The Catholic Church And Illegal Aliens

Our new bishop in San Diego, Bishop McElroy, is a Jesuit from Berkeley, so we're not going to be able to expect him to talk sense on a lot of issues.

Interesting aside: The Jesuits are the priestly order having the hardest time with vocations. That probably comes from being so open-minded that their brains have fallen out*. Having a reputation for questioning Church teaching in favor of whatever's hip at the moment doesn't help when the faithful are faithful because the Church stands as a bulwark against the idiocies of the modern world.

In any case, Bishop McElroy has spoken about the need for the Church to care for immigrants, even those here illegally. I'm in favor of a border fence, border control and repatriation of illegals. I'm in favor of an enforced, deliberate, immigration process. Having said that, I completely agree with the Jesuit from Berkeley when it comes to caring for illegal aliens.

Immigration control is a political issue. Once the speeches, blog posts and voting is over, the people have spoken. If the rest of you are stupid enough to dissolve the border and let illegals come streaming in, I've rendered all I can to Caesar and he's decided to ignore me. Now it's time to render unto God.

In the eyes of God, illegal aliens are no less valuable than I am. Illegals who come hungry to Catholic Charities, I'm happy to feed. Illegals who live in crude encampments, I'm happy to support through donations to Church charities. Illegals who have medical bills, I'm happy to pay with my tax dollars. I don't want them here at all, but if the politicians are going let them in, the question changes from one of border policy to one of Matthew 25.

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Just as it is with gay marriage, unfettered sex, rampant drug use and the rest of the glories of the libertine world we live in, our job as Catholics is to speak out against it, but once that's done, we're called to clean up the mess as best we can.

It's not OK for them to be here. It's also not OK to let them live like this,

* - That, of course, is a snarky generalization. The Pope, chosen after much prayer and contemplation by cardinals who aren't all radicals, is a Jesuit. Our former, long-time Cursillo pastor was a Jesuit as well and he was about as down-to-Earth as you could get. They're not all crazy.