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´We Cannot Do Everlasting Pastoral Care Only´

Updated: September 04, 2008 10:36 AM GMT
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The Church needs to engage civil society groups, national governments and international organizations in pressing to protect migrants´ rights and to correct the "disorder" underlying migration, an FABC official says. De La Salle Brother Anthony Rogers, executive secretary of the Federation of Asian Bishops´ Conferences Office of Human Development (FABC-OHD), believes it would be a big achievement if the federation could begin collaborating with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).

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Malaysian De La Salle Brother Anthony Rogers 

The Malaysian Religious said that while most local Churches in Asia have been responding to the needs of migrants and displaced people, pastoral care in itself is an insufficient response. He said ICMC´s nearly six decades of experience in working in the international arena and with governments, civil society groups and other higher bodies could help bring order to societies whose members seek better lives abroad. Brother Rogers spoke with UCA News at the end of the Aug. 28-29 ICMC Asia Consultation at San Carlos Seminary, southeast of Manila. Delegates sent by local Church hierarchies, except those from Myanmar and Vietnam, agreed to set up an ICMC Asia network. Geneva-based ICMC is a papal-approved Church organization serving refugees, internally displaced people and migrants. The 44 delegates to the Asian consultation, including 13 bishops, represented bishops´ conferences in 15 countries, the Chinese Regional Bishops´ Conference of Taiwan, and the episcopal hierarchies in Timor Leste, Hong Kong and Nepal. Most were chairmen or executive secretaries of bishops´ commissions on migration, tourism or labor. Others represented official local Church organizations belonging to the worldwide Caritas social-service network. Delegates reported at the meeting on the issues, problems and well-being of migrants and their families, and local Church responses. The Sri Lankan report cited a need to press the national government to push for migrant workers´ freedom of worship in West Asian countries, where many male laborers go to work. It also mentioned programs aided by the European Union to help resettle people uprooted by the protracted civil war in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Cambodian report mentioned a need to obtain funding for a community-based team that can counsel people leaving to work abroad and can work to prevent human trafficking and smuggling. An international network could help identify Indian nationals who have migrated out of the country, said Father Jose Vattakuzhy, executive secretary of the Indian bishops´ commission for labor. In his closing remarks, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro, president of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines, took note of suggestions for organizing "common approaches to solving common problems" of migrants from and to Asian countries. Brother Anthony agrees on the need to find common approaches to common problems. The interview follows: UCA NEWS: What did the meeting achieve? BROTHER ANTHONY ROGERS: The greatest achievement was getting representatives of 12 episcopal conferences together with Religious and laypeople to discuss migrants´ concerns, and speaking very seriously of migration as an issue. There were Religious and laypeople running commissions, doing pastoral work or ministries to people being sent out or arriving from other countries as workers or refugees, and they know very well the situation of the people they are serving. Concretely, we have seen that many of the things they are facing in their own countries have something to do with all the other countries in Asia. Archbishop Lagdameo said it: "We are now more aware there are common trends and common events and these have moved us to common approaches." For me, that´s one of the achievements -- no more looking at migration as something that´s merely a local issue or phenomenon that we can work on on our own and everything will be alright. pr_makati_city_1.gifNumber two, and this is my own impression, it seems as Church, we have responded well in terms of pastoral programs. But we know that pastoral care in itself is not a sufficient response to the migration phenomenon in Asia. We need to work for permanent cure, and permanent cure implies the need for an Asian perspective and approach. And this is where the ICMC´s nearly 60 years of experience in working in the international arena is helpful. I think it is a big achievement of the meeting if we could make some kind of collaboration work between OHD and ICMC. Many commission programs in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants [and Itinerant People] have shown what international cooperation can do to promote pastoral care and begin interventions. Now we need to engage international advocacy organizations in order to deal more effectively with governments, with the U.N. and the civil society groups in a way that we are respected. Pastoral care is needed, but at the same time permanent cure. Permanent cure means working for long-term policy changes, which we can´t work for on the local level alone. The FABC cannot do all this work on its own. We have links with the Pontifical Commission and now possibly with the ICMC. It´s a dream come true. What are concrete ways of collaborating? Migration, whether it has to do with refugees, contract workers or human trafficking and tourism, is a symptom of some underlying disorder. We have to analyze deeply together why people from rural areas, or any area, have to move to have a better life. Why can there not be a better life in their home communities and how can there be peace and sustainable development in these places so people will not have to move? We need serious research for this from a local, regional and global perspective. Our response should aim for a comprehensive and integrated response that would deal with issues and conditions giving rise to the issues. Our responses cannot just be economic or developmental, but development with ethos. For example, we develop communities, but with respect for the environment, human rights, people´s culture. If we can achieve this, then we can offer sustainable livelihood. I´m not talking about employment only. Employment concerns earning money and sending money back home to the family or to one´s home country. Livelihood is more than money. It means being able to live in a harmonious relationship with your family, with your children and your community. Livelihood is not just about eating and putting on clothes. We also look into how the life of migrants can be more meaningful. How would you assess the response of Churches in Asia to migration issues? We have done much to help victims of abuse, exploitation, war and other human rights violations related to migration, and it is appreciated. It´s good we give legal help and food and shelter. However, we cannot do everlasting pastoral care only. We have to look for other ways to help, and we can do this by looking at other angles of migration, especially its causes. What can the Asian Church contribute to discussions of development with international bodies? We can continue formation and education for alternative and simple lifestyles, and push for development that is more than economic. It is acting with ethos, more than just the "ethical." It´s very easy to be kind and fair to my neighbor, to my employee, and follow strict rules, but ethos is something deeply religious giving meaning to your life. The Church can focus on formation of a new culture that will change the relationship between men and women. The most vulnerable in the migration process are women and children. We need to nurture gender equity and gender equality to build just societal structures. We can also promote a model of humane migration in contrast to the more utilitarian model that says to the worker, "I want your labor, but not your family." The Church needs to stand for the right of all peoples to family migration. We need to speak more about family unity, reunification of the family and its right to exist as a legitimate institution in the migrant´s new homeland. It was brought up many times at the meeting that migration must be a choice. We should work to improve the situation in migrants´ home countries so people can choose to stay there and still have hope for a good life, because there are decent jobs and other opportunities. Does it look to you that Asians given this choice would choose to stay home? I think that is based on one premise -- the pull and push of migration. There is the push of dehumanizing poverty, wars and underdevelopment, and the pull of the promise of a better life and having enough money to survive. But now, I think, it´s not just the old concept of "push and pull." Now consumerism also makes migration attractive and the pull is not for 300 or 500 dollars a month, but for a TV set, jewelry and appliances, and all these things. When some migrant workers show me their jewelry, I think to myself, "You sacrificed all your time with your family and their love for that Rolex watch?" Even if people are in somewhat okay condition today, they still want to leave. Are you satisfied with ICMC Asia as the structure established here? For me it´s a big step the key bishops are here and they see that they need a communication network, maybe with a move toward formulating a communication strategy. We can identify some network in the FABC for migration advocacy work. We can very easily talk to our FABC Office of Social Communication, and maybe we can have in their webpage some service for migration matters. END
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