A Wall Only Separates, It never Brings Together

A Wall on the Border

August 24, 2016

Today, I posted a simple statement about what I would do if a certain political presidential candidate actually won and actually started to build a wall, a yuuuuge wall. I stated that I would be one of those crazy Catholics who would go down to the border and protest the building of the wall.

Oh the firestorm of comments I received made my head swim. As of this writing, I am still receiving comments on the post. The gamut of emotions is being run within the various people commenting.

It is interesting, because I never mention the phrase “open borders”, yet all of the conservative leaning people immediately jumped on the idea that I was for open borders. I am not for open borders, the Catholic Church does not teach nor advocate for open borders. In fact, the Church teaches that every country has the right and responsibility to look out for the common good and defense of their citizens. So I don’t understand where people read into someone’s statement a view that is not there. But this is where we are at in today’s political world.

This is what I would like to explore, today’s political world. Today’s political world is dividing Christians like it has never divided the body of Christ before. Full disclosure, I was a card carrying Republican from the time I could cast my first vote (which I did for Ronald Reagan’s first term). I have read and learned more since my early days of the Conservative Christian College I attended from 1979 to 1982. I have grown in my social conscience; I have grown in my understanding of the dignity of all peoples (this happens when one understands that we are made in the image and likeness of God). I am neither Republican nor Democrat today; neither party has a platform that I can get behind. (I am not saying that my fellow alumni have not grown in their social consciences or their understanding of the dignity of the human person, I am only saying that I have grown).

So what makes the wall such a hot topic? Certainly I have heard the arguments that illegal immigration is running amuck, (the actual numbers are down from the last 10 years). I have heard the arguments that undocumented immigrants are stealing American jobs, (this, of course, presupposes that most American WANT to work in the fields picking crops, or cleaning hotel rooms, or washing dishes in some restaurant), not that there is anything wrong with those jobs, every job has dignity, unless it is a work that is either illegal or immoral. I have heard the arguments that undocumented immigrants come in just to suck off the government teat, (this too is a misunderstanding of what welfare/social security/etc. is and who can qualify for it. Government studies show the vast majority of welfare fraud is perpetrated by those who are Caucasian). One political candidate has made the claims that Mexico is sending us all of their drug dealers, rapists, and other criminals, (this too, has been walked back by the same candidate). I have heard the argument that we are a nation of laws, (an unjust law is no law at all ~St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas)

Of course the idea of a wall keeping citizens safe is not new; it is as old as the first fortified city in history. But walls are also built to keep citizens in; the Iron Curtain is the best example from modern history we have to illustrate this truth. Let’s be honest, if a wall is built on our Southern Border, tourism from the US to Mexico will suffer greatly, as will tourism from Mexico to the US. There are too many families that have extended families living on both sides, the Iron Curtain divided Germany, I submit that the Concrete Wall will do the same; we already see this with the parts of the border that are fenced. Look at when Pope Francis went to the border (on the Mexico side), there were families that could only hold hands through the fence; if a concrete wall went up, even that would be stopped.

One thing I have noticed is that many, who name the name of Jesus and claim to be a follower/disciple of him, seem to choose be a patriot before being a disciple. Not that there is anything wrong with being a patriot, with loving your country and proclaiming your love for that country. I LOVE MY COUNTRY, GOD BLESS THE USA. But there comes a point when one realizes that not all laws are just and not all legislation is moral. When it comes to how we, as a nation, treat the immigrant, it hurts my heart to see how we treat the most vulnerable among us. There comes a time when we have to stand up against immoral actions, unjust laws; stand up and give a voice to the voiceless. There is a price to pay to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. For me, that price is to speak out against injustice in the same vein that Jesus spoke out against injustice when he walked the countryside of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem, when he sat and talked to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well, when he told his disciples to render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and to God that which belongs to God. I belong to God, I am a Catholic first, a patriot second, and for those who cannot understand that, I am truly sorry.