This isn’t a new comparison, but we usually see it from liberal politicians pandering to their base before Christmas, not from Catholic priests. Fr. John Korcsmar of the Diocese of Austin compared illegal immigrants to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fleeing Herod.
Mining the depths of what it means to be a Catholic, the Rev. John Korcsmar broached the subject of illegal immigration on a recent Sunday morning at Dolores Catholic Church in East Austin. Consider, he asked parishioners, that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees fleeing King Herod’s terror.
There are a few differences. For one thing, the Holy Family was fleeing an attempt on Jesus’ life by Herod at God’s command, not illegally entering the US for economic reasons.
As the reader who sent me the link said:
Most people would agree that Christians have an obligation to shield refugees seeking shelter from a murderous tyrant who wishes to kill their children. It strikes me as immoral and blasphemous to imply that by that same reasoning we are all obligated to shield illegal immigrants from Mexico.
I have no problem with immigration. It’s uncontrolled, illegal immigration that I have a problem with, including the strain that millions of poverty-stricken individuals outside the system (i.e. not paying taxes) put on our institutions. And for their own sake, many of these people are taken advantage of by the unscrupulous smugglers who bring them in, working to death in the fields, factories, or brothels. How does that serve their inherent rights and human dignity?
Perhaps we should spend more time asking how we can improve their conditions at home so they don’t have to flee over a dangerous border-crossing while we keep ourselves protected from drug smugglers and terrorists.
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