Missionary migrants

A happy confluence of events is taking place these days. Our bishops have just declared this year as Year of Mission. They have also declared a National Migrants’ Sunday. The Pope declared a Year of Faith starting this October. In the same month, Blessed Pedro Calungsod, the Cebuano young catechist, will become the second Filipino saint.

A common thread puts them together. Filipino migrants, who continue to be abundant through the years, need to be missionary, and live their faith, giving witness to it wherever they are. Somehow, Saint-to-be Pedro Calungsod embodied these ideals well, even heroically, since he suffered martyrdom for it.

There are many nice anecdotes of how Filipino workers abroad have enlivened church life in their new communities, bringing with them popular devotions to the Sto. Niño, our Lady, etc. But there are also many sad and disturbing stories.

To be sure, every Christian faithful is a missionary. That’s the inherent character of a Christian. Whether one goes abroad or remains in the country, he is always a missionary. Unfortunately, this truth is still unknown to many, and so a lot of catechesis is needed in this regard.

But obviously, we now need to look with special interest into the lot of our many Filipino overseas workers and migrants. Aside from being many, they are now posing a different kind of challenges. We have to brace ourselves for these new developments. Whether we like it or not, this phenomenon will go on, since this is the inevitable trend.

The Philippine Church is now looking at how to minister to these faithful and the other people involved—their families left behind, their host countries, etc. Some structures and offices have been put up with their corresponding personnel, and some programs and campaigns now start to be carried out. Still, a lot more need to be done.

At the moment, what I can think of first of all is how to know this sector more intimately, more personally. These faithful should not just be statistics. Great effort has to be made to know them really well.

The Church effort cannot just be bureaucratic in nature, though for sure an amount of bureaucracy is needed. Just imagine the kind of coordination work to be done. But the church ministry has to know the person, helping him in his spiritual needs.

How and where can we find them? Perhaps, churchmen should closely monitor the pertinent government offices that process their papers, getting data like names, address, etc., and start figuring out how to get in touch with them. We should not wait for them to come to church, but rather, with delicacy and naturalness, we go to them.

Another basic source of information is the local parishes, chapels and chaplaincies that have direct contact with the faithful. Once someone is known to go abroad to work or to migrate, the churchmen should already start to act.

Do we already have agencies to take care of this? Direct, personal contact is of course indispensable, but the supporting structures should also be available. Without duplicating what government agencies and other groups can do, the Church should focus on what her distinctive contribution is—spiritual assistance.

Ministering to these migrants and overseas workers requires different strategies. A more pro-active approach is needed. As much as possible, we have to know the concrete details of their personal and family circumstances as well as their spiritual conditions. We have to go down from the generics, and from theories and principles.

The idea is to spiritually prepare the person planning to migrate or work abroad. He should be reminded of his Christian duties and as much as possible help him to live them. He should be told of what to expect in his new country of destination.

Then we have to see what to do with the families left behind. They also need to be taken care of. Obviously they can be made part of the general attention given to everyone, but some distinctive assistance should be lent to them, given their special situation.

There are many things that can and should be brought up for consideration by everyone and especially by the Church leaders. Hopefully special events like Year of Missions, Year of Faith, Day of Migrants, etc., can occasions these considerations.

We also have to think of what to do with foreigners who are coming to our country in droves, like the Koreans.

We should never forget that all our efforts here should be based on prayer, sacrifice and genuine personal sanctity.