National seminar seeks ways to improve service to migrants

By Rani Punnaserril

Benaulim, May 15, 2022: Unemployment and economic inequality force young people to migrate massively and the Church should address their needs at various levels, says a recent Church seminar.

The Commission for Migrants of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI) that organized the May 11-12 seminar at Benaulim in Goa observed that the large-scale migration of young people is leading to a serious socioeconomic situation in India.

The conference at the Shanti Sadan Pastoral Center analyzed issues related to the migrants in the country. As many as 50 percent of India’s more than 261 million young people have lost their jobs during the Covid pandemic. Unemployment is increasing by more than 8 percent every year. No appointments are made to fill the vacant posts, the seminar noted.

The situation of unorganized workers, including domestic workers and construction workers, is deplorable, the conference assessed.

CCBI president Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa-Daman, who opened the conference, observed that it was being held at the birthplace of Saint Joseph Vaz, a Goan who was a migrant missionary in Sri Lanka where he served the poor and the sick.

The conference was held to mark the 400th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Francis Xavier.

Archbishop Ferrao pointed out that Saint Francis Xavier too was a migrant who took care of the poor and needy in Asia with Goa as his base.

Archbishop Victor Henry Thakur of Raipur, the chairman of the Commission for Migrants, emphasized that migrants need the Church to listen to them more than anything. He said the ministry to the migrants is not an option but a demand. Migration is a normal process that cannot be stopped, he added.

Lourdes Baptista, a resource person, briefed the participants on the recent instruction of Pastoral Orientations on Intercultural Migrant Ministry prepared by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. It says “Develop a Culture of Encounter” in complementing, enriching and reciprocally illuminating one another.

The Vatican document, Baptista noted, specifically instructs the Church to recognize baptized persons as full members wherever they are. He wants the local Church to be missionary and embrace the arrival of Catholic individuals and integrate them as citizens and equal members.

Reach out to those needing help – discarded, ostracized, oppressed, the lay leader said. He also wants the Church to be inclusive and love unconditionally. The Church has the responsibility to care for everyone who is created by God, he stressed.

The Commission for Migrants was constituted in 2019 with Father Jaison Vadassery as the executive secretary. The priest said the commission has its units in most dioceses. He stressed the need to accompany the migrants and meet their spiritual and economic needs. Networking with all those who are engaged in caring for the migrants is the need of the time, the priest stressed.

Father Vadassery noted that the commission took birth when the whole world was gripped in pandemic. The church contributed to the immediate support as far as it could. Even now the commission reaches out to them with dry food kits as many have lost their livelihood, he explained.

Father Albert Thambi Durai, one of the participants, said the problems of the migrants are many and the Catholic Church, an organized body, should work together to help the migrants through its diocese.

The seminar also noted that the migrants face many problems at the destinations and regretted that the media does not report such issues.

Archbishop Elias Gonsalves of Nagpur, the commission’s vice chairman, stressed the need to network and collaborate with those working for the welfare of the migrants. Compartmentalized work benefits a small group whereas collaboration can make a difference in the lives of many migrants, he stressed.

One such incident happened on May 7. Chittaranjan Nayak of Daringabadi in Odisha was on his way to Kerala with his two friends in search of work. The 34-year-old fell sick near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and got down from the train. He was admitted to the Government General Hospital, where he died after two days. His family of two small children and wife received the dead boy of their only breadwinner.

The conference charted a plan of action to implement at the regional and diocesan levels for the next five years.

Father Vadassery said the conference was called to devise specific plans for the CCBI regions so that they could improve their services to migrants.

The meeting called for sensitizing the clergy, religious and laity on the importance of an inclusive Church while promoting synodality in every diocese. Data collection to address the needs of the migrants, linkages to assist them with education, job and other needs were other suggestions.

Pope Francis in his messages exhorts everyone to care for the migrants as they are our brothers and sisters. Now the church is mandated to look out to help the migrants who are distressed, displaced and exploited.

Auxiliary Bishop Alwyn D’Silva of Bombay, the chairman of the Human Rights Commission under the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, stressed the need of various commissions in dioceses to work together for the cause of the needy. The issues of the migrants can be understood only when we visit and listen to them, he said.

The conference also decided to periodically review the progress of the participants’ commitment and to develop “a culture of encounter” in consonance with synodality.
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