Feed the Hungry, Clothe the naked, Shelter the Homeless, Document the Undocumented, Assimilate the Unassimilated

The problem of refugees has come to the forefront due to Donald Trump.  But the one place I've had a problem with Church teaching, is in the unreasoning allowance for human migration.

Thinking about where I differ with Donald Trump, I think my problem with this teaching is a severe cultural problem that has happened with white American Catholics in my generation.  We've lost our roots, we were denied teaching about our culture in the 1970s and 1980s, and we're only now getting it back.

When you have no culture yourself- multiculturalism is a threat.  Everybody else is allowed culture, but white people are not.  Why?  Because our culture is evil.  Our culture is supposedly that which conquored the world- but now must be denied.

But what if we start taking a different approach.  What if, in forming "Sanctuary Chuch" policies, we not only feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, protect the criminal (for a time, and to reconcile the criminal to the crown), but to go a step further.  Let us document the undocumented and thus create the paper trail necessary to prove that a  person really intends to immigrate and abandon old allegiances to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which she stands, One Nation Under God, INDIVISIBLE, with Liberty and JUSTICE for all.

Which leads to our next duty as a Church.  We must assmilate the unassimilated.  If we want a Christian nation, and we most certainly should, that means converting the unconverted.  It means teaching English to those who are newly arrived.  It means introducing them to our food, it means inviting them into our homes, it means teaching them the laws of the land so that they may become productive members of our culture.

Which circles back around- that we must first have a culture to teach.    It is time to stop being afraid of our own culture, it is time to offer the melting pot of culture where *all* cultures are blended together into one, rather than the salad bowl of multiculturalism where the tomatoes fight for dominance against the lettuce.

For Catholics, that means we need to start with faith and reason.  With reason and history.