IN THEORY:

Roman Catholics have been taking heat as church leaders help those who cross into the country unlawfully with a network of shelters for them as they migrate into the U.S. “Migration is a human right, and migrants are some of the world’s most vulnerable people. It is the church’s obligation to help them,” said the Rev. Francisco Pellizzari, an Italian-Argentine missionary who runs the Nazareth migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo. But Ralph Ovadal, pastor of the Pilgrims Covenant Church in Wisconsin, said, “The Roman Catholic Church is aiding and abetting the criminal invasion of America from Mexico.” Is it proper for religious leaders to help immigrants who cross into the country illegally?

There are three principles of Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration. The first is that people have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and those of their families. Secondly, a country may regulate its borders and control immigration. Thirdly, a country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy. Catholic social teaching must be understood in light of the absolute equality of all people and the commitment to the common good. If we see someone in need, we should treat that person with dignity and respect and do what we can to help. We do not encourage people to break the law. But if someone shows up at the church or at a soup kitchen in need of basic help, he or she should not be denied help based upon legal status.

Father Stephen Doktorczyk

St. Joachim Church

Costa Mesa

The Biblical mandate to be hospitable and welcome people different from ourselves has minimal boundaries.

The intensity of political debates over immigration testifies to our breadth of opinion and depth of fear.

For people of faith in the God of grace, growth of tensions over immigration should be a moral issue about human rights.

It’s about health, medicine, drugs, economics and more. Like an onion, you peel one layer and cry, then you realize you have to peel another layer and cry some more. Christians must remember how Jesus calls us to attend to strangers in our midst and that Christ as a model transcends politics.

The Very Rev’d Canon Peter D. Haynes

Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar

Those who claim themselves as Christian must recognize our ancestry of migration.

We need not look further than the Bible to learn our own heritage: from Abraham and Sarah, to the Israelite exodus out of Egypt, to the exile into Mesopotamia — the Hebrew people were transient migrants.

The ancient world took hospitality seriously, and the Bible is explicit about how to treat a stranger. Deuteronomy 27:19 says, “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.”

Similar sentiments can be found throughout scripture, such as Leviticus 19:34, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

In the Christian path, we are accountable to our faith. This calling mandates our caring for strangers, for in God’s realm there are no borders.

Rev. Sarah Halverson

Fairview Community Church

Costa Mesa

It is not proper for a church to aid and abet those who commit a felony by entering America illegally. The Roman Catholic Church has again placed itself in direct violation of the Word of God, which states we are to obey the laws of the state. (Romans 13:1-7.) The exception is when the laws of government contradict the Law of God. (Acts, chapter 5.)

The Word of God nowhere implies that the mission of the church is to help people enter a country illegally to raise their standard of living.

There is a major difference between reaching out to the poor and setting up a system that helps people break the law. Churches are right to aid the poor; we are wrong to deliberately help people break the law.

Pastor Dwight Tomlinson

Liberty Baptist Church

Newport Beach