As we enter Holy Week we see Our Lord being condemned under Roman and Jewish law. There is a great paradox here. Jesus always insisted on obedience to legitimate authority. Yet that same authority unjustly condemned him. Our Holy Father has reminded us that not all laws are just. For example we can never as Christians be at peace with laws which do not protect the most defenseless members of our society--the unborn (see Evangelium Vitae # 20).* Likewise the Church teaches that God created this world for all his children, not just the favored few, and that "more prosperous nations are obliged to welcome the foreigner in search of security and the means of liveliehood which he cannot find in his country of origin." (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2241, cf. Ex. 23:9)
Holy Family parish has always welcomed the immigrant and continues to do so. We instill obedience to law and submission to legitimate authority. At the same time we recognize that God's law is higher than any human law. Our observance of Holy Week teaches us to put God's law first. Only upon that law can we build a free and just society.
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Further Reflection on Immigration
Catholic Teaching on Immigration
Letter to PI on Immigration.
The Abortion Issue
Human Cloning: A Catholic Perspective (How the Unthinkable Became Inevitable)
Boston Globe's Misleading Article on Catholic Church
Deflating Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Stephen Jay Gould: Gorbachev of Darwinism?
Test Tube Offspring Want to Know Father
Bicentennial Man (Hidden Assumptions)
Bogus Knights of Columbus Oath
Ossuary of James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus