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Can a Catholic Ever Say “America First?”

Can a Catholic Ever Say “America First?”

Last updated on: January 20, 2017 at 2:30 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Can a Catholic Ever Say “America First?” 2017-01-20T14:30:39-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

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I have before me the transcript of President Trump’s inaugural speech.

I didn’t quite have the stomach to watch it live, so I waited to read it. I don’t regret my choice so far.

There’s a lot of hot air in this speech, plenty that sounds threatening; and, surprisingly, there were a couple items at which I nodded my head. It would be great to have good infrastructure, and I also hate abandoned factories (which are abundant in this part of the country). I would love to eliminate terrorism, including the Islamist variety, IF we can do so without ourselves becoming terrorists, war criminals or worse. But right now, I want to focus on the one line that troubles me the most.

Donald Trump proclaimed, to applause, “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first.”

That’s not something that you and I as Catholics can accept.

Our Kingdom is not of this world; it can never be of this world. Our Baptism makes us citizens of a much greater Kingdom. And part of our citizenship in the Kingdom of God does involve loyalty and obedience to our country. This is contained in the fourth commandment, and here I’m quoting the Catechism:

2238 Those subject to authority should regard those in authority as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts:43 “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution. . . . Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.”44 Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the community.

2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country:

Those of us Catholics who were born or naturalized in the United States owe the United States’ government obedience and respect. We are to be thankful for everything good in our country, to do our best to defend our country, to take part in government by voting and paying our taxes.

But that submission is not absolute. We answer to a higher authority than our government, and where our government and our God disagree, we’re not to go on following the government without protest.

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.”48 “We must obey God rather than men”:49

So, you see, a faithful Catholic can’t ever truthfully say “America First.” We have to obey the Law of God first, and because of the Law of God we obey civil authorities. But when civil authorities demand participation in injustice and crimes against humanity, we have to resist.

And there’s another sense of “America First” which we also cannot tolerate. “America First” doesn’t only mean “render unto Cesar what is God’s;” it also means “Americans come first;” United States citizens deserve better than anybody else. As if we’re allowed to treat non-Americans in a way we wouldn’t treat ourselves, because we’re better than they are.

We’re not. And if we fall prey to the error of nationalism; if we start thinking that God allows us special bending of the rules because we’re His favorite, we are going to find ourselves committing atrocities and calling it righteousness. We might even delude ourselves that God Himself will call it righteousness, but He won’t. He sees justly. The Lord hears the cry of the poor. He hears the cry of refugees, migrants, civilians trapped in war zones and prisoners being tortured, and He sees them as equal in dignity to any American citizen.

I pray that, somehow, the next four years will be years of uneventful prosperity for everyone. I’ll be very pleased if that’s the case.

But we should all be watchful. Where we’re asked to give Cesar what belongs to the Lord, we have to resist. Where we’re asked to pay homage to the idol of our country, rather than to the Lord, we have to refuse. Where we’re asked to place Americans first in a way that commits crimes against people from anywhere else, we have to protest that with all of our strength.

In Christ, there is no “America First.”

(image via Pixabay)

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