A Church without borders

The Spanish Bishops Conference (CEE) presented the campaign “A Church without borders, the mother of all”, on the occasion of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2015, which will be celebrated on 18 January. During these days the diocesan delegations who devote great effort to the care of migrants, hold throughout Spain initiatives for the Day. There are five million foreigners in Spain, according to surveys. Spain is today, along with Lampedusa (Italy) and Arizona (USA), one of the three hot areas of immigration. But the Mediterranean Sea ranks first in the tragedies of migration, because it has become, in the words of Pope Francis, “a large cemetery” with more than 3 thousand people dead last year, of which 15 children off the coast of Cadiz (Spain).From reception to integration. At the presentation of the campaign Monsignor Ciriaco Benavente, bishop of Albacete and president of the Episcopal Commission for Migration.  recalled the work of the Church in the reception of migrants in the present situation. Her hospitality, he said, seeks the integration of people in all areas: education, employment and at individual level.  “We are not asking too much,” said Monsignor Benavente, reiterating that migrants should be heard: “in this way we would know if they really have the right to asylum”. Also Father José Luis Pinilla, director of the CEE Commission on migration, pointed out “the efforts carried out throughout Spain to raise awareness on migrants”, in the year that marked the first anniversary of the Day of migration. Now, underlined father Pinilla, “we pass from reception to efforts that focus primarily on integration. It is a matter of giving concrete implementation to the ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ and the constant appeals that this Pope makes respect to migration and related effects (trafficking, prostitution, children, refugees …), in a time of crisis, where immigrants are not the cause but  the victims.” Gabriel Delgado, delegate for migration in the Diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta, recounted his personal experience, speaking about issues that are a priority in the daily work with immigrants, “trying to build bridges between the two sides” and “focusing on the meetings and the dialogue between the two shores “of the Mediterranean. In his speech he described the experience of care and support in the reception center for migrants. Mother of everyone. The Bishops’ Conference on Migration published a message in which the Spanish bishops underline that Pope Francis has addressed a stimulating, luminous and prophetic message to the entire Church that invites us to contemplate Jesus, ‘the evangelizer par excellence, and the Good News in person ‘, to let ourselves be surprised by his concern for the most vulnerable and excluded, to recognize his the suffering face in the victims of the new forms of poverty and slavery, to receive his word, so clear, so decisive: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me””. The Spanish bishops underline that “we must welcome our migrant brethren, making visible the maternity of the Church that overcomes all races and borders, welcoming everyone and ‘embracing them as hers with love’, summarizing in an admirable way the theme chosen for the World Day of migrants and refugees: Church without borders, mother of all.'” Speaking of migration, the bishops pointed out that “the response must be the globalization of charity and cooperation. This implies strengthening efforts aimed at improving the living conditions in the Countries of origin, whilst gradually diminishing the causes that prompt migration, which deserve utmost commitment. It implies ‘developing a more just and equal economic and financial order at global level.'”  A video to spread the message. The CEE website published the Message of the Pope, the Message of Spanish Bishops, the manifesto, the liturgical texts and various materials. A video has also been made for its “viral dissemination” on social networks. The video, titled “A Church without borders, mother of all” has been filmed in various areas of Madrid. The video was jointly produced by the CEE press office and by the Bishops’ Commission for migrations. Its screening is freely distributed by the Saint Alphonse institute, the hospital Nuestra Señora del Rosario, the parish Nuestra Señora del Recuredo, along with volunteers from the diocese of Getafe and Madrid that appear in the video. It can be viewed on the website www.conferenciaepiscopal.es. “It is necessary – this is the message on which the video is based – that the Church as a whole and every Christian in particular practices and spreads the culture of encounter, of reception, of reconciliation, of solidarity.”