A Hero Dies Saving Lives On The Rio Grande
By CHRISTOPHER MANION
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
- + + On Friday, April 22, Texas National Guardsman Specialist Bishop Evans was posted on the Mexican border to participate in Operation Lone Star.
The Operation was begun when the Biden administration’s “open borders” policy resulted in a wave of illegal aliens from dozens of countries began coming north through Mexico to the U.S. border. Americans could no longer depend on the federal enforcement that had protected the border under the Trump administration.
According to the Texas government website, “Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 to respond to a rise in illegal immigration. In May, Governor Abbott issued a disaster declaration that now covers 48 counties, mostly counties along or near the border. The declaration directed the Department of Public Safety to ‘use available resources to enforce all applicable federal and state laws to prevent the criminal activity along the border, including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking, and to assist Texas counties in their efforts to address those criminal activities’.”
When Specialist Evans saw two aliens in distress while attempting to swim across the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. illegally, he jumped into the river in an attempt to save them. While they survived, Specialist Evans went missing. After an intensive search, his body was recovered two days later.
Bishop Evans was raised by his grandmother, Jo Ann Johnson, who called her grandson “a hero . . . who would give his life for you. . . . He was God’s child.” When asked by local media to comment on calls from political figures expressing their condolences, a member of the family said, “We really want to avoid those kind of conversations right now.”
Curiously, the national media avoided mention of Evans’ death altogether. For months the left, in the media and beyond, had savaged Gov. Abbott and the Texas National Guard for defending the border at all. They attacked supporters of border security and the rule of law as racists and bigots. The inspiring story of a black man who had given his life in the line of duty to save two Mexican criminal cartel drug traffickers contradicted so profoundly their Bidenized narrative that they gagged, and chose simply to ignore it.
At press time, details of plans for Guardsman Evans’ funeral and a possible memorial service were not available. In respect for the grieving family, The Wanderer will join them in postponing the discussion of the profound political dimensions of this hero’s sacrifice until those events have come to pass.
In the meantime, we requested comment from several members of Texas’ Catholic hierarchy regarding Spc. Evans’ death. San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia Siller, a central figure in the USCCB’s approach to the immigration issue, graciously responded, with the following statement:
“I pray that the Lord give fullness of life to SPC Bishop E. Evans from the Texas Army National Guard, who gave his life in a selfless attempt to save two individuals who appeared to be drowning in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass last Friday. We pray too for the family and colleagues of this dedicated soldier, who was assigned to A Battery, 4-133 Field Artillery Regiment in New Braunfels and had nobly served this country in Iraq and Kuwait.
“The death of Bishop Evans is a devastating tragedy, and the persons he attempted to assist are in the custody of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, suspected by law enforcement of narcotics trafficking.
“Our thoughts and prayers are also with members of the military and law enforcement who work tirelessly for the safety of our state and nation.”
Will The Suffering Of
China’s Catholics Continue?
We have frequently noted the disturbing trend in the Vatican’s relationship with Communist China (PRC) in recent years. The most vivid example came in September 2020, when Pope Francis could not find the time to meet with Hong Kong Bishop Emeritus Joseph Zen during the prelate’s brief visit to Rome. Cardinal Zen had been permitted to be absent from Hong Kong for only 120 hours, according to LifeSiteNews, which reported the unfortunate incident.
This week, Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute and author of several books on China, addressed the troubling background of the Vatican’s current negotiations with the PRC.
“Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican’s chief diplomat, signed a secret agreement with Communist Chinese officials in September 2018,” Mosher wrote. ”Although its terms have never been revealed, it is widely thought to have laid out a process by which bishops could be selected by Beijing and confirmed by the Holy See. [Editor’s Note: See last week’s Wanderer, p. 1A, for the full text of Mosher’s commentary.]
“The two-year agreement was renewed once in 2020, and the cardinal expressed the hope that it can be renewed again this September.
“In view of the increasing persecution of all religions in China by the CCP, it is hard to see why the Vatican should renew the agreement. A little history: Back in 2017-2018, in order to bring China to the table and to fill the 40 or so empty sees in China, the Vatican made major concessions. First, Pope Francis lifted the excommunication of the seven illicit ‘bishops’ named by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which is to say, by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Second, he seems to have agreed that elderly bishops of the Underground Church must be forcibly retired and replaced with Patriotic bishops of Beijing’s choosing, while younger Underground bishops must be reassigned to subordinate roles in the Patriotic church.
“It is the prospect of this ‘sell-out’ of the Underground Church that sent Hong Kong’s Joseph Cardinal Zen to Rome, to plead the cause of his Chinese co-believers to the Holy Father himself.”
And that is what led to Pope Francis’ stiff-arm of Cardinal Zen 18 months ago. Like Joe Biden, Pope Francis and Cardinal Parolin are not in a position of strength when dealing with CCP Great Leader Xi Jinping.
Consider Xi’s chilling views regarding the future of the Church under his rule.
As Mosher writes, “In December 2021, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping gave a speech at the National Conference on Work Related to Religious Affairs. Xi emphasized that ‘religion and religious organizations must be actively guided to adapt to socialist society,’ and that those working on ‘religious affairs’ within the Party must take the Sinicization of religion as their major task. And lest there be any misunderstanding that Sinicization simply means making modest adaptions to Chinese culture, he stated this: ’Sinicization means that all religious communities should be led by the Party, controlled by the Party, and support the Party’.”
During the Cold War, when the U.S. State Department held negotiations with the USSR on various issues, the Soviet side often knew that our diplomats simply had to return home with an agreement.
Of course, the Soviets didn’t need an agreement — so they just waited for the U.S. negotiators to cave — which they often did.
Reagan’s “Nyet!” — “No way!” — to Gorbachev at the 1986 Reykjavik summit was a welcome and historic departure from that practice, and it reaped great fruit — and ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet empire.
Today, Cardinal Parolin, whose Vatican is in the throes of several scandals, financial and otherwise, is in no position to confront Xi’s threats and prevail in the interest of Holy Mother Church. If Parolin “needs” an agreement, Xi will just wear him down — and Parolin is no Ronald Reagan.
Mosher is right — why have an “agreement” at all?