The editorial in the Christmas issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review utilized a title apt to the season: "Room at the Inn," and borrowed a Filipino slogan to speak of migrant labor as the "unsung hero of Asia's development." With a tremendous labor shortage, especially of skilled labor, looming ahead, the editorial invokes "more creative ways to make it easier for business to bring in the people they need – with legal arrangements that preserve their dignity and prevent them from being forced underground."

Behind the compassionate facade, what is reflected is the tremendous transformation that parts of Asia have undergone in the past decades. From a continent largely grouped in the developing world, Asia, particularly East Asia, is currently the fastest developing region in the world. Nations which previously had to send workers abroad because of high unemployment have reached the point of suffering scarcity of labor. Migration flows traditionally directed toward North America and Europe have found new outlets in Asian economies.

To invoke a facilitated and more protected circulation of labor, certainly beneficial to the workers, does not reveal all the facets of a complex scenario. If migration occurs, it is because of imbalances, mostly of an economic nature, among nations. Such differences used to exist between East and West, and now are within Asian regions. Migration alone does not take a country out of misery, and employers in receiving countries benefit much more than workers from the contribution of migrants. After all, migrant labor is sought after because it is cheap and easily disposable. Capital and labor are partners in development, but such partnership should be extended to the countries where migration originates, by increasing economic cooperation and not simply draining skilled labor.

The following reflections intend to present some aspects of the issue of migration in Asia and the implications they pose to the Church. After all, with approximately 125 million migrants in the world, migration has been viewed as the potential crisis of our age, and it has already entered the agenda of international relations concerns. After examining some facts in terms of flows and stocks of migrants in Asian countries, some major issues will be highlighted, to consider then the approach of the Church in Asia and practical recommendations for pastoral action. The focus will remain mostly on labor migration in Asia, leaving aside the traditional permanent migration to North America and Australia, or migration to Europe. While involving a large number of Asian migrants every year, close to half a million, such flow presents different characteristics and pastoral issues. Also, the issue of refugees will not be analyzed. While the differences between migrants and refugees are less clear in the complex of causes which originate human mobility, the approach to the care of refugees requires distinct initiatives.

Facts

The traditional geographic subdivisions of Asia are useful categories for examining migration flows. West Asia, or the Middle East, has been the major region of immigration for the past twenty years, particularly the Arab peninsula. Foreign workers are estimated to be 4.6 million in Saudi Arabia and 1.6 million in the United Arab Emirates. Neighboring Arab countries have been the major region of origin, but the Gulf War has caused a reshuffle in the composition of the foreign work force, with Jordanians, Palestinians and Yemenis losing acceptance, while economic sanctions have crippled Iraq's economy and the attractiveness of its migrant labor. The current recession has spurred a movement toward more utilization of the national work force in the private sector, which is overwhelmingly staffed by foreign workers, while nationals have been traditionally employed in government positions. But the lack of qualifications and the high cost of the national workforce will hinder the success of this policy and migrant workers will remain in demand. While the occupational characteristics of foreign labor have changed considerably from the initial construction boom, and are more diversified in the maintenance and service sectors, wages have decreased and working conditions have not improved. Particularly worrisome is the lack of freedom of worship in some countries.

South Asia has increased its participation in migration. From the original involvement of India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also initiated overseas labor programs. India, whose migrant force comes mostly from Kerala and Punjab, has deregulated its migration policy and it is difficult to estimate the annual outflow of workers, (approximately 150,000 in 1991 according to the official figures of the government). Pakistan has returned to an annual outflow of approximately 150,000 migrants, after the decline in the mid-1980s, and maintains over 600,000 workers abroad, almost all of them in the Middle East. Bangladesh's outflow has doubled since 1990 and it deploys approximately 200,000 workers abroad every year, while Sri Lanka's annual deployment has jumped recently over 100,000, after some stabilization at 60,000.

Southeast Asia is a complex region, where development is proceeding at an encouraging pace and participation in migration is accordingly at different stages. Next to Singapore, with over 200,000 migrants (16 per cent of the work force) and Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand have become countries of immigration. Malaysia constitutes a particular case because of the large number of undocumented migrants (perhaps 1 million), mostly from Indonesia, but also from the Philippines. Like Thailand, Malaysia is still deploying workers abroad, particularly in Taiwan and Japan. It is a typical phase of the migration transition, where a country is both importer and exporter of workforce. Indonesia and the Philippines, instead, are countries of emigration. The Philippines, in particular, with approximately 600,000 migrants deployed every year, is the largest exporter of labor in the world. Approximately 140,000 are seafarers, making the Philippines the top country of origin for seafarers. While the Indochinese peninsula is undergoing a difficult transition toward normalization, development in countries like Vietnam is presenting the possibility to enter the international labor market, using a different scheme than was previous used with the Soviet Union.

