My first, and very Catholic, act of civil disobedience

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My first, and very Catholic, act of civil disobedience

I was arrested, for the first time in my life, at the Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children in mid-July. That day was probably the closest I will come to experiencing any kind of physical solidarity with migrants, no matter how much of a pale imitation my experience was compared to theirs.
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Did not read it, because something seems off from the get go, and after thinking it, I see why.

He says “and very catholic” Act of civil “Disobedience” Those words do not go together, and it is not even biblical. I’ll explain my reason.

The One thing that is of God is “Obedience” the very first sin was “Disobedience” Now, some will say that this is being disobedient at the National laws. Ok, lets thing about this. If the person works with ICE and Border Patrol and they disobey… That is conscience disobedience and very Catholic. But they are disobeying the peaceful protest laws, not the actual immigration laws, and that is why they where arrested. Not because of conscience, but because of disobeying the rules for protest.

Is it very “Catholic” to “Disobey” any law? If that be the case, I will protest the speeding laws by driving at fast speeds in protest to abortion laws. Makes no sense.

I am very pro life, but have a hard time supporting the red rose protests. They pass the line of the laws for our protest.
 
It’s an article about the writer’s experience being arrested for the protesting. I’m not exactly sure what your comment has to do with the article in question.
 
Yes, migrants die, that’s sad. Some have been massacred South of the Border. Might these people have signs with pictures for them? Or the Americans who have died as a result of acts of those who have entered this country illegally as well? One has to look at the total picture, at least, I do.
 
Whatever floats your boat. I support the right of people to engage in peaceful protest regardless of cause and regardless of whether they are Catholics. I personally don’t think crowding into a government office building is a prudent way to go about it and would not do that sort of protest myself, nor would I block traffic at rush hour. I would choose to protest in a reasonable time, place and manner as indeed I have done for both Right to Life and another cause or two.

I appreciate that this person shared his experience without making it sound like every other Catholic needed to be there doing the same thing or they weren’t really a good Catholic. I got a lot of the latter attitude growing up from the activist generation, including clergy and nuns. It turned me off to protest, and I was further turned off when I worked in DC and was constantly being inconvenienced by protesters who were mostly getting a shared emotional high from the fact that they were in DC protesting something, because unless the protest was the huge size of the Million Man March or the Women’s March on Washington, nobody there was paying any attention to them.
 
I suppose it would be a very Catholic act to help secure the borders and notify authorities of lawbreakers.
 
IdaCatholic said:
I suppose it would be a very Catholic act to help secure the borders and notify authorities of lawbreakers.
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Why make such an accusation? If it is towards my comment, well; I did not say that, you did.

Barabas was a civil disobedient person that was traded for Jesus
The Jews acted in civil disobedience when they said in one voice to Pontus Pilate: You are no friend of Caesar.

I am not saying they are not protesting the right issue at all. I am talking about the way they did it.
 
Why wouldn’t it be? I wholeheartedly believe the border should be secure. I also believe in calling law enforcement when I see someone break the law. I am devout Catholic and my conscience is clear with these matters.

Some of the more liberal members may now accuse me of being racist toward those of Hispanic origin, accuse me of having zero compassion toward those fleeing violence. Not one will ask what my thoughts or ideas are, they’ll just assume they know.

This is the problem with all this so called “civil disobedience”. It is more news worthy to protest than to actually sit down with the other side and really discuss what the solution to the problem is. Doing that won’t put you in the news, even a rag such as the National Catholic Reporter.
 
I have no idea what you are talking about or why you are addressing me. My point to the article was I found it very self righteous and as a Catholic I found it did not speak for me, because I am on the opposite side of the issue politically, and I’m just as Catholic as the author. So are those who enforce the laws and protect the borders.
 
I get that a lot. No worries the voices in my head all agree with me, and they like me.
 
Rockoh22 said:
Did not read it, because something seems off from the get go, and after thinking it, I see why.

He says “and very catholic” Act of civil “Disobedience” Those words do not go together, and it is not even biblical.
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Catechism 1902 Authority does not derive its moral legitimacy from itself. It must not behave in a despotic manner, but must act for the common good as a moral force based on freedom and a sense of responsibility: A human law has the character of law to the extent that it accords with right reason, and thus derives from the eternal law. Insofar as it falls short of right reason it is said to be an unjust law, and thus has not so much the nature of law as of a kind of violence.

1903 Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience.

2242 The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” “We must obey God rather than men (humans).”
 
I completely agree. The problem here. They went to break laws that have nothing to do with the problem. They got arrested for civil disobedience, and not for hiding illegal immigrants or nothing to that nature.

If I go to the White House and break in to get arrested then I say I did it for the fight against abortion. That does absolutely nothing.
 
USCCB “For it (nonviolence) consists of a commitment to resist manifest injustice and public evil with means other than force. These include dialogue, negotiations, protests, strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience and civilian resistance.” (Harvest of Justice is Sown in Peace, 1993)
 
I personally don’t think it’s very “Catholic” to go disrupt an office full of people who are working, when you could just as easily make your protest and get all kinds of media attention out on the public sidewalk where protests belong.

It’s straight out of the Berrigan Brothers’ playbook and it’s that type of behavior that leads to a bunch of old baby boomers thinking it’s okay to march down the aisle during Mass and start yelling and taking over the pulpit.
 
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she broke the law because other people where being arrested for breaking the law

okay

why doesn’t she have her party change the immigration laws?
 
I think I just find people that are prepared to actually ‘breach the walls’ of prejudice despite the possibility of arrest, to be heroic. Thinking of Rosa Parks and the Little Rock Nine.
 
Do you apply that to pride events?

Personally I think it would be heroic if the author of the article went down to mexico or any country that people are fleeing and demonstrated against the actual evil governments hurting these people.
 
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IdaCatholic said:
Do you apply that to pride events?
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As much as I disagree with that agenda, yes I do.
IdaCatholic said:
Personally I think it would be heroic if the author of the article went down to mexico or any country that people are fleeing and demonstrated against the actual evil governments hurting these people.
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I regard that suggestion in the same vein as those who say prolife protestors should offer to adopt all the unwanted babies.
 
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