Church recognizes immigrants' God-given human rights, cardinal says

Published: 2007-05-11

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- The basic moral principle that everyone is entitled to God-given human rights is the key to understanding the Catholic Church's support for immigrants, said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony May 8 in the annual John M. Templeton Jr. Lecture on Economic Liberties and the Constitution in Philadelphia. The current U.S. immigration system accepts the labor, taxes and purchasing power of immigrants who are separated from their families, Cardinal Mahony said, and yet millions of them who are in the country illegally are not protected by laws. "While such a system might meet our economic needs in the narrow measurement of monetary gain, it fails to meet the broad definition of 'oikonomia,' or the call of Scripture," he said. "Oikonomia" is the Greek word at the root of the word "economy" but which first means the arrangement of a household, he explained. In early Christian history, "oikonomia" referred to the way God's household -- in which holiness, truth, justice, love and peace prevailed -- is ordered, he said.

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