Bishop Seitz: We must heed our faith to help immigrant families, children
Catholic bishops pushing their socialist/communist agenda again…
Many today, when they look at public-policy issues, feel they need to separate out what their Judeo-Christian faith would tell them from what they would propose for public action. That should not be the approach for a person of faith.
Our religious faith enlightens us and gives us insight into the challenges we face in our world. Faith reminds us that in our daily lives, Providence is guiding our actions and grace is supplying what we by ourselves would be incapable of doing if it is in accord with God’s will.
The Gospels are not simply nice idyllic stories from the past, but terribly relevant calls to action in the present moment. The perspective of faith changes the way we evaluate every circumstance and every action.
Judeo-Christian faith has been a guiding light since our nation began. Other people of good will have been included as well.
The recognition found in the Declaration of Independence, particularly relevant as we celebrate the 238th anniversary of our independence as a nation this weekend, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights became the foundation for a new approach to governance.
Basic rights belong to people, not because they are given them by the largess of the government, but because they are woven within the fabric of our human nature by God.
This has implications not only for the way that governments treat its citizens, but for the way all people are treated no matter their origin.
The role of religion within society remains to call our nation to these higher things — to confront us with the teachings of the Scriptures and to serve as the conscience of our people as we face the moral dilemmas of our time.
I think it is for this reason that I have been called in the last couple of weeks to testify before two congressional committees on the challenges we are facing with the influx of minors and families from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Some have pointed out that we cannot help everyone who faces needs or deals with crises in their lives. That is true.
A careful reading of the Gospel reveals that we are to do what we can with the help of God for those whom we encounter.
Such is Jesus’ message regarding the man left bleeding and stripped of everything along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
The priest and the others pass him by because they think they have more important things to attend to. It is the Samaritan who stops and cleans the victim’s wounds, places him upon his own animal and takes him to a place where he can recuperate whom Jesus challenges us to emulate. (Luke 10: 29-37)
In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Jesus paints a scene in which there is a man who lives in relative abundance who fails to even see, much less assist, a poor man lying at his door who is in great need and would gladly eat the scraps from the rich man’s table.
Jesus is saying in no uncertain terms that we will one day be judged based upon how we have responded to the person in need at our door.
Is it really a stretch to conclude that these desperate immigrants at our border are the Lazaruses of today? (Luke 16: 19-31)
I am proud of the generous and compassionate response of so many of the people of El Paso to this influx of children fleeing the deadly gang violence of their home countries.
To the rest of the nation we can rightly repeat the words of Jesus to the lawyer, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10: 28)
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