Church to join global migration forum despite ‘low expectations’

MANILA, Philippines — Amid "low expectations" of the event, the Roman Catholic Church will send six delegates to the forthcoming second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Manila next week.

An article on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website (www.cbcpnews.com) Wednesday said the Church wants to give the forum a chance to help migrant workers.

"If this forum will indeed help promote the rights of the migrants, I personally feel that the Church's participation to the discussion is relevant, because promotion of their rights is essential to their own development," said Fr. Edwin Corros, executive secretary of the CBCP Commission for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant People.

But Corros admitted he personally does not expect much from the forum, as he said civil society groups and non-government organizations are "divided."

He was referring to groups protesting the GFMD, who are holding separate alternative activities. One is the People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights, or PGA, and the International Alliance of Migrant Workers, which being held separately thin week until next week.

"We could not actually agree on what approach to use in resolving common issues. The attempt to unite everyone to address the interest of the migrants and their families is already a difficult challenge," he said.

Delegates from the Philippine Church include Fr. Savino Bernardi of the Apostleship of the Sea–Manila; Edmund Ruga of the CBCP-ECMI; Sr. Bernadet de Guzman of the Religious of the Good Shepherd; Sr. Teresita Laguna of the Daughters of Charity; Sr. Ma. Celine Cajandig of the Center for Overseas Workers in Davao; and Sr. Florencia Cabatingan of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit.

From the 200 participants from other countries, there will be some priests and religious selected by the international organizing committee, the CBCP added.

GFMD is a new initiative of the international community to address the migration and development interconnections in practical and action-oriented ways.

It caps more than a decade of international discussion on the growing importance of these linkages, and the progressive acknowledgement of the need to address the policy implications and responses in a multilateral framework.

"As a Church our evangelization is not only about preaching within the confines of church buildings or through the sacraments that we celebrate among our migrant brothers and sisters overseas or their families left behind, we believe that church's apostolate also permeates in the realities of economy and labor, of technology and communications, of society and politics, of the international community and the relations among cultures and people," Corros said.

"We do not have in our possession the monopoly of the truths to the complexities of the issues concerned, but as a Church our work in solidarity with humanity is well founded on the Gospel of Jesus. The Catholic Church has long been involved with migration and development," he added.

"The other expectation that the Church is looking forward to achieve is how GFMD address the concerns of returning migrants or migrant returnees. What concrete and tangible programs and services will be offered for those who decide to return to the country other than business entrepreneurship?" he asked. - GMANews.TV

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