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Pastoral
Care to the least members of the "One Human Family"
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By
Fr. Eliseo Napiere, MSP, Executive Secretary
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Commission
for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
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| The Episcopal
Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People has recognized
her vast responsibility in the field of pastoral care of welcome as mandated
by the dicastery, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants
and Itinerant People in Rome. Her responsibility is not only limited to
the foreign people coming to the island but also to those who are locally
displaced individuals due to some social and personal reasons. Through this
development, the ECMI has expanded her apostolate which includes the pastoral
care of the people of the streets, i.e. the homeless, whom we called "street
friends" and those internally displaced people. The Chinese Regional
Bishops' Conference has tasked ECMI to coordinate with other religious groups
who take care on this field and collaborate with the office of the Commission
on Social Development to establish a cohesive pastoral care program in which
the Pontifical Council in Rome desires.
Other development that the commission has pursued in the past year was the strengthening of the Apostleship of the Sea program in the dioceses which have international ports. Our AOS National office has established alliance with the international and local maritime associations that share the AOS vision in welcoming the people of the sea into our local shores. Big international seafarers' welfare organizations have shared our vision and supported our AOS programs in any way. Aside from the National Migrants' Sunday that is being held every last Sunday of September, the CRBC has declared the first Sunday of Lent as a day of prayers and sacrifices for the migrants and immigrants in the Country. We also joined the International Sea Sunday celebration every 10th of July for the promotion of the pastoral care program for seafarers and to solicit spiritual and material assistance from the local people. Lobbying and dialogues with the local authorities on behalf of the migrant workers and immigrants for some policy change have taken root through the effort of the Migrants' Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT), an ecumenical alliance of local NGO's that promotes dignity among migrant workers and whose members are mostly Church based organizations. One of the many developments is the participation of Fr. Peter O'Niell, SSC, migrants' coordinator in the Diocese of Hsinchu together with Regina Fusch, a social worker of Hope Workers' Center in Chungli, to the recent ILO Convention in Geneva that adopted the Convention Concerning the Decent Work of Domestic Workers which is cited as "The Domestic Workers' Convention, 2011". Myself and Rose Lin, the ECMI/AOS Pastoral Worker, attended the 10th ICMA World Congress in Hamburg, Germany, to assess and strengthen the ecumenical cooperation in "promoting seafarers' dignity." With all these developments mentioned above are only the beginning of a more cohesive action to advance the Church's mission in providing pastoral care to the least members of the "One Human Family." In the name of Bishop Bosco Lin Chi-Nan, I wish everyone a happy and productive National Migrants' Sunday. |