The E-catechism: November 1998

Like a child

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Illegal immigrants- foreigners without visas

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Each month the team working on this catechism presents you with two texts, and we hope that with your help and cooperation they will improve. Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome, as would ideas on subject matter.

We look forward to hearing from you.


LIKE A CHILD

 

"Let the children come unto me, for they are like the Kingdom of God."
The point of this parable in the Gospels is to show the child´s trust in the adult, starting with his parents. There has to be trust, because the child (it) is born into a state of extreme vulnerability and complete dependence.
We can make this analogy with regard to God - we are not able to put our trust in him out of our uncertaintly in what will ultimately become of us and our inability to acquire deep within ourselves some kind of assurance.
Jesus himself on the cross didn´t have a solution to avoid despair: "Father, I place my soul into your hands." To put ones faith into the hands of one we trust is a Christian attitude.

Yet the child also represents the other who is established between his parents.This otherness has not finished when he has become known to them. Even in his dependence he possesses a powerful capacity for independence. Birth is the first act of independence followed by shrieking, walking, toilet, school and the knowledge of everything that comes with puberty until finally he comes of age when he is equal to his parents. Everything is marked, from the first tears and willful tantrums to assert himself. Then education acts as the guarantor of the will with its aim of developing the independence of is subject.

The parable of Jesus and the children was not unable to take this vital dynamism, which is found in the child, into account. One can deduce that the Kingdom of God is for those who are independent, who develop to their full abilities and human potential. He that is prepared to hide his "talent" under a bushell rather than bring it to fruition is not part of God´s Kingdom.

Trust and independence are not contradictory. It´s about striking a balance between the child being able to trust and at the same time develop his own personality.

That´s why the Gospels are so strict on those who abuse the trust of children.
"It would be better for him to have a millstone hung round his neck and be swallowd up by the sea."
One can think about the small victims of paedophiles and all kinds of other abuse.
If God betrays our confidence, he will be subject to the same judgement.
Then it will no longer be about a Christian God. On the other hand, to be considered a child of God is to take full responsibility for human development.
Irenee, the Bishop of Lyon said in the 11th century: "The glory of God is an upright man." he good fortune and pride felt by parents is felt the same by he world over, the period of parental care which lasts a good 20 years, to be human beings, men and women, worthy of this name.
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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS - foreigners without visas

 

The countries of the European Community are tightening up their legislation on illegal immigrants. Repressive laws make them suspects - laws which often prove inhumane in their enforcement.
Illegal immigrants without visas are thrown into dispair and experience insecurity on a daily basis. "Without documents they don't exist. They don´t have rights."
Who is there to witness the distress of these families and young people who tread the bureaucratic rounds in the vain hope of naturalisation? Who can understand their fear of being forced to go back to their countries?
In their desperation they occupy churches, go on hunger strikes and don´t hesitate to put their lives in danger.
Those that are arrested by the police know all about insiduous detention centres - camps of suffering isolated from the rest of the world.
They are bundled onto planes by force, handcuffed, taped up, perhaps even sedated. There have been deaths. It´s a scandal and a disgrace.
 
In the context of todays difficult economic climate, public oppinion isn´t favourable to illegal immigrants who end up becoming scapegoats for all our ills.
Christians should support them. A foreigner, even with a problem is still a human being. Even without documents he´s a brother.
"I was a stranger and you have received me." (Matthew 25,35).
Isn´t the very fact that foreigners - muslims for the mostpart - choose to occupy churches to find refuge, a direct call to us as Christians?
Churches are gateways to the great message of human freedom. They are traditionally bound up with the reception of strangers.
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