Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Brussels (Agenzia Fides) - Brussels, like the rest of Belgium, gives you a feeling of living in a perfumed chocolate box, amidst kebab shops from which come young people carrying spicy aroma filled kebabs. Cities with streets packed with diamonds. Green countryside. Motorways in perfect condition. Restaurants and beer. Tourists. Politicians. Businessmen. Crowds. Europe you are beautiful! A main street: a shop for professional photographers, fantastic prices, expertise, selection. I turn the corner. An elderly second-hand dealer, educated and intelligent. Books on a shelf. I ask the price of a small period volume by an Italian Futurist, “I would like to buy it”. “Oh... no! The books are not for sale.” The man is Persian, a refugee here and proud of his roots. He has relatives all over the world. All emigrants. All shopkeepers: “Ours is a united diaspora. It gives you strength and you never feel alone.” I change the subject. Time is getting short. Time flies. I have an appointment with a bishop. I said goodbye and promised to return, although I did not. I take a walk. Now the city has changed. People searching for food in refuse. People sleeping on the ground. Here the usual phoney musicians, further on drunken men in a brawl. Beautiful Europe has disappeared. Here is the reality of a thousand daily troubles, a thousand desperate solitudes. The aroma of chocolate has gone. The aroma of kebabs too. The countryside is far away. I walk in a multiracial crowd, veiled women, languages from the east and others which take me to Africa, South America. I enter the offices of the Catholic Bishops' Conference. A very polite lady shows me into the office of the city's Auxiliary Catholic Bishop. Migratory flows are altering the image of nations and continents.
Tell me dear Bishop De Kesel,, how has this city, this country, changed compared with yesterday ...?
The phenomenon of migration is a growing problem. I understand the political world and attention for what is happening. Certainly, we cannot accept them all. The problem is concrete. The West is rich. It is natural for them to want to come here from Africa, Eastern Europe, from Latin America. For us as the Catholic Church, the Bishops' Conference, it is difficult to intervene, we are not a humanitarian agency, and not many politicians have the right sensitivity. As a Bishop, I have asked for the question not to be trivialised and urged that situations of desperation must be considered. We made a statement calling for policies which are realistic, we cannot accept the whole world, but which are also fair. We have families here with eight year old children. They go to our schools and speak our language. They were born here and have settled, integrated. After all these years can we deport them? Tell them to go back to their own country? That would be inhuman! We expect the political world to set fairer, more objective criteria. In the name of the Gospel, we ask politics to be more generous.
Bishop De Kesel, but what is politics unless it represents us all…there is a root problem.
There exists a complex dialectic between realism and generosity which generates Faith. In the West we are rich. The Gospