I am a lifelong traditional Catholic and I respect the teachings of my church, to include those on birth control and abortion. I credit Pope John Paul ll with toppling the Soviet Union, right along with President Ronald Reagan. I support anyone's right to voice their political opinion, even a priest, rabbi or preacher from the pulpit. Freedom of speech should extend to everyone, even to those in the ministry and even to those who oppose freedom of speech. I have actively supported the First Amendment free exercise of religion clause, as a shield behind which the religious can stand, protected from Government. However, I believe Cardinal Roger Mahoney has crossed the line by advocating that the Catholic Church should be willing to oppose a proposed Federal law against assisting illegal immigrants, by shielding, aiding and abetting illegal aliens in the commission of their crime.

I have a great respect for people who ask to come to America to become American citizens, and then do so. I have no problem with the idea that our neighbors should stand first in line to become citizens of our country, although not dual citizens of both our country and the country they came from. However, today we have between 11 million and 33 million illegal aliens in America, and tomorrow we may have 100 million, and if that's permitted 200 million. The United States Supreme Court in the 1879 case of Reynolds v United States, upheld a 1874 law, passed by Congress, which outlawed polygamy. At that time polygamy was widely practiced by members of the Mormon religion also known as the Church of Latter Day Saints. In that case the Supreme Court held that a church was free to believe what it wanted, but that actions were another matter; and so the court in upholding the law against polygamy struck down Mormon polygamous marriage. The type of assistance Cardinal Mahoney has advocated that the church provide, in open defiance of proposed law, could very well violate several laws, in addition to the proposed law, to include solicitation and conspiracy.

If Cardinal Mahoney were to implement his rhetoric I would not be opposed to the United States Government, through our legal system, taking and selling all church property in the Archdioceses of Los Angeles, to pay for the costs of the illegal aliens Cardinal Mahoney would sponsor. This would not be an undue hardship for those who take a vow of poverty, as they can give their sermons in the outdoors like Jesus, and California has great weather. However, short of that I would suggest that Cardinal Mahoney remember Matthew 22:21: "Give unto Cesar what is Cesar's, give unto God what is God's". A sovereign nation has a right to set and enforce its immigration policy, and in American any citizens, and from what I gather from the nightly news, "non-citizen", has a right to voice his/her objections to the law, and work within the legal system to change it. I am sorry Cardinal Mahoney has a problem with our representative form of Government, but as he is not God, he will just have to get use to standing in the DMV line with the rest of us.

Author's bio: Joseph Gutheinz is a former military intelligence officer and aviator and a retired NASA Office of Inspector General senior special agent. He is a criminal defense attorney licensed by 10 courts to include the United States Supreme Court; and a college instructor for both the University of Phoenix and Alvin Community College. He holds 6 degrees and 8 teaching credentials. He is the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency Career Achievement Award. He is the past top graduate (Honor Graduate) from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's Criminal Investigators Basic Course. His prior writings include: In Search of the Goodwill Moon Rocks; Marketing an Asteroid Threat; and Cover-Up in Space.