Migration: A Borderless Mission

1
Migration A Borderless Mission

• Maruja M.B. Asis - Philippines
• Asian Mission Congress
• Chiang Mai, Thailand
• 18-22 October 2006

2
Worldwide 191 million international migrants
Asia 53.3 million international migrants
3
Asia, a Region in Motion

• Major countries of origin
• Indonesia
• Philippines
• Vietnam
• Burma
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Bangladesh
• India
• Nepal
• Pakistan
• China

• Major countries/areas of destination
• Brunei
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Gulf countries

4
Asia, A Region in Motion

• Men are not the only ones leaving their families
  to work abroad.
• Asia is a significant site for female migration.
• Philippines
• Indonesia
• Sri Lanka

5
Asia, A Region in Motion

• Less skilled workers
• Professionals highly skilled
• Permanent migrants
• Students
• Brides
• Unauthorized migrants, including trafficked
  persons
• Refugees

6
What Migrants Hope For

• Migration as secular pilgrimage
• a journey of hope
• a perilous rife with trials
• (the road to Calvary)
• reward at journeys end
• (the glory of the Resurrection)

7
What Migrants Experience

• Temporary labor migration involves only the
  migration of workers families are not included.
• Family separation is a source of pain to migrants
  and their left-behind families.
• Migration has a dark side.

8
Migrants as the Other

• Migrants are needed but not wanted
• Migrants are regarded only as workers, not as
  full human beings
• Migrants are scapegoats for the spread of
  diseases, crimes terrorism
• Migrants receive an uncertain welcome at the
  least.

• You cant feel at home here, never, even
  after years and years, even if now we have
  everything to live like in Kerala. Because we
  have no right just the right to work and be
  silent.
• Beemole, a nurse in
• the UAE for 20 years

9
(No Transcript)
10
What Migrants Hope For

• Migration as secular pilgrimage
• a journey of hope
• a perilous rife with trials
• (the road to Calvary)
• reward at journeys end
• (the glory of the Resurrection)

11
What Migrants Experience

• Temporary labor migration involves only the
  migration of workers families are not included.
• Family separation is a source of pain to migrants
  and their left-behind families.
• Migration has a dark side.

12
Migrants as the Other

• Migrants are needed but not wanted
• Migrants are regarded only as workers, not as
  full human beings
• Migrants are scapegoats for the spread of
  diseases, crimes terrorism
• Migrants receive an uncertain welcome at the
  least.

• You cant feel at home here, never, even
  after years and years, even if now we have
  everything to live like in Kerala. Because we
  have no right just the right to work and be
  silent.
• Beemole, a nurse in
• the UAE for 20 years

13
(No Transcript)
14
Migration as an Unfolding of the Story of Jesus

• For Catholic migrants
• the challenge of keeping the faith their
  everyday life and conduct as witness
• For the Church in the origin
• Working with local institutions
• Guiding and assisting the left-behind families
• Call to transcend national borders in journeying
  with the faithful

15
Migration as an Unfolding of the Story of Jesus

• For the Church in the destination
• Migrants bring the mission home the foreigners
  are at the doorstep
• Call to hospitality and welcome
• Call to care for ALL migrants no one is a
  stranger in the Church

16
At Jacobs Well Crossing Boundaries, Making
Dialogue
17
At Jacobs Well Crossing Boundaries, Making
Dialogue
18
At Jacobs Well Crossing Boundaries, Making
Dialogue
19
At Jacobs Well Crossing Boundaries, Making
Dialogue
20
Migrants and Pilgrims All

• Migration takes us out of our comfort zones
• For migrants, it is a step into unfamiliar
  uncharted territory
• For those left behind, it requires major
  adjustments
• For those in the destination, the encounter with
  strangers can be alarming
• The Stranger within my gates,
• he may be evil or good,
• but I cannot tell what powers control,
• what reasons may sway his mood
• nor when the God of his far-off land
• may repossess his blood.
• Rudyard Kipling

21
Migrants and Pilgrims All

• And you are to love those who are aliens, for
  you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
• Deutoronomy 1010
• Remember to welcome strangers in your homes.
  There were some who did that and welcomed angels
  without knowing it.
• Hebrews 132

22
Migrants and Pilgrims All

• Migration is an opportunity
• to proclaim Gods presence in the world
• to proclaim Gods love to all
• As individuals and as Church
• Cooperation and coordination across Churches
• Harnessing resources to undertake this mission
• Rethinking our structures and modes of operation
  being Church for people on the move
• Openness to dialogue

23
Migrants and Pilgrims All

• Migration is a metaphor of our transient
  existence -
• we are all migrants and pilgrims stopping by, on
  our way to our real home.

24
Acknowledgments

• SALAMAT PO
• For the artworks
• www.asianchristianart.org/galleries
• For the map and photos
• http//travel.yahoo.com
• www.unfpa.org (State of the World Population
  Report)
• www.ibiblio.org
• www.mfasia.org
• For the music
• Sa Ugoy ng DuyanRocking of the Cradle (L.
  San Pedro/L Celerio)