Which perspectives?

The family? It’s the social unit that migration most affects and injures. Christian communities? They are on the front lines to bear witness to the possibility of universal brotherhood, even to the cost of prompting surprise or protest. Society? It must realize that the migration phenomenon is not a temporary phase of an integration process but rather a permanent phenomenon. These conclusions were drawn in Malaga, where some fifty delegates and bishops from all over Europe, national directors and pastoral care workers are attending “Europe of people on the move. Overcoming fears. Planning projects”, the Migrations Congress (April 27 through May 1st) organized by the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe. The family. “In some countries, such as those which have recently emerged from dictatorships or those of the Balkan region (South East Europe), the family as usual, preserving the local tradition, is numerous and, consequently, poor, without prospects of improving life conditions”, said the auxiliary bishop of Bucharest Msgr. Cornel Damian. Ever more often “the young mother” emigrates “often falling into the hands of people traffickers”. Poverty, violence in the family, the lack of morality or an adequate education, the negative influence of many unemployed “are many of the things which harm families”. For these reasons, said Msgr. Damian, “the family requires in general a special, specific pastoral care, both in its country of origin and destination”. At the Malaga Congress Father Gianromano Gnesotto, from the “Migrantes” Foundation of the Italian Bishops’ Conference addressed the “painful reality” of “family reunification by instalments”. The term “instalments” in this case is an economic term linked to the availability of appropriate income for reunification in Italy. Italian legislation lays down, as one of the prerequisites, a yearly income from legal sources at least equal to the social security allowance if asking for reunion with one family member only, twice the amount of the social security allowance if asking for reunion with two or three family members, three times that amount for reunion with four or more family”. This is why children are reunited with their parent by “instalments”, whose “psychological and affective repercussions can be easily imagined, while it’s hard to rebuild intimate relations in the land of emigration”. This is a pity since “the Country of arrival of the reunited family” is also the place for the development of “social inclusion”. Ecclesial communities. “A Church that is welcoming to migrants becomes, in our European societies, the object of astonishment, sometimes even of misunderstanding and protest”. Nonetheless, “the Church intends to assume her responsibility to develop a word of hope and promote a positive approach to migration in order to share it with public opinion and policy makers”. Thus spoke mons. Jean-Luc Brunin, bishop of Ajaccio, in the opening address of the third day of the meeting devoted to the involvement of ecclesial communities in migration flows. “The Churches can be indicted when they choose to echo the words of pain and desperation of migrants in difficult circumstances, with politicians, administrative services or the public opinion”. However – continued Msgr. Brunin – “Christians must dare to transform the event of migration into an opportunity to ensure a harmonious future for the international community, even if it may not be immediately understood”. “The credibility of the proposal of the Gospel in our European societies demands – although it is difficult and goes against the tide of public opinion and the positions of the “politically correct” – that openness and tenacious will to live together as a Church without limits or boundaries”, he concluded.Society. Migration – stated the President of Caritas Europe Fr. Erny Gillen, “represents an ongoing phenomenon that ought to be acknowledged not as a transitory event”. Migrations ought to be understood “as an integral part of European societies’ formation and development”, Fr. Gillen told SIR Europe. “It is not a question of having to invent exceptional measures to address unexpected situations. Rather, it is necessary that societies grant hospitality to and recognize the rights and duties of human persons”. To this regard, the President of Caritas Europe said that the EU’s efforts for cooperation among Member States are “praiseworthy. But such cooperation risks being leveled down to the lowest required extent of intervention rather than adopting high-standard measures”. Caritas Europe “is under the impression that Member States are not enough determined. Migration is feared and this anxiety conditions European policies whereby Countries with restrictive legislation prevail over those with policies that promote immigrants’ reception”. The Church is tasked with “recalling the dignity of every human person and that migrants ought to be viewed not for what they represent but for who they are: human persons entitled to rights and duties”.