A senior churchman in East Nusa Tenggara province yesterday warned Catholic couples against the dangers migration poses on their married life. “Catholic families now face critical and distressing situations because of migration,” said Father Leonardus Edel Asuk, head of Atambua diocese’s commission for family. “Migration sees many husbands leave their wives and children in a precarious economic state,” he said. The priest was speaking to 100 couples at St. Peter’s Church in Lahurus, who were attending a seminar on the value of education for Catholic couples. He also told them a recent meeting of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference’s commission for family revealed that many marriages are falling apart because couples are living separate lives when migration takes husbands to other islands in Indonesia or to neighboring Malaysia. The local Church is offering counseling programs to Catholic couples, he said. “However, we are still collecting data to ascertain the various other impacts migration has among them,” he continued. Fr Christoforus Ukat, the assistant priest in the parish, suggested going far afield in search of work to provide for the family is more damaging than staying closer to home, and that faith may encourage would-be migrants to stay with their loved ones. “Migrants might think that working far away is better than working locally. But the values of faith can inspire them to build a work ethos centered near the home,” he said. Related Report: Marriage Encounter saves family relations