This week’s Home Front podcast is an unusual one: With Leila happily preoccupied by visiting children and grandchildren, I flew solo, taking a couple of different perspectives to assess the US bishops’ statements on immigration. Along the way: some thoughts about what a statue means (and what a wall doesn’t mean), the value of civic pride, and importance of preserving a culture, and, while I’m at it, the beauty of Bach and Brahms.
(As you might suspect, with Leila missing, this week’s podcast is considerably shorter.)
Is this a religious liberty issue?
The 29-foot statue of Christ the King, dominating the horizon from its spot on the peak of Mount Cristo Rey, is certainly a powerful symbol of the faith. The border wall might be a similar height, but it would be a drab, functional structure, situated on bare barren ground, several hundred feet below the peak…
The diocesan [Las Cruces] complaint suggests that the wall proclaims a policy of hostility toward outsiders, including those who seek refuge in the US. But the existence of the wall does not prevent people from entering the country; it only prevents illegal entry. The Catholic Church has never questioned the right of a nation to police its own borders.
Bach, the Tartan Army, and the Ordo Amoris
