In 1920’s Mexico, under President Plutarco Calles, clergy were restricted from public religious practices, religious education was outlawed, and many Catholics were persecuted, imprisoned, or executed for their faith. These anti-Catholic measures or “Calles Laws” continued for many decades. I hope that if I lived in Mexico at that time, I would have participated in acts that were illegal because of my commitment to a law higher than civil regulation or government practice. During the prohibition of alcohol in our own country, I probably would have broken a law now and then to lift spirits. When the 21st Amendment repealed the prohibition, many notorious enforcers of the alcohol law went out for a drink. They followed civil law strictly. I tend to follow it generally and, I think, logically, reasonably, morally, and for the greater good. I try to follow a higher law.
Most U. S. citizens sense that current immigration laws in our country are messed up and need revision. Some want strict enforcement of the law while others look to a higher law, such as the church’s Catholic Social Teachings based on God’s law, rooted in the dignity of every human person and the common good of all. Renowned Catholic church leaders resisted bad laws in ages past—some went to prison or were otherwise punished for their deeds. I may have broken immigration laws by supporting undocumented people in assisting with education needs for children or basic household aid. Though it’s branded in my mind that ignorance of the law is no excuse, I prefer to be ignorant of the legal status of friends from other nations who came to our country as visitors, students, or workers and overstayed, thus changing their status.
I am careful to distance myself from non-profit boards serving entities that receive government support in case my ignorance could put them in jeopardy. I adhere to diocesan policies that operate in fear of IRS regulations. I am cautious not to pay people for work without proper paperwork. But my personal charitable outreach or friendships are never limited by citizenship or legal status. Many married Catholics followed the church’s regulations by entering a licit and valid (legal) marriage in the eyes of the church; many others did not. I don’t think there is any correlation between the sacredness of one’s marriage and its status within church law as valid or invalid, licit or illicit. People with chronic pain often travel to different states or even countries to get chemical relief or skirt local restrictions to attain unlawful medicine that alleviates their suffering. Accountants and businesspeople are smart about learning tax laws so they can manipulate them. My point in all this is to say that government laws, whether our nation’s or our church’s, are secondary to God’s law. Though moral law, common law, natural law, and divine laws guide our earthly laws, we sometimes get things wrong; current immigration laws need significant changes to coincide better with what is good, right, and holy.
Laws give us an objective standard of morality, a blueprint to better function in society and keep structures operating well. When most of our ancestors came to America, the tired, poor, huddles masses were welcomed to this land of opportunity with less prohibitive laws. Though legislators possess power to change laws—in this case to make easier paths to citizenship for the undocumented—and though the executive branch can enact orders to alter them, it seems like an incredible challenge filled with significant political grief.
I think the Catholic Church can be a good guide for us in its teaching that above the law and above the objective standard of responding to laws, there exists one’s well-informed conscience that must be obeyed first and foremost, even if it conflicts with ecclesial or earthly authority. From popes to people in the pews, we are called to follow our belief that God dwells within each of us and directs us according to higher law. Whether Mexico a hundred years ago or America today, we are called to follow God’s law of love in all matters.