East Asia has become the most recent area of attraction for migrant labor. Japan hosts approximately 100,000 workers from Asia, 150,000 of Japanese origin from Latin America, 40,000 trainees and 300,000 irregular migrants. South Korea has also entered the trainee scheme, but has already accumulated a large number or irregular migrants, employed particularly in small industries. Hong Kong hosts approximately 130,000 domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines, but also workers in construction projects like the new airport. Taiwan has approved an immigration law which allows for the entry of unskilled labor. Approximately 45,000 Filipinos work in Taiwan in small factories or as domestic workers, but Thais are even more numerous. The restriction of the work permit to only one year, renewable at most for another year, is forcing many migrants to leave their employers and become irregularly employed. China, foreseen to be in the year 2010 the second largest economy in the world, is undergoing profound changes involving a floating population of 150 million. Its participation in international migration remains small, but it involves an undetermined number of migrants smuggled to other countries, particularly the United States.

Though it is difficult to estimate, the stock of migrants from selected Asian countries can be considered to be approximately 4.5 million, of whom perhaps two million are from the Philippines and one million from India.

Characteristics and Issues

Labor migration in Asia has developed specific characteristics which distinguish it from labor movements of the past or in other regions. It is delimited by working contracts of short duration (two years or less). The renewal of contract, when allowed, usually requires the return to the country of origin. Migration is administered by complex government bureaucracies and a recruitment industry, whose search for profit leads to increased migration and irregular practices. The recruitment industry is also responsible for the high costs of migration, which put workers in debt before departure and force them to become irregular overstayers. The high cost of migration functions also as a selective mechanism, excluding the poorest from entering the migratory process and participating in its benefits.

Short-term contracts exclude any possibility of family reunification, even when contracts are renewed and residence abroad extends for a few years. Migration, therefore, has an impact on the family life of the migrant, both for spouse relations as well as parental relations. The pressure to migrate, inflated by the recruitment industry, the apparent success of previous migrants, and the lack of opportunities in the local economy, encourage increasing sectors of the population to participate in it. The demand for domestic services has originated the participation of large numbers of women in migration. They are particularly numerous in Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.

The increased participation of women in migration, an expression of the traditional division of labor extended to the international market, has also emphasized the intensity of the exploitation of migrants. The lack of labor-law protection connected with domestic services and the murky atmosphere of the entertainment industry present conditions where women are easily subject to violence.

The unwillingness of receiving countries to adopt appropriate migration policies to absorb the workers in demand by the industry, the high level of unemployment in countries of origin whose economic development cannot absorb the number of new entrants into the labor force, the search for better opportunities, encouraged by a migration mentality, and the unscrupulous practices of recruiters have all contributed to the creation of flows of irregular migrants in all Asian countries. Undocumented migrants are mostly victims of exploitative employers and become the occasion for anti-migrant mentalities in receiving countries. Restrictive policies have proven ineffective to curb this phenomenon, which demands a global approach to stifle a phenomenon which has turned into big business for the underworld. "Trafficking in Humans: Big Business in Europe" headlined the International Herald Tribune recently. But trafficking is by no means limited to Europe and is also prospering in Asia.

Some problematic aspects of the migratory process originate from recruitment. Because of the effectiveness of private recruitment in deploying workers abroad, and of expanding opportunities for overseas labor, most governments of countries of origin have regulated the recruiting industry. However, they have been unable to control fees charged to migrants and to eliminate the involvement of unlicensed agencies in the recruiting process. As a consequence, migrants are victimized either through fake contracts and promises of non-existing jobs, or through exorbitant fees, which require recourse to undocumented migration.

Seafarers constitute a specific category of migrant workers, regulated by complex legislation and at the same time easily disposable. The search for profit, emphasized by the quest for unregulated conditions, amounts to a pressure on seafarers to accept ever-lower standards of working conditions and benefits. Cultural and ethnic conflicts, easily emphasized by long periods of work in the small confinement of a ship, end too often in tragedy, and redress of compensation is difficult to obtain.

At the job site, working and living conditions are mostly poor. Migrant labor is sought mostly by small industries that cannot upgrade the technological process of production and must compete by limiting the cost of labor. The attractiveness of salaries which are higher than what is available in countries of origin has a price paid by migrants usually through exploitative living and working conditions. The prevalent approach of policy-makers speaks of the necessity of labor markets to be flexible to sustain international competition. However, the terminology hides an erosion of human and labor rights to increase the profits of ownership and management.

