alpha mike fox: Canadian Adjudicator To Refugee Claimant: "Not Catholic Enough"

Madonna between Ss John the Baptist and Francis

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

You're a refugee claimant. You're in a refugee claimant review. You're nervous. You're in a new country in the midst of strange people who seemingly hold life-or-death powers over you. You're sweating. You're a Christian. You're asked who the mother of Mary the mother of Jesus was, and who the mother of John the Baptist was.

Quick now, what's your answer? (please post in comments without looking at other comments' answers)

If you balked, you may be a Christian, but, in the eyes of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), not Christian enough.

He knew Mary was Jesus’ mother and that John baptized him but not the names of Mary’s and John’s mothers; correctly answered questions about the rosary and the seven sacraments; named books of the Old Testament but was uncertain what they were about; failed to note that 2009 was dedicated to St. Paul by the Catholic Church, and gave other answers that fell short of Ms. Andrachuk’s expectations.

“I find, on a balance of probabilities, that the claimant is not and never was a genuine practicing Roman Catholic,” Ms. Andrachuk wrote. “I find that the claimant’s level of knowledge of the Catholic faith is not commensurate with someone who has been a Roman Catholic for three years.”

Fortunately a Canadian court had the good sense to strike down this ruling.

IRB adjudicator rebuked by court for refusing man who failed Catholic ‘trivia’

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