Blogs
Featured Image
 Shutterstock.com

February 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Last Friday, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, and the chairman of the committee on migration, Bishop Joe Vásquez, unsurprisingly rebuked President Donald Trump for declaring a national emergency in order to build a wall on America’s southern border.

“We are deeply concerned about the President’s action to fund the construction of a wall along the U.S./Mexico border, which circumvents the clear intent of Congress to limit funding of a wall,” the joint statement read.

“The wall first and foremost is a symbol of division and animosity between two friendly countries. We remain steadfast and resolute in the vision articulated by Pope Francis that at this time we need to be building bridges and not walls.”

While one is certainly free to disagree with the way in which Trump went around Congress, I’m not exactly sure what the rest of this statement means. Are they proposing the United States shouldn’t have a border wall at all? Are the bishops calling for the feds to construct actual concrete bridges between the United States and Mexico?

The problem with this sort of sentimental, ambiguous, and ultimately doctrinally-unfounded statement is that it fails to defend in a rational way what it puts forth. Sadly, sloppy remarks like this are all too common among bishops these days. But such is Catholicism in the age of Francis, the most confusing, imprecise, modernist pontiff in Church history.

How, after all, is a wall a “symbol of division?” Why are “symbols of division” bad? Christ himself announced he came “not to bring peace” but a sword. He caused a lot of “division” during his earthly life. Many of his disciples left him after he told them they needed to eat his flesh. He also said a Catholic’s enemies would be members of their own family. Doesn’t sound lovey-dovey to me.

Far from being evil, walls are a good thing if they provide security, protect life, and ensure a country’s common good is upheld in the face of those who would seek to destroy it. Trump’s wall accomplishes all of this.

The bishops’ statement reminded me of how progressives love to claim that Jesus was an “undocumented immigrant” and that Christians who want a border wall probably would have thrown Jesus, Mary, and Joseph into a detention center if given the opportunity.

Aside from the fact that it was an angel that told Joseph (the bread-winning head of the household) to escort his stay-at-home wife into Egypt, the Holy Family returned to its native land after Herod died. In modern parlance, they left because they could no longer claim refugee status.

Unlike today’s immigrants to the United States and Europe, Joseph didn’t stay in a foreign place indefinitely. Nor did he demand public housing and free daycare, like some Democrats do. He went back to his place of origin and made a living for himself.

The left and, apparently, the U.S. bishops’ conference don’t want immigrants to return to their native lands. Ever. One possible reason is because the bishops need them to fill their empty churches, as Steve Bannon, former adviser to President Trump, has argued. Another is because a flood of low-skilled laborers from Latin America into the United States will secure for the Democrat Party a reliable voting bloc for decades. Texas is already on its way to being a toss-up state for the Electoral College. Give it another 15 years and a Republican might not be able to win the presidency ever again. Do American bishops really want to have blood on their hands for having played a major role in ensuring Culture of Death liberals run the executive branch until the second coming of Christ? Part of me thinks some of them would be fine with that.

Another reason the left hates the border wall is that it hampers their efforts to “diversify” and multi-culturalize America, a plan rooted in anti-Christian and anti-Western Civilization attitudes. Again, can the bishops really not see what’s going on here? I think Bannon was right to accuse them of being “one of the worst instigators of this open borders policy.”

Regardless if they can or can’t realize they’re doing the bidding of the godless New World Order, they seem to think that whatever happens, things will turn out just fine because, at the end of the day, we’re all brothers sailing in the same ark of human fraternity, as Pope Francis recently stated. Welcoming the stranger is what the Gospel demands. It’ll all work out. Or something.

Good intentions aside, Catholic teaching on international law and the rights of nations cannot be reduced to a few fuzzy Bible verses. Providing refuge for persons fleeing war zones is indeed part of the Catholic faith, but in no way does Catholicism teach that everyone has a universal right to migrate anywhere anytime — charity must first be extended to those nearest to us and in most need. Nor does it claim that borders are immoral or that laws that maintain a country’s integrity are deserving of contempt.

Chief among a country’s rights is the right to life and preservation and to be free from outside, supranational aggressors. A nation’s borders, language, and culture can and should be defended, most especially if the country has a Christian orientation.

Given that the persons currently invading America at its Mexican border (as well as the millions of Muslims pouring into Europe) are being used as pawns by international elites to destroy the last vestiges of Christendom, politicians resisting open borders initiatives should generally be praised, not vilified, by the clergy for their efforts.

If bishops today were aware of the intricacies of Catholic doctrine on international relations and the ins and outs of contemporary geopolitics, the laity might have read a statement from the USCCB expressing appreciation of President Trump for fighting the enemies of Almighty God who are trying to impose on the nations of earth a one-world, pro-abortion, anti-Christ government. Instead, what they got was a bland, 89-word press release that sounded more like a tweet authored by socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. As the Psalmist so often cried out in lamentation, “How long must we wait, O Lord, how long?”

Featured Image

Stephen Kokx is a journalist for LifeSiteNews. A former community college instructor, Stephen has written and spoken extensively about Catholic social teaching, politics, and spirituality. He previously worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago under the late Francis Cardinal George. His essays have appeared in a variety of outlets, including Catholic Family News and CatholicVote.org. He is the author of St. Alphonsus for the 21st Century: A Handbook for Holiness.