“It is commendable that the government of the United Kingdom has permitted the right to free movement of workers from the 8 new EU countries. However it has failed to provide for their assistance, nor has it planned how to familiarise these workers with the British lifestyle. The consequence is that many of them end up living in poverty and living rough on the street”. That’s the denunciation made by the Right Rev. Patrick O’Donoghue, bishop of Lancaster and head of the Office for refugees and immigration policies of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The bishop, who recently met a delegation of the Polish-British mission for employment in the UK, expressed the hope that the British government, “together with the Polish government, would provide at least supplementary resources to the organizations that assist the homeless”. “Much has been done by the Catholic Church in England and Wales in support of the Polish community which, in turn, has made an extraordinary contribution to the enrichment of our Church since the Second World War”, said O’Donoghue, who also announced that there are now over a hundred Polish priests and many Polish churches and centres in the territory of the diocese. “But more needs to be done – he insisted – and I ask the parishes to make premises available where immigrants can meet. Immigrants also need our help in finding better jobs and obtaining the respect of their rights”.
