Wetback Church

‘A person who thinks only about building walls and not building bridges is not Christian,’ Pope Francis told journalists on the flight back from his recent visit to Mexico. He was criticising Donald Trump who claims that, if elected American President, he would build an $8 billion wall along the border between the US and Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, or ‘wetbacks’ as they are disparagingly known.

Some Christians were quick to defend the would-be occupant of the White House, such as the Orthodox priest who said that the Republican candidate’s faith is genuine, and that he had sought a blessing from him ‘in sincerity and humility.’

It’s not for any of us, even a Pope, to judge what goes on in someone else’s heart. But how we live, what we say, the decisions we make – all these reveal the nature of our beliefs. And the Pope is right to say that building barriers, keeping people at arms’ length is ‘not the gospel’ which instead centres on the breaking-down of walls, the healing of relationships.

US pastor Robert Jeffress entered the debate on Trump’s behalf, claiming that while it’s the role of the church to show compassion, the responsibility of government is to maintain order and protect citizens.  But surely the revolutionary Christian understanding of grace is for the benefit of society as a whole?

All this is relevant to the intense debate which David Cameron kick-started a couple of Saturdays ago over the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union. Between now and 23^rd June, we’ll hear endless arguments from people on both sides of the issue, who in their attempts to persuade us will invoke our desire for freedom, peace and security, personal prosperity and the economic flourishing of the country.

It’s difficult to discern where the truth lies when so much of what we hear is biased and self-serving. But what Pope Francis said of Donald Trump gives us a foundational principle to help us in our decision about Europe. Building barriers is ‘not the gospel.’

As a Christian, I believe in the breaking down of walls; in co-operation with others; in sharing responsibility for the problems facing our part of the world. I am under no illusion that this is easy, or that the EU is not desperately flawed, but a vote to remain ‘in’ seems the right choice.

But of course our tendency to build barriers is not limited to international relations. We are builders of walls in everyday life – and even in church - as we seek power and a sense of security. We pigeon-hole people as ‘in’ or ‘out’; ‘good’ or ‘bad’; ‘one of us’ or ‘one of them.’ But as Christians we are called to break down the barriers, to be vulnerable, to embrace the stranger.

And you can see where that leads us. Pope Francis says Donald Trump is ‘not Christian’ meaning that in his words if not in his heart he is suggesting Trump is ‘not one of us.’ But Trump is one of us, as he struggles either to listen to or to ignore the small voice of God which shows us the emptiness of our ego-led dreams and calls us to experience and share the Father’s unconditional love.

We must not put Donald Trump ‘outside the camp’ but rather pray for him that he may be transformed by grace. We must seek within what Father Greg Boyle in his book Tattoos on the heart calls ‘a spacious and undefended heart which finds room for everything you are and carves space for everybody else.’

Trump responded to the Pope’s remarks by saying that Francis had an ‘awfully big wall’ himself at the Vatican. To which a priest retorted that that wall had an ‘awfully big gate.’ It may seem to us that the way to God’s kingdom is blocked by awfully big walls – but are those walls in fact created by our own doubt and guilt and shame? The good news is that there is an awfully big door in those walls through which love pours endlessly.

 

Father Greg Boyle

Father Boyle’s book describes his work as a priest in deprived, violent communities in Los Angeles where the population is almost entirely of Latin American origin. The Dolores Mission Church welcomes everyone, and breaks down the barriers between rival gang members.

Boyle describes a time, back in the 1980s, when he allowed illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America to sleep in the church. Someone, opposed to this, spray-painted the words ‘Wetback Church’ on the steps outside.  Father Greg’s first instinct was to remove these words until someone pointed out that they were a badge of honour. That’s what we are! Wetback church. Outcasts welcome. No walls, no barriers. Love without frontiers.

(Christian Viewpoint column from the Highland News dated 3rd March 2016)