Salvation by doing what their religion, whatever it is, commands of them. But in each case, what they receive is still a free gift. In the case of Salvation, it comes from a loving God who created mankind for the single purpose of being eternally happy, and who desires that ALL mankind, not just those whom He has deigned to become Christians, should be saved. He demonstrated this love by becoming one of us (a Jew) and dying on the Cross. Jesus himself was a Jew, not a Christian. He IS your personal Savior, whether you know that or not.
Oh, and, by the way, the Treasurer of the United States is Anna Escobedo Cabral.