First, a disclaimer.
I was raised a Catholic in the very Catholic city of Philadelphia. My parents were big Phillies, Eagles and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen fans. I attended Catholic schools through 12th grade. Even though I have morphed from an Old Testament skeptic (e.g., Abraham with orders to sacrifice his son Isaac) into a George Carlin Catholic, I still weigh in on church matters and still question. Religiously.
So, I have more than noted with interest the Church’s increasing involvement in societal, even constitutional, issues–ranging from women’s rights to same-sex marriage. It’s hardly coincidental now with an popular, populist pope.
With nearly a quarter of Americans professing to be Catholic, there is some serious political leverage to be exercised. Think Burwell v. Hobby Lobby or the 2012 Florida election’s “Abortion Amendment” (#6) and “Religious Freedom Amendment” (#8). The Church, to be sure, is a player.
But you know what was nice–in an old-school kind of way–was the appeal that recently went out from Bishop Robert Lynch, who presides over the five-county St. Petersburg diocese. It was about the child migrants pouring across the Mexican border from Central America and how the Catholic Church might be able to help out.
This is a gut–as well as a legal, economic, national security and politically partisan–issue. The immigration-refugee tragedy is both heart-breaking and border-violating. But it returns this nation’s largest religious body to its non-lobbying roots. It’s right in the wheelhouse of any viable definition of Christian charity.
Bishop Lynch directed his Catholic Charities office to coordinate with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration and refugee service to see how many children the regional diocese might be able to resettle temporarily.
But there are hurdles in the way. Catholic Charities is not one of those agencies authorized by the government to shelter unaccompanied children. CC works with officially-designated refugees. That means the feds have to be flexible, expand their definition of “refugee” and avoid acting like a bureaucracy.
Bishop Lynch, for one, is expecting no less.
“My guess is that the government will grant them (Central American children) some sort of temporary refugee status,” he said. “We can’t solve the geopolitical problems, but we may have to provide some type of help to the innocent victims.”
To that end, Catholic Charities is gearing up to locate shelters and recruit host families from the diocese membership–and collecting food, clothing and money. Presumably, the government will, indeed, grease the red-tape skids.
For the Catholic Church, this isn’t business as usual in the political mosh pit that now includes prominent, sectarian players. This is about doing the right thing for the right obvious reason. Lives–and souls–are at stake. You do what you’ve always been called to do.
No, you’re not the latest incarnation of a Do Nothing Congress. And you’re not the Amateur Hour Administration. You’re a church and a charity, uniquely qualified to help with logistics–and help lead in a crisis.
But I still have a serious problem with Genesis 2 and how Abraham’s faith was torturously tested.