Some Asian governments claim a distinct and unique approach to human rights. Chiding the traditional presentation of human rights as an expression of the individualistic and conflictual mentality of Western societies, they emphasize community before the individual, and stress dialogue instead of confrontation as a more original Asian approach. While aspects of this approach can certainly contribute to enriching the understanding and protection of human rights, they are sometimes used as a political tool to limit access to popular control. Human rights constitute a unicum and should not be partitioned for political advantage.

Because of the increasing relevance and complexity of issues originated by international migration, it appears ever more urgent to abandon a unilateral approach and embrace a regional and international approach. Migrants are not commodities, but people, whose life and conditions governments are committed to protect. Moreover, incidents because of misunderstandings and mistreatment of migrants tend to become matters of friction among societies. Migration is ever more relevant for international relations and for the peace process among societies. For these reasons, and more specifically because of the relevance of migration for the life and the dialogue of Churches in Asia, it is important for the Church to deepen its understanding and take the necessary initiatives to ensure the protection of the dignity of migrants, their preparation and their integration in the local Church as active witnesses to the Gospel.

The Church and Migration

A reflection on migration from the perspective of the Church in Asia must be inserted into the wider context of the reflection on being Church in Asia, its understanding of the social issues and of its mission. From the previous assemblies of FABC, the meetings of the bishops' institutes, and the theological colloquia, a complex approach has emerged, which speaks of integral evangelization and integral liberation, which requires denouncing the violations of human rights and building solidarity for the defense of human dignity. The preferential option for the poor provides the specific perspective for a process of development from which the poor are not excluded. This requires changes both at the structural as well as the personal levels, changes to be achieved through struggle but not violence. The process requires giving preference to micro-level initiatives and the acquiring of a social conscience at all levels. Growth in faith will provide courage and strength for a prophetic stance not rooted so much in confrontation, but in dialogue. Integral liberation is sustained and leads to a profound spirituality, which draws from the rich tradition of Asian contemplation and aims to become a spirituality of harmony.

Within this context, migration appears as a complex reality, an expression of the injustice of rich nations against developing nations, but also of the myopia and greed of rulers within the nation against the poor; an expression of the drive toward material possessions, but also of the search for a higher quality of life; an occasion for violence and abuse, but also for cultural enrichment and brotherhood; an occasion for loss of faith, but also for evangelization. Because of its complexity, it is important to develop an integral theological approach, avoiding misconceptions and partialities.

• Migration is generated by the form of development resulting from the capitalist mode of production, where capital tends to concentrate in areas and sectors of high profitability, forcing workers to relocate first from the rural to the industrial areas and, if absorption of workforce is insufficient, to other economies abroad. The Church has often spoken against the evils of capitalism and most of the migratory experience, in jobs which are dirty, dangerous and demeaning, confirms the violence that the capitalist economy imposes on people. However, the lack of alternatives does not allow migrants any other choice but to participate in the system, and long-term solutions to migration point toward the necessity to provide creative corrections, or alternatives, to the system, rather than just to condemn it. While economic development in East Asia has not been, and is not, without problems, it has, however, extinguished the necessity for those countries to send migrants abroad.

• The Church has made repeatedly the preferential option for the poor, but migrants do not appear among the poor. The remittances they send home allow their families better living conditions and opportunities for education of children. The society of origin considers them lucky and the neighbors envy the appliances and electronics they can afford. The Church of origin appears to reflect this mentality, in part, and migrants are not considered a pastoral issue.

• The limited duration of contracts makes the integration of migrants in the country of employment almost impossible. The receiving Church also appears to recognize this fact and, since the migrants will not remain, they might not be given particular attention. The underlining assumption is that migrants are a concern of the Church of origin.

• In addition, difficulties of language render it practically impossible for the receiving Church to assume the pastoral care of migrants. Therefore, they are left to the care of foreign missionaries who can speak the language. However, usually these missionaries have other tasks, and migrants only become a temporary concern.

• At the same time, migrants are problematic. Not only do they ask for help from the local Church in their legal or social needs, but sometimes their presence becomes overwhelming, and they upset the local communities. In addition, because of their quest for earnings, they accept occupations of dubious repute and compromise their moral standards, becoming counterwitnesses to the Gospel. Victims of greedy recruiters and unscrupulous employers, they venture into irregular migration and are considered willing participants in their own victimization. Migrants, therefore, are blamed for the disruption and bad image they bring to Christian communities.

