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What does the Church say about Migration?

According to Catholic social teaching, migration should be a matter of choice, not necessity. People have a right not to have to migrate, and states have a responsibility to provide the minimal conditions that would allow their residents to flourish and realize their God-given rights at home.

As Catholics, what should we think about people who come to this country as immigrants? Should we support people breaking the law by coming here without documentation or permission? What does the Church say about immigration?

Catholic theology has always promoted an ethic that is rooted in natural law and God’s Revelation. As Catholic social teaching on migration developed, three fundamental principles came to inform Church teaching on this issue:

• People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families.
• A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control migration.
• A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Although the first two of these principles may seem to contradict each other, they are put into context by the third. People of faith must seek a way of balancing their valid security needs while at the same time striving to meet the basic human needs of others, including those who are foreign-born. It is in achieving this balance that we can embrace each of the principles of Catholic social teaching on migration.

When war, natural disaster, famine or crushing poverty causes mass migration, the lands that receive these displaced people may feel threatened, with the citizens of the host nation fearing that newcomers will take scarce jobs, land and resources. While recognizing these fears, the Church teaches that people have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families. As the Gospels make clear, it is God’s will that the abundance of the earth be shared in love by all his people.

Reflecting on this spiritual imperative, Pope Benedict XVI observed that “those who have to leave everything, sometimes even their family, to escape from grave problems and dangers . . . [should find] the Church as a homeland where no one is a stranger” (Angelus, June 19, 2005). At the same time, the second principle of migration acknowledges that a country has the right to regulate its borders and to control migration. Individuals have the right to move in search of a safe and humane life, but no country is bound to accept all those who wish to resettle there.

Ordinarily, people migrate because they are desperate, and the opportunity for a safe and secure life does not exist in their own land. Migrants and refugees endure many hardships, and most would prefer to return home under more favorable circumstances. As American Catholics, we should work to alleviate the conditions that force people to leave their homeland while protecting their rights when they reside among us.

The third principle calls upon nations to regulate their borders with justice and mercy, seeking the common good above self-interest. Family reunification must be at the center of all government migration policies, thereby allowing families to remain intact as much as possible and avoiding periods of prolonged separation.

The above was reprinted with permission from the USCCB.

Please contact the Migration Committee Co-Chairs should you have any comments or questions:

Joe Castro, Co-Chair
[email protected]

Alfredo Ocampo, C.P., Co-Chair
[email protected]

Here is a YouTube video that gives us a glimpse of a family story on a journey for a better life in the United States: