By DEXTER DUGGAN
Having an exchange of thought on an issue requires that there be some commonality of concepts. If the issue is whether to extend a freeway, the discussion won’t get far if one side reasonably says a mile is 5,280 feet long while the other side insists a mile is 222 feet and anyone who disagrees is a bigot. Or if the first side says bicycles and horses can’t be allowed as regular modes of travel on the freeway while the other side argues this is discrimination against people who need to exercise and those who admire equine beauty. The first side is likely to conclude that the second side simply won’t be candid.
This division is familiar on the topic of massive illegal immigration. That accurate term is ruled out of order by the other side, which knows that truthful words put it at a disadvantage. The other side wants only to refer to some sort of phenomenon known as, say, “migration.” The very idea it could be illegal because it defies lawfully enacted restrictions on immigration is unacceptable. This tactic, unfortunately, often is used by ideologically committed Church leaders, who thereby forfeit the confidence and trust of most people, well-informed people who have command of the facts.
Thus, Pope Francis recently wrote sympathetically to an open-borders group that works in Arizona and Sonora. His letter was replete with this unfortunate style of wordsmog. To cite one too-representative passage, the Pope spoke unfavorably of “people who only see in immigration a source of illegality, social conflict, and violence.”
Does the Holy Father deny that illegal immigration is indeed a source of illegality? And, because it is massive and lawbreaking, also a source of conflict and violence by, among others, criminal drug and human-traffickers. Pope Francis rhetorically stacks the deck against all who realize these facts. These people certainly don’t believe that “all” immigration has such characteristics, but they know formidable facts that partisans want to wish away. The Pope casually tries to write off these Christians and others as being of bad spirit or faith, although it is illegal immigrants who violate the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding obeying the laws.
When the Pope suggests the Church as a model “without borders,” he errs in at least two ways. The Church, an international institution, also has firm boundaries both physical and religious. Were hundreds of thousands of Scandinavians to start setting up residence throughout the offices of the Vatican City State, they quickly would learn the confines and limits of riding unwillingly in police vans. And no matter how ardently someone may admire the Catholic religion, he must meet its admission requirements and follow its rules to be allowed in. Simply chanting pagan hymns doesn’t qualify, nor does smashing church doors.
Throughout history some people have had more than others, whether of talent, wealth, wisdom, or other attributes. We should help ameliorate real, tragic need and sing out encouragement, but not allow deficiency to be used as an excuse for special pleading. In a parable of Jesus (Matt. 25:14-30), a master gave three servants different amounts of money to tend in his absence. The two with the larger amounts pleased him by investing wisely. The timorous servant who had received less did nothing with it, enraging the master, who took away this smaller amount and had him cast into the darkness. “You wicked and slothful servant.”
The Lord has entrusted many people to develop and lead forward the land of their birth with faith, hope, and persistence. They are His servants who can show their courage, determination, and creativity. The homeland is their inheritance, with their own garden to cultivate. Sneaking into another land by the tens of millions and condemning anyone who would dare resist their forced arrival isn’t, among other things, admirable.
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