They are among the new poor of our society. Poor because in large numbers they remain victims of the necessity to improve their situation and accept living and working conditions which are subhuman. Poor because they suffer long separation from family and loved ones, and cannot contribute the loving and caring presence which sustains and motivates human living. Poor because migration is not necessarily rewarding, and for some who succeed, many remain marginalized or are forced back into migration as through a revolving door. Poor because sometimes they neglect their moral and spiritual life, or are forced into environments where sufficient support to their faith is not available.

As poor, they also carry a message about the organization of our society and our economies, oriented toward a flawed development, which is strictly based on having more rather than being more, and which provides an inefficient and unjust way to redistribute the wealth that "originates from no other source than from the labor of workers" (Rerum Novarum, 51). In the face of the much-touted Asian economic miracle, the development of forms of migration, where human dignity is easily ignored, proclaims that the growth of wealth is not true development, because it is not liberating for everyone.

The Good News of the Lord instead is liberating. It is the news that Jesus has identified himself with them when he said, "Blessed are the poor" (Mt 5:3), but also when he said, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35). It is the news that through their quest for economic improvement, they are seeking for a better quality of living which economic welfare can only imperfectly give; but Christ can, because he is the life. It is the news that no land on earth is the promised land; but the Kingdom is already in our midst. In the Kingdom there are no barriers because "there is no longer Jew of Greek, male or female" (Gal 3:28). The struggle through foreign territories is an image of our journey for a homeland, because right now every land is a foreign land.

The word of God liberates when it shows the migrants the danger of serving mammon, of placing all their hopes in more material possessions and forgetting personal dignity, the danger of losing solidarity with brethren for personal gain. The Church is an instrument, a sacrament of this liberation. Migrants, welcomed into the Receiving Church, experience the universal love of God and bring the richness and diversity of its expressions, so that a new way of being Church is constantly achieved. Through forming a community united by the same faith, they live the mission of revealing to, all the love of God for the world.

The difference between migration as a human experience, with difficulties but possibilities for growth, and migration as a demeaning experience, with dramatic consequences and loss of dignity, lies in its causes and conditions. The pastoral care of migrants requires the Church to address first of all the causes of migration, and advocate the promotion of sound, equitable and humane conditions in relation to international migration. At the same time, it requires the provision of conditions for being Church also during the migration process, with possibilities to nourish faith and proclaim that Jesus is Lord. It requires formation of migrants before their journey, and support systems for families to cope during migration. It requires appreciation of the possibilities for evangelization that migrants offer, and for empowering them to contribute to the mission, but also an effort to evangelize the migrants and make them responsible for the witnessing which derives from their baptism. It is an occasion for experiencing the universal dimension of the Church lived in the local context, and for practicing dialogue among cultures and beliefs. It requires a prophetic denunciation of the shortcomings and sinfulness in the development process, which originates migration, and the affirmation of the possibility of a new society where borders do not separate and do not discriminate. Because of the complex nature of migration, the pastoral care of migrants in Asia must be an integral evangelization and must contribute to preparing the conditions for "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21: 1).

Pastoral Recommendations

Within this context, migration has not received much specific attention in the FABC documents. The index of the volume For All Peoples of Asia has only one citation from BIMA 1 in 1988 on the importance of migrants for evangelization. However, migration has not been ignored by the bishops, and specifically some bishops' conferences and individual bishops have spoken explicitly on it.*

Institutional guidelines for the pastoral care of migrants were issued 25 years ago by the Congregation of Bishops in the Instruction De Pastorali Migratorum Cura. Recommendations in that instruction are still relevant and bishops should familiarize themselves with them. However, the Instruction is being revised, since many things have changed in 25 years, and Asian bishops should contribute their suggestions to such revision.

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• The Conference of Bishops in the Philippines released a statement in 1988 on the occasion of Migration Sunday; the Chinese Bishops' Conference in Taiwan wrote a letter in 1989 on the question of foreign workers; the Episcopal Commission on Social Activities of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan issued a message in 1993; and the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Bishops' Conference in Korea released a message in the same year. The symposium organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in Manila in 1992 has increased the attention of all conferences; and it was followed by a symposium on the care of migrant Filipinos in Asia, held in Hong Kong in 1993.

At the Level of FABC

Establish a Migration Desk. The first need is to raise the awareness of the Churches on the issue of international migration, facilitate the circulation of information, exchange initiatives and methodologies, coordinate efforts, facilitate the preparation of pastoral kits, organize the preparation of pastoral personnel, prepare statements and provide representation at the regional level. Migration in fact cannot be adequately dealt with in a unilateral or even bilateral way, but it requires a regional approach. This proposal was already formulated at the First Consultative Meeting for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees in Asia, held in Manila in 1992, and reiterated at the Symposium on Filipino Migrant Workers in Asia, held in Hong Kong in 1993, but it has not been implemented yet.

At the Level of Bishops' Conferences

1. A Pastoral Letter or Statement on Migration. International migration is characterized by the policies of receiving countries, who determine the type of migrants they will receive, and establish the legal and social framework for their stay. Therefore, migration has different characteristics and poses different challenges to the Church in the various nations. A pastoral statement by those conferences which have not done it, or which did it sometime ago, presenting the understanding and approach of the Church to the issue, with analysis of causes and denunciation of injustices, will set the agenda and expand the involvement of Christians in this issue.

2. A Bishops' Commission on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Some conferences already have such an institution, albeit with a different name, or perhaps as part of a larger commission; others do not. However, all signs indicate that migration will increase and migrants will remain longer than expected. The bishops' commission has served well in other Churches with longer experience of migration and should be replicated where it is not present.

3. Advocacy. The commitment of the Church to the promotion and defense of human dignity requires a clear stance on human rights, and the Church should establish a dialogue with civic and social institutions to ensure that policies and practices do not violate the dignity of migrants. For this reason, immigration laws and policies in each country should be carefully studied so that a positive contribution can be made. Such dialogue cannot have the same form in all countries; however, the awareness of the minority status in which the Church usually stands should not excuse it from speaking for those who do not have a voice. Particular attention must be dedicated to the issue of undocumented migration and to the trafficking in migrant women. Specific recommendations should be made to ensure the adherence of governments to international instruments, such as the ILO Conventions on migrant workers, and the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

4. Cooperation among Churches. The pastoral care of migrants is the primary responsibility of the Receiving Church, often not sufficiently equipped for a ministry which requires knowledge of a different language and culture. Cooperation between the Church of Origin and the Receiving Church is fundamental and should include clear guidelines for the exchange of pastoral personnel (lay, religious and clergy), and temporary missions organized in cooperation.

5. The Preparation of Pastoral Workers. Training sessions should be made available for personnel involved in the pastoral care of migrants. Such training should provide a general understanding of the migratory phenomenon, a theological approach, and immersion/exposure in the environment and culture of the country of origin. To help in the formation process, at various levels, a manual on the pastoral care of migrants and refugees in Asia should be prepared.

At the Level of Dioceses

1. Being Church with Migrants. A diocesan policy should be expressed to become Church with the migrants and to make them part of the community of disciples, companions on the journey toward the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:2). Such community gives witness to the unity and universality of the Church and implements Jesus' prayer that they may all be one (Jn 17:21). Such a policy will require an evangelization of both the migrants and the local Christians to build community.

2. Human Promotion. The needs of migrants require intervention to provide shelter, legal representation, medical assistance, etc. The Church can orient its social institutions to care also for the migrants; most of all, it should facilitate their self-organizing, empowering them to respond to their own needs. Particular attention should be given to migrant associations and to NG0s, making them partners in the promotion and defense of the dignity of migrants.

3. Respect and Appreciation of Cultural Diversity. Cultures provide a variety of expression of the same faith. The cultural diversity that migrants bring should be appreciated and migrants should be given the opportunity, as much as possible, to express their faith in their own culture and language, with respect for their traditions, without creating division in the community. For this reason, the local clergy should make an effort to learn how to communicate effectively the Gospel to the migrants. When this is not possible, missionaries should be provided of the same language and culture, in cooperation with the Church of Origin. Cultural cooperation can also be established for the preparation of catechetical and liturgical material.

4. Diocesan Office for Human Mobility. When it is possible and required, a diocesan office for the pastoral care of migrants can be established for the coordination of this activity; or a diocesan representative can be appointed to work in coordination with the relevant office of the bishops' conference.

5. Migration Day. An annual migration day should be celebrated as an occasion for prayer with migrant workers, awareness of their struggles and sensitization of the local community on mutual acceptance and cooperation.

6. Basic Christian Communities. Migrants are often scattered and the time allowed to them for their Christian gathering is very limited. For this reason, small Christian communities should be encouraged, where migrants can be gathered by the word of God in love and prayer. Lay missionaries can be very effective in this ministry.

7. Formation of Laity and Clergy. Attention to the migration issue should be part of the curriculum in seminaries and in formation courses for lay missionaries. Such responsibility belongs to both the receiving Church and the Church of origin, which must acquire the sensitivity of not abandoning the members of its community when abroad. Personnel specifically involved with the care of migrants should participate in a formation program organized by the bishops' conference.

8. Apostleship of the Sea in the Ports. An office should be established in all major ports where human and Christian support can be offered to seafarers, and assistance provided for the many victims who do not have a way to present their grievances to authorities. Also, opportunities should be provided for formation for Christian life on board, where seafarers only have themselves to lead them in listening to the word of God and in prayer.

9. Support Groups for Families. The formation of groups at the parish level should be encouraged, so families with migrants abroad can discuss mutual concerns and draw support.

10. Contacts with Migrants. Migrants should be encouraged to inform the community of origin when departing, and contacts should be maintained. Also, instruments for personal prayer, such as radio cassettes, can be provided, particularly in countries where it is not possible to gather for worship.

Useful moments for understanding, assessing and planning pastoral activities are conferences and symposia. After the First Consultative Meeting of 1992, the Pontifical Council is planning to organize another gathering, perhaps in cooperation with FABC. It might be good to present suggestions concerning place, topics and speakers, either during this assembly or directly to the Pontifical Council. Likewise, it appears that there will be an international conference on migration, organized by the United Nations, in 1997 and it will be held in Manila. The Church should facilitate local organizations for reflection on the issues, as well as for participation of its NG0s in that forum.
 
 

Norms for the National Conferences of Bishops

Episcopal conferences, especially national ones, should pay energetic attention to the more pressing problems confronting the aforementioned groups (namely people who migrate, exiles and refugees, etc.) Through common agreement and united efforts, such conferences should look to and promote the spiritual care of these people by means of suitable methods and institutions. They should first bear in mind the special rules already laid down by the Apostolic See. These can suitably adapted to the circumstances of time, place and persons.

The episcopal conferences are asked that, bearing in mind the great number of migrants and travellers today, they assign to a priest delegated for this purpose or to a special commission established for this purpose everything pertaining to the study and direction of the spiritual care of these persons.

Since pastoral needs increasingly require that some pastoral undertakings be directed and carried forward as joint projects, it is fitting that certain offices be created for the service of all or many dioceses of a determined region or nation. These offices can even be filled by bishops.

It likewise pertains to the episcopal conference to found and promote projects providing a brotherly welcome and due pastoral care for those who immigrate from mission lands for the sake of studying or working. For through them, faraway peoples become neighbors in a certain sense. An excellent opportunity is offered to communities which have long been Christian to converse with nations which have not yet heard the Gospel, and to show them the genuine face of Christ through their own offices of love and assistance.

Cooperation with missionary bishops is necessary in order that immigrants from mission countries may be properly received and assisted by fitting pastoral care from bishops in established Christian countries.

22 sec.:1    In the nations affected by migrating people in greater numbers, let the conferences of bishops constitute their own episcopal commission for migration. This commission will have a secretary, who will normally also be the national director and may in addition be chosen as a member of the Superior Council for Migration.

22 sec.:2    It is very fitting that priests and religious of both sexes, as well as lay people who are expert in matters of immigration, be members of this commission.

22 sec.:3    In other nations, where the number of migrating people is smaller, the conferences of bishops should at least designate an episcopal promoter who will look to their spiritual care.

23.    In order to implement the dispositions of the Apostolic See and the decrees of the Sacred Council, let the national episcopal conferences, themselves or through a national director or some other organ, take the following responsibilities:

23 sec.:1    They are to study the principal questions of migration, noting especially the circumstances of peoples and places, and undertake appropriate pastoral projects, both to prepare the minds of the migrating people to adapt themselves to their new way of life and to see that they are properly received, whether in individual regions of their own homeland, or in other nations to which they go. Let them devote great efforts also to the good of those groups of men who are not Christians and who often seem destitute of help for body and soul.

23 sec.:2    They are to choose priests, train them for this particular ministry, and assign them to the conferences of bishops of other nations involved - or to the organs of those conferences - so that they may be received by them, according to article 36, sec.2, as chaplains or missionaries for immigrants.

23 sec.:3    They are to set up, if possible, an educational institution for priests who are to be assigned to immigrant people; or at least they should choose some institutions, which will be assisted by any existing seminaries specializing in the formation for the priesthood of candidates of certain languages.
In such institutions let the priests, both before they set out for foreign nations and when they are already there, attend appropriate classes for a stated time. Besides, if the matter indicates, let them strive to acquaint themselves with new methods of the apostolate and inform themselves about economic and social conditions and civil culture.

23 sec.:4    They should encourage both men and women religious, and likewise lay people, to participate in these projects, and to utilize them so that through an ordered pastoral approach they may bring notable spiritual and social assistance to this cause.

23 sec.:5    In consultation with the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, they are to promote periodic conventions on a national level, or even on the continental level. These conventions are to strive for apt and efficient coordination of the pastoral care of immigrants, unifying it until it can be accommodated to the particular circumstances of each people.

23 sec.:6    They are to promote suitable dialogue with international associations, or those in individual countries, and with government organs and organizations, the better to foster the rights of people who migrate, even in social matters, and to insure their education - especially professional qualifications that are so important in the present era.

23 sec.:7    They are to send a general summary of their activity to the Sacred Congregation for Bishops each year, adding also information - if it is available - worthwhile statistical studies, so that difficulties, their suggestions, and also their desires, can be more fully known and more easily responded to.

24 sec.:1    Migrations of every type, as also the incessant journeying about the modern world of certain groups - such as seamen, flight crews and wandering peoples - not only offer new pastoral difficulties, but raise new problems pertaining to the spiritual life, psychology, finances and organization. This is especially the case with exiles, refugees, and emigrants from regions that are overpopulated and still on the way of development.

24 sec.:2    In order to summon up help in solving these questions to the greatest degree possible, it is very fitting that the conferences of bishops and local ordinaries establish a yearly "Immigrant Day."

24 sec.:3    The observance of this day will aim particularly towards this, that the sons of the people of God - according to their abilities - consider the divine plan of eternal salvation, know fully their own role, and fulfill their duties in fostering what needs to be done for the immigrants. The observance aims towards this as well, that all the faithful may pour out their prayer to God, imploring from on high vocations for this work. Finally, it seeks this, that the zealous apostolate of priests may be strengthened and the Christian faith of the immigrants remain secure and show lively growth.

24 sec.:4    Psychological difficulties in character and mentality call for common work and effort by the Christian people so that all prejudiced opinions and segregation based on differences of nation, race or creed may be overcome by concerted effort, founding more open and better relations, and true, brotherly meeting of minds and among peoples.

24 sec.:5    Since numerous and provident projects of the chaplains, missionaries, social workers, and institutions which help migrants, bring new and weighty difficulties for episcopal conferences and individual ordinaries of the place - namely in the financial area and in organization - the "Immigrant Day" also aims that the faithful carefully consider the role which obliges them to supply resources for relieving the needs of their brothers who migrate. Conferences of bishops can use the faculty of celebrating this day in order to excite the zeal of the faithful over these affairs more and more, and to stimulate them to donate liberally for the necessary works.

24 sec.:6    "Immigrant Day" should be celebrated in a time and way which the local circumstances and demands of civil society indicate.

Norms for Ordinaries of the Place

Special concern should be shown for those among the faithful who, on account of their way or condition of life, cannot sufficiently make use of the common and ordinary pastoral services of parish priests or are quite cut off from them. Among this group are very many migrants, exiles and refugees, seamen, airplane personnel, gypsies, and others of this kind. Suitable pastoral methods should also he developed to sustain the spiritual life of those who journey to other lands for a time for the sake of recreation.

Also, in similar circumstances, provision should be made for the faithful of different language groups, either through priests or parishes of the same language, or through an episcopal vicar well-versed in the language, and, if need be, endowed with episcopal dignity; or, in some other more appropriate way.

Episcopal vicars, in their determined part of the diocese or their given type of business or in regard to the faithful of a certain rite or personal group as stipulated in their nomination by the diocesan bishop, enjoy the ordinary vicarious power which the common law attributes to a vicar general.

Therefore, as to different forms and structures which, proven by long experience, serve to provide spiritual assistance to the people who migrate, let ordinaries of the place bear in mind the following:

A)    The ordinaries of the place of departure

25.    If it seems necessary or useful, let a special office for emigrants be established and rightly organized in the diocesan curia. Its purpose will be to treat emigrant people's questions and affairs and to carry on other projects for them, both before and after their departure.

26.    The ordinaries should admonish their pastors of the grave duty which holds them to pass on to all their faithful such religious training that, should it be necessary, they may more easily meet the difficulties and dangers of departing, and be able to initiate new relations with other men, whether they settle in another place in their own homeland or move to a foreign nation where the inhabitants profess a different religion or several religions. Thus the emigrants, if they ever return home, temporarily or perpetually, may take it for granted that their pastor will always be to them as a father.

27.    Let the ordinaries of the place see that diocesan and religious priests who are suitable and equal to this difficult ministry are sought out and recognized; and let them willingly assign these priests to episcopal conferences who ask for them.

28.    Let every ordinary set up contacts with the national episcopal conference or with its organs, so that he may obtain help for his diocese - and he himself in turn may give it to other dioceses - in carrying out those things which have been established by the same bishops' body for the pastoral care of departing emigrants.

B)    The ordinaries of the places to which immigrants come

29.    If it seems necessary, let there be a particular office for immigrants constituted at the episcopal curia in the dioceses to which immigration takes place. A vicar episcopal or other suitable priest should be placed in charge of this office.

30 sec.:1    All the faithful, both clergy and laity, including men or women religious, should be properly admonished to receive immigrant people benevolently and to strive zealously to assist them in the pressing needs which they encounter from the start.

30 sec.:2    Let them benignly and willingly assist other Christians who do not enjoy full communion with the Catholic Church and who lack ministers of their Church or community; nor are they to deny assistance to non-Christian people if they come. They are to observe the norms on intercommunion which have been published in the Decree Unitatis Redintegratio of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and in the Ecumenical Directory Ad Totam Ecclesiam.

30 sec.:3    The spiritual care of all the faithful, and thus of the immigrant people, falls most especially on the shoulders of the pastors of the parishes within which they live. These shall one day give an account to God regarding the fulfillment of their duty. Let them bear this heavy burden in association and union with the chaplain or missionary, if there is one present.

31 sec.:1    In consultation with the national episcopal conference, or with its organs in charge of immigrant work, let priests be sought who are of the same language or country as the immigrants.

31 sec.:2    Yet, if particular circumstances indicate, such as an insufficient number of priests, let the ordinaries use the work of other priests who are versed in the language of the immigrants. Let them strive with the forces available that their new sons succeed in overcoming their crises and any dangers to the practice of the Christian life.

31 sec.:3    If it is necessary to provide for the spiritual care of immigrants whose liturgical rite is different, let the decrees concerning these people be followed and the rights of their own hierarchy be preserved.

31 sec.:4    Likewise, if it is necessary, let spiritual assistance - in consultation with their own leaders or ministers - be undertaken for those Christians who do not have full communion with the Catholic Church, according to legitimate prescriptions of the Congregations of the Apostolic See.

32.    In accord with the norms of the Second Vatican Council the ordinaries of the place are not to refuse to admit the use of the immigrants' own language in the Sacred Liturgy, no matter what country they come from.

33.    In the pastoral care of immigrants, certain structures and methods are proven by experience and use, though needing accommodation to the circumstances of place, customs, and needs of the faithful:

33 sec.:1    Where there are great numbers of immigrants of the same language, living either stably or in continuous movement, the erection of a personal parish can be advisable. It is to be appropriately set up by the ordinary of the place.

33 sec.:2    The bishop might also set up a mission with the care of souls, especially in those places where the migrating people have not yet taken up a stable residence. It must have a properly circumscribed territory. Such a mission will be to those particular groups which stay in the place, no matter how long or what the cause.

33 sec.:3    According to needs, a mission with the care of souls within the bounds of one parish, or even of several parishes, can also be attached to some territorial parish, especially if that parish is operated by the members of the same religious congregation who carry out the spiritual care of the immigrants.

33 sec.:4    When neither a personal parish nor a mission with the care of souls - independent or attached to a parish - seems opportune, then let the spiritual care of migrants be provided by a chaplain or missionary of the same language, with a determined territory in which to exercise his ministry.

33 sec.:5    Where there is a large enough number of immigrants, this chaplain or missionary can be constituted as an assistant pastor of one or more parishes, to provide for their spiritual care.

33 sec.:6    Finally, let priests be chosen for the modern international organizations, lest their members of different languages lack spiritual care. These priests should know the members' languages and carry out a ministry to them.

34 sec.: I    Some church or chapel, a public or semi-public oratory, should, if possible, be given to each chaplain or missionary for immigrant persons, so that there he may perform his sacred ministry.

34 sec.:2    If this cannot be done, let the ordinary of the place issue norms so that the chaplain or missionary for immigrants can minister in another church, even a parish one, freely and cumulatively with the services there.

34 sec.:3    It also seems opportune to provide houses to which the immigrants have access as their own, so that there they may cultivate the goods and values of their own culture, enjoy merited quiet and relaxation, and find healthy support.
 

I. INTRODUCTION

We know that "he came that we may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10: 10), for the whole of humanity, especially for the thousands of migrant workers all over Asia. We pray that our journeying together will be with the fullness of the Spirit of Jesus, and with the example of his loving and compassionate Mother, so that we can bring to realization the Lord's prayer, "Your kingdom come, your will be done."

Published January 1995

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