Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - At the end of an annual course on Pastoral for Migrants women religious participants of various nationalities affirmed “We cannot simply choose to ignore the immigrants in our towns and in our parishes and dioceses” . The course, organised by the Union Superior Major of Italy, Migrantes Foundation and Centro Unitario Missionario CUM, was held at the CUM centre in Verona. The women religious from various religious congregations, either already operate in pastoral for migrants or are preparing to do so. Among the Italian Sisters was a group with experience in other countries and so enriched in language, culture and different forms of the expression of the faith for their pastoral work with different ethnic communities .
In a report to Fides Sr. Clecy Baccin of USMI said that more and more congregations are becoming involved in pastoral for ethnic mobility as a form of realising their own charism. Immigrants - young people, women children families each with special needs and out of their proper social and cultural context - reawaken in religious life the need for reflection on mission “at home”.
During reflection on the contents, discussed in work shops and in assemblies, new lights and stimulus emerged: immigrants seen as a gift, a grace from God which prevents religious life from becoming complacent. The challenge of immigrants calls for urgent response and a positive reading of the signs of the times. This service presupposes a redefinition of missionary work giving more emphasis to pastoral service to the different ethnic groups and the directions of the local Church which today calls for coordinated pastoral work.
During the course emphasis was given to the figure of Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and the study of guidelines on “how to live the local Church and service migrants”. Faced with a changing world and the arrival of immigrants the Church and religious congregations need to reflect and identify adequate responses. It is very difficult to say exactly how many non Italian women religious there are in Italy, certainly a few thousand: but it is important to note that many are involved in the pastoral care of immigrants from their particular country, acting also as cultural mediators. However we can say with certainty that the number of women religious involved in immigration continues to grow. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 16/2/2005; righe 30, parole 418)
