Catholic Social
Teaching Shapes Immigration Stance
by Christopher Dodson
Executive Director
North Dakota Catholic Conference
May 2006
Immigration dominates recent headlines. Until recently,
observers assumed that public opinion was mostly hostile to
immigration and undocumented immigrants, in particular. The
passage of a immigration reform bill by the House of
Representatives that many, including the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, considered too harsh may
have set into motion a shift in public opinion. The U.S.
Senate is apparently not interested in supporting some of
the House bill’s harsher provisions. At this time, no
resolution is in sight.
Catholic leaders have prominently spoken in favor of
fairness for immigrants, documented and undocumented,
leading to praise by some and criticism by others.
Unfortunately, the criticism is often based on
misunderstanding or mischaracterization of what was
actually said.
Catholic teaching on immigration emanates from Catholic
social teaching on human dignity, the primacy of the
family, and the dignity of work. It also has its roots in
the Old Testament prescript: You shall treat the alien who
resides with you no differently than the natives born among
you; have the same love for him as for yourself.”
(Leviticus 19:34) The teaching can be summarized as
follows:
First, people have a right not
to emigrate from
their home country due to a lack basic human needs such as
peace, housing, food, religious freedom, work, education,
and health care. Developed nations, by virtue of
solidarity, have an obligation to assist poor countries so
that these basic human needs are met.
Second, people have a right to migrate so that they can
support and protect themselves and their families.
Third, nations have the right to regulate immigration
according to “criteria of equity and balance.”
Nations also have a duty to control immigration to prevent
the loss of human life, illegal contraband, and human
trafficking.
Fourth, host countries should prevent the exploitation of
immigrant workers and ensure immigrants are not denied the
“same rights enjoyed by nationals, rights that are
guaranteed to all without discrimination.”
(Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church, no. 298.) The
Compendium
adds,
“Immigrants are to be received as persons and helped,
together with their families, to become a part of societal
life.”
Critics complain that neither Church teaching nor church
leaders differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants,
except when highlighting that undocumented immigrants
should be treated with dignity. The charge is partly
inaccurate. The fact that nations have a right to regulate
immigration demonstrates that Catholic teaching does not
condone illegal immigration. However, the Church’s
primary concern is for the dignity and life of the human
person. The sacredness of human life and the dignity of the
human person does not disappear when a person enters the
country through improper channels. To put it another way,
there is usually no need for church leaders and the
Church’s teaching to distinguish between documented
and undocumented persons because the fundamental principles
that should guide our policies are universally applicable
to everyone, documented and undocumented, and even
native-born citizens.
We should also consider that the Catholic Church in the
United States is not only a historically immigrant church,
but is today one of the largest, if not the largest
provider of services to immigrants in the country. Some
services, such as charitable care, church agencies provide
to any immigrant. Pastoral care, of course, is mostly
limited for Catholics, but a very large number of recent
immigrants to the United States are Catholic. Their
experience as pastors and caregivers to so many immigrants
informs and shapes how church leaders view the immigration
issue. For many in our church, those affected by
immigration reform are not distant faces or mere economic
numbers. Instead, they are real people, living in our
neighborhoods and worshiping in our parishes.
Responses to the bishops’ concerns about immigration
reform have ranged from the positive, to the cynical
– such as charges that the bishops are only
interested in filling the pews with newly arrived Catholics
– to anti-Catholic diatribe, the likes of which some
of us have not seen for decades. Some internet writers have
accused the bishops of treason, lack of patriotism,
criminal conspiracy, advocates of a one-world government,
and worse.
Many, however, are responding positively to what rests at
the heart of the bishops’ messages – we must
reform immigration law, but we cannot do so in a way that
denies justice or the basic human rights and needs that all
of us deserve by virtue of our common humanity and as
persons created in His image.
