I have to tell you, I am sick of them. They come here in great numbers looking for work. They make little or no effort to learn English which is the official language, you know. They are taking over our churches. Why, almost ever church I know has masses at least one if not more in their language rather than English. They even have some churches that are completely dedicated to them.

Further, they make little or no effort to learn the way that we do things here and frankly it bugs me. What is worse, they bring all of those old fashioned ways and silly superstitions with them. It is all just so unseemly and it makes me uncomfortable. Either do it our way or go back to where you came from.

No, no. I am not talking about Latin American immigrants. I am parroting (parodying?) the sentiments of none other Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster. These are essentially the Cardinals sentiments toward those overly pious Poles currently clogging up the formerly empty churches in the UK. From the UK Telegraph:

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, urged the Polish community to do more to learn English and integrate into local parishes, claiming the Catholic Church in the UK was in danger of dividing along ethnic lines as the number of Polish-speaking churches rose…

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “I’m quite concerned that the Poles are creating a separate church in Britain. I would want them to be part of the Catholic life of this country.

“I would hope those responsible for the Polish church here, and the Poles themselves, will be aware that they should become a part of local parishes as soon as possible when they learn enough of the language.”

He is just the model of tolerance, eh? It is truly remarkable that the head of the Church in England after decades of decline in faith, morals, and consequently church attendance would insult the very people who are now filling his churches. Remarkable in a pathetic way. I guess the Cardinal hopes to inculturate these faithful Poles. Maybe after a few years of Anglicization they will stop believing and coming to Church too. Then they could really be part of the Catholic life of the country. The Cardinal should have this poem nailed to the front door of Westminster.

Don’t Give me your tired, your poor,
Unless your huddled masses yearn to speak English,
The wretched refuse filling the naves.
Send these, pious, overtly religious, to me:
And I will be sure to lock the door.