September 13, 2022
A Chaplain’s Thoughts: Immigration: A Moral View
By Rev. James F. Quigley, O.P. ’60
Associate Chaplain, National Alumni Association
Father Quigley revisits this issue of immigration and the Lord’s call for compassion, a subject that remains as important to the faithful as it was when he first wrote about it in 2019.
Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, is a pastor on the U.S.-Mexican border. He tells us that there are new dimensions to the present waves of immigrants. The bishop claims that the main motive drawing so many to cross the U.S. border, legally or illegally, is fear. Many certainly are traditional poor from Mexico seeking a better life. Today a large number pass through Mexico from Central America. Some are refugees. Then there are educated middle class and even wealthy business people trying to find protection from violence for their families. They are running away from kidnapping, random shooting, being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. They fear for their children, being surrounded by crime, gangs and violence. Drug cartels violently push thousands north to the border, hoping to smuggle fentanyl and other substances into the U.S. And then there are human traffickers, selling young girls and children.
Without a doubt the numbers are staggering, and the United States must do something to get control of this reality. Certainly the U.S. needs just immigration laws and policies. Immigration is a political issue, but politicians seem paralyzed and divided over what should be done. But immigration is not just a political issue. It is a moral, ethical issue. It is about treating human persons with dignity, respect, justice, love. That is a Catholic position. The immigrant as immigrant is not an enemy. Bishop Flores tells us: “Yes, there are criminal elements among immigrants, but surely we can find ways of distinguishing between criminals that cause people to flee and those innocents who are fleeing because of these very criminals.”
A Catholic heart is moved by the pain and suffering of so many desperate women, men, children. A Catholic heart is moved by compassion. A Catholic heart rejects bigoty and racism. A Catholic heart refuses to run away. A few prominent persons, some politicians, have criticized the Catholic Church for reaching out and trying to somehow assist those arriving in our country. What would they have us do? Break a Catholic heart?
