106 lines
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106 lines
6.2 KiB
HTML
<p>
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A few days ago I was listening to NPR's <i>Up First</i> podcast when they began
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to talk about the new policies at ICE ever since Trump came into
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office.<sup><a href="#r1">[1]</a></sup> Now although it is perfectly legitimate
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for a country to deport foreigners who commit crimes within its borders, or even
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to be selective of what foreigners it lets in to begin with, what caught my
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attention regarding this episode was that “[i]mmigration enforcement will now be
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able to arrest migrants at sensitive locations like [...] churches.” Here we see
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how in spite of all the christian conservative façade of President Trump and the
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Republicans, in reality they continue to be nothing more than liberals. Sure,
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not the liberals of the last twenty years, but liberals nonetheless. Of course,
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it is possible that this form of liberalism is merely intuitive by this point
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(not directly willed or thought-out) since liberalism has been creeping into the
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depths of our culture for centuries now. Even so, it is important to remember
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why churches are to be considered sanctuaries where the Civil Authority has no
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jurisdiction.
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</p>
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<p>
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It is part of both Christian and Jewish (and perhaps even pagan) tradition that
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the church (or temple) is a place of sanctuary precisely for those who have
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transgressed and seek reconciliation by appealing to that Authority above the
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Civil Authority and in which we are all united: the Church. The Church plays a
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special role here as a representative not only of God, but also of the People of
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God (and thus society) as a whole. So when the transgressor enters the church he
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does not - as our liberal conservative friends may think - flee from justice and
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the repercussions of his actions, but rather he heads straight towards the
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highest Judge. In doing so the transgressor both implicitly recognizes his guilt
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(that he did something unjust for which justice demands punishment) and actually
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puts himself at the mercy of the Church (i.e. society). This act of what is in
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essence a confession of guilt - and indeed, in the Catholic/Orthodox tradition
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this would go hand-in-hand with an actual Sacramental Confession - would also
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constitute an evidence of true repentance of the transgressor, for he seeks the
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Church not to flee just punishment, but to reconcile himself to society once
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more and beg for mercy. And here we are indeed practically obliged to reduce the
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punishment for the crime committed, since part of the purpose of punishment is
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precisely this medicinal purpose of reconciliation and correction of the guilty
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party<sup><a href="#r2" >[2]</a></sup> which has here already been satisfied by
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God's grace in the transgressor himself without the need of society's punishment
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to do so.
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</p>
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<p>
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Yet, even so, perhaps the primary purpose of punishment “of redressing the
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disorder introduced by the offense”<sup><a href="#r3" >[3]</a></sup> has not be
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fulfilled and the criminal has still some punishment left to completely
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reconcile himself to society once more. It may be the liberal's fear that the
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transgressor may refuse such a punishment; or perhaps he truly does seek the
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sanctuary of the church for merely selfish reasons. What is misunderstood here
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is the degree to which the transgressor is at the mercy of society by taking
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sanctuary in the church. He cannot leave, for then he returns to the
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jurisdiction of the Civil Authority, but if he remains he is effectively
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imprisoned within the church and completely dependent on the charity of
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precisely that community whom he has transgressed for his basic necessities.
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</p>
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<p>
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What this does is to give the transgressor a true Christian way of reconciling
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himself to the community instead of the transactional justice that we have
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today. Transgressors are given the opportunity to confess their crimes and, in
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so doing, demonstrate their repentance and correction: that they truly believe
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what they did was evil. Meanwhile, our transactional justice system cannot have
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this characteristic, for all transgressions are viewed as debts to be repaid,
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either in cash, time in prison, or (in the case of the death penalty) in blood.
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Whether or not the transgressor repents and recognizes his sin becomes a
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“personal matter,” while justice becomes a matter of cold calculation. Hardly
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something that resembles a society transformed by the light of Jesus Christ.
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</p>
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<p>
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It is not, however, only the transgressor who benefits from these sanctuaries,
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but indeed also the aggrieved party, victim of his transgression. In the first
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place because the victim now has the explicit opportunity to practice one of the
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greatest of Christian virtues: mercy. And indeed, through this act of mercy,
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mercy itself becomes institutionalized such that society as a whole may become
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habituated to it. Secondly, it even serves to bring more closure and healing to
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the aggrieved, as in this manner the transgressor has not only recognized his
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crime as fact, but as evil. This compared to our transactional system in which
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the transgressor perhaps never even admits to the crime, much less to its evil
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nature. Instead the aggrieved must content themselves with a calculated
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recognition of facts summed up into a debt that is to be “paid back to society
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and the aggrieved parties.”
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</p>
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<p>
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Do not misunderstand me, I do not think that NPR is thinking of this when they
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criticize the new ICE policy. My humble guess would be (as an avid listener)
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that they care little for that which is truly sacred, and only make reference to
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it when it suites their ideological motives. Nor, on the contrary, am I saying
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that for this reason (or many others like it) a Christian should never support
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Trump or the Republican Party; politics is a messy business and we must make due
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with what options we have. It is a reminder, rather, to all Christians that no
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party or politician of the current regime represents Christian values, but only
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that some may be better than others.
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</p>
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<ol class="refs">
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<li id="r1" >
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<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/1226038403/new-ice-policies-hegseth-claims-west-bank-attacks" target="_blank" >
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New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks : Up First from NPR : NPR
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</a>
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</li>
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<li id="r2" ><i>Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> § 2266</li>
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<li id="r3" >Ibid.</li>
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</ol>
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