By DEXTER DUGGAN
It was the beginning of July, and new waves of unauthorized immigration were in the news.
For his Fourth of July homily, a priest at a large Southwestern U.S. church soft-spokenly noted the Catholic Church’s foundational moral stands and its view of politics.
The Church favors limited government, he said, but there’s no exact definition of that size. It’s subject to being worked out.
Some people think it’s about here, he said, holding his hands about six inches apart. Some think it’s here, holding his hands about two feet apart. He certainly didn’t say the Church favors big government.
He said the Church is in favor of subsidiarity. Local control is desired rather than top-down command.
The priest said he likes to use an example of a ship. Up on the top level, the captain is in control, but the captain doesn’t dictate each detail and go down lower to scrub the decks.
The Catholic Church isn’t the United States, the priest said, and the United States isn’t the Catholic Church. But he noted a similarity. Each of them practices “out of many, one.” Each is made up of various peoples but is one body.
He said he doesn’t talk about immigration often, but wanted to offer a reflection.
If a person wants to join the Church, he said, there are certain rules to obtain Baptism, including preparation classes.
We hear about “citizenship, citizenship,” he said, but there are certain procedures to follow.
He concluded by hoping for “unity in truth, unity in love.”
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