Is it time for Catholic Churches to become sanctuaries?

Christianity was born amid serious church/state conflict, and bishops have already set the precedent that sometimes one has to choose the Gospel over civil law. Such a time may be looming again, if Catholic churches are forced to stand up to mass deportations by offering immigrants sanctuary.



Charles C. Camosy
February 24, 2017

Christianity was born in the midst of some pretty serious resistance to the laws of state. As Tertullian’s oft-quoted line goes, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

The tradition of putting the Gospel ahead of fidelity to the laws of the state would soon involve churches becoming sanctuaries for refugees, locally persecuted people, and even the very people who previously criticized the sanctuary practice.

Today, however, most Western secular cultures do not recognize a legal concept of Church sanctuary, and providing it could therefore be a direct violation of secular law. But we have seen Catholic bishops explicitly call out unjust laws in the very recent past, and even prepare the faithful for possible civil disobedience when the moral issues were grave enough to warrant it.

For instance, in response to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that Catholic hospitals, universities, and other institutions violate their consciences, the U.S. Bishops said the following: