The Political/Economic Reality of Ordo Amoris Helping Others
Solving illegal immigration needs to go deeper than basic needs
Over the past weeks, I read on X the words of some priests explaining ordo amoris, especially in light of immigration. They cite what they call ordo amoris—Latin for order of love. We perform works of charity in an order of priority. This may be a theological principle but just about everyone practices it every day—at least those who do acts of charity. St. Jean Vianney put it simply, you do charity out of your surplus after you fulfill your obligations. So yes, you take care of your family before your care for the stranger. However, this does not have to be the serial line it appears to be. You can care for both when done properly.
Helping the Stranger
This is based on an actual incident: As you wait for a train, a homeless woman approaches you and asks you for money. You say no. She, then, asks you if you would buy her breakfast at the breakfast stand in the station. You say, yes. Next, she asks you to go to the ATM, you say no.
You agree to the sandwich because you can do that and it is giving her food which she needs but it is not over doing your budget which must first go to your family. You are helping her as you can but not so much that you cannot help your family. This is what St. Jean Vianney, also a parish priest, taught. You help others with your surplus but not using resources out of your need.
However, can we help immigrants who are in need today? Yes. They also have long term needs. Many come here due to economic or political disparity between their world and ours. We need to address this too. However, we can only do that when we understand the needs for the person short and long-term. We can see within the ability of a stronger nation economically to assist those from a nation in economic/political difficulty. Right now, the person may experience one or all three of the basic needs: food, clothing and shelter. Do we help him or her? Yes, if we can and drawing out of our surplus not our need.
The ultimate goal is to do what is best for the common good.
Illegal Immigration a Symptom
We need to help the stranger. These are the Corporal Works of Mercy. Our priority is to help them with their immediate needs in one way and with the long-term needs in other way depending on our resources.
In a previous parish, I worked with people from El Salvador here because of the civil war in their country. As one family explained to me, soldiers put guns to the heads of children. They could not live under those conditions. Remember, St. Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador martyred in 1980, begged then President Jimmy Carter to stop sending arms to El Salvador, he didn't. So, there were specific needs that had to be addressed on an international level and on a local level and they were not.
Assassins targeted Archbishop Romero for execution when he begged soldiers to disobey the orders to shoot by their generals. Remember, this was a civil war, Salvadorans killed Salvadorans. The reason why their emigrants left El Salvador and came here is because of that mess in El Salvador, then. Also at the time the unit of currency in El Salvador was the United States Dollar.
The symptom of the problems in El Salvador was the illegal immigration here. The solution was to fix the situation there which would have an impact on immigration legal and illegal here.
So, at the time, it was important to help the Salvadorans but there was a need to solve the political and financial situation in El Salvador too. The same for other countries.
How to end immigration issues
A former ambassador from Mexico to the United States once explained that if Mexico could become an economic powerhouse, emigration would move from the US to Mexico. Americans would leave the US to go to the Southern neighbors. So, how does one stop illegal immigration? Fix the problems in the respective countries. This is important because many people here illegally return here after our country deports them. So, deportation may not be the best solution.
One of the most vicious gangs in the United States is MS-13. They also have certain derivatives. How did they come to exist? The US deported many Salvadoran gang members from Los Angeles back to their home country. There they connected with former soldiers of that government army who formed their own gangs there. The two gang philosophies joined and the deported Salvadorans returned to the United States again crossing the border illegally. They were more vicious than when they left and, yes, vicious is the correct term.
Deportation did not fix the situation completely, and in some cases, it made it worse.
Showing home countries their interest in solving the issue
The only true way to eliminate illegal immigration is simply to give people a reason to return their to home countries and /or not to leave in the first place. It is to show the home countries their own interests in solving their side of the issue.
People who emigrate also take their talents, abilities and their labor with them. Many who come here illegally are actually college graduates. I met janitors who were college professors in their home country others were lawyers, nurses and more. They could not practice their vocation here because they lived underground. However, they may be doing better here financially than they would in their own home country.
Just take for example the police force in some countries south of our border. Many officers are corrupt because their governments cannot pay them enough to support their families, so they take bribes to survive.
When I was in one country as a seminarian missionary, I learned that a man drinking one beer a day was problem drinking because he could not drink the beer and feed his family at the same time. I spoke with some citizens there who told me they could not go to the movies because they were so poor.
We went sightseeing for the day. One American asked our hosts if we should let the police know we were away so they could keep an eye on the house. The host explained if we do that then we will come back not to an empty house but an empty lot.
Helping those who are in need is essential but more importantly, helping countries increase their economic success is just as important. It goes to the root of the problem.
Find ways to develop economic/political stability
If our president and the MAGA movement want to end illegal immigration, they should show countries how to improve their situation so they can keep their workforce and then have the countries, as Colombia is now doing, take their citizens back to the mutual advantage of both nations.
We also need to look at another aspect of the reality: Who is not here? What countries do not have an emigration problem in the Americas and why. They have the ultimate piece of the puzzle. According to the website Visual Capitalist the majority of illegal immigrants in this country from South America are from Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Therefore, what are the other countries there doing right? This includes: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and more. Understanding this can help us solve the issue here.
President Trump offered to help develop North Korea. That country refused his offer but if he, a developer, wants to stop illegal immigration, building up the economies, the labor forces and political stability of many countries will be the best solution.
This is another example of addressing the ordo amoris, helping people as we can in ways that we may as well.
The theology of ordo amoris includes helping people in the short term while looking for solutions to the cause of all forms of emigration must be part of solving the issue.
Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA
The parish podcast is at CatholicAudioMedia.com
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