Sermon : On Why Immigration Is a Religious Issue

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Those who claim religion and politics don’t mix, understand neither.”

The Gospel story of Jesus’ dispute with the Pharisees and the Herodians over paying tax to Caesar contains this famous statement: “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Some have attempted to use this to buttress a false separation of religion and politics--banishing religion from the public forum and relegating it to private spiritual realms.

Unfortunately, sometimes it seems Catholics--like the Pharisees and Herodians--are woefully ignorant of the Gospel values we need to bring to our business affairs, our political considerations and our civic involvement.

As Catholics, we have a tradition of social principles that embody the Gospel values we need to live by. Among them: that every person has value and dignity by virtue of his or her entrance into this world. Their worth is not something that needs to be proved.

Secondly, every human is by nature social, a communal being. We need family, neighborhood and community to live fully. Today, these human connections are becoming very broad in our global society.

Immigration, a controversial issue confronting wealthy countries such as ours, presents a challenge to these beliefs.

Case in point: I was out on the golf course of a local country club several weeks ago with my cousin as guests of his boss. We joined two other golfers, who were acquaintances of his boss.

At one point, the issue of immigration came up. One of the gentlemen began railing about how “we’ve got to close down the borders and keep those Mexicans out.” The conversation was embarrassing on its face, but it became embarrassing in the extreme because my cousin’s boss, though bearing an Anglo name, was born in Mexico of a Mexican mother.

The incident touches on both social principles. What is at stake is the worth, value and dignity of the person, no matter what color of skin, level of education or side of the border an immigrant is from.

The other element that bears on the discussion is the increasingly global nature of our society. Society’s problems can no longer be dealt with in isolation. It is for this reason we are involved in Somalia, Haiti, the Middle East and what was Eastern Europe. We realize that the welfare of all people is at stake in the destiny of some people when it comes to tyranny, starvation and aggression.

Immigration is a global issue. How can we think about it, talk about it, act politically on it as Catholics who are putting our faith into action unless we apply the two important social principles regarding human dignity and the building of a decent society?

We must take reasonable and appropriate action to maintain our borders. We are called to create a decent society--not just within our borders--but for the whole human family. We cannot be global in our economics, our ecology, our media, our travel, but remain parochial in our thinking on immigration.