Crossing the threshold of fear

To bring migrants and to all those who accompany them “a sign of hope and of renewed commitment”. “May the logic of charity guide our way of viewing reality and the future, considering all the aspects of the truth of migration”. Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb and CCEE vice-president delivered the opening address at the eighth congress on migration in Malaga, Spain, on April 27th, organized by the “Migrations” Commission of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). “This opening to the truth makes of charity the only social force capable of generating peace and full development”, His Eminence added. About one hundred delegates took part in the meeting titled “The Europe of people on the move. Overcoming fears. Planning projects”, which include bishops, national directors for the pastoral care of migrants and pastoral workers. The President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of migrants will present an analysis on the changes brought about in Europe by migration and mobility. The meeting will end Saturday May 1st with the presentation of a final statement. “Mobility / migration – states Fr Duarte da Cunha, CCEE General Secretary – is not just an internal European phenomenon, but one that in fact unites Europe with the whole world! The Catholic Church, too, feels it is part of this phenomenon, which of course is not something new, but which is now something happening in ways and means that are very fast. Equally quick, therefore, must be the pastoral responses which we have and are adopting throughout Europe”. Non immigrants, but persons. “First of all we must speak of persons – said Cardinal Josip Bozanic in his opening remarks. Migrants are persons, they are not a sociological category, and they must be viewed as such”. The migration phenomenon ought to be viewed as “the encounter of people, families and communities”. The “second key word” in title of the congress is “on the move”. “During the meeting we intend to examine the meaning and the implications of people on the move”, the archbishop said. “There is much talk of fear and of hope. Fears and hopes are an integrating part of everyone’s life. But there are paralyzing fears and there are those that require an act of courage, which make us grow once they’re overcome”. This leads to the first reflection: migrants “are in dire need of affection. This is why – continues Bozanic – they need their families near them in order to have the strength to face the fears linked to integration within a new society. For this reason they need to be received as individuals not as objects, slaves or appliances. The conclusion appears obvious. In order to overcome fears the surrounding environment must be marked by a true experience of love”. “The Church believes that the migrant person’s rights can be defended whilst not forgetting those of the persons living in the country of arrival. This is why governments must, in the name of justice and of the common good, redefine migration policies aimed at the protection of the identity and of the good of their communities without overlooking the dignity of all human persons”, the archbishop concluded. A contribution to the construction of the common European Home. Also for Msgr. José Sánchez González, bishop of Sigüenza-Guadalajara and president of CCEE “Migration” Commission, when thinking of migrations one should never depart from a “negative conception”, as if they presupposed a danger or a threat which provokes fear or rejection. It is necessary to go beyond fears”. “Indeed – added the Spanish bishop – migrations may at times involve risks and dangers; but more so for the emigrants themselves than for the population or country where they arrive in order to offer their services and leave the fruit of their labor and their cultural and religious contribution”. “Emigrants come to a foreign country neither as conquerors nor usurpers, nor as dominators but as workers”, continued Msgr. Sanchez González. The purpose of the meeting in Malaga is to “Outline prospects” aimed at the future with the hope that “our conclusions or recommendations may constitute small and modest pieces for the building of a society and a of Church, which truly resemble the aspiration of the European dream and of the reality of the Church as a “Common home”. Participants at the Congress will “focus on the challenges” of migration and will analyze the challenges “facing three institutions” which are “largely affected by the phenomenon of migration”, namely the family, parishes, society, to “examine the current and future work of the Church” and “of the States”. As relates to the family Msgr. Sanchez said: “They are entitled to the fundamental right of family reunification and, consequently, public authorities, employers, the general population and, of course, the Church, are under the obligation to promote, facilitate and support the adequate development of the immigrants’ family”. “There is not much point in guaranteeing fundamental rights of the individual,” if “they are not accompanied by their rights to form a family and to live in the family with dignity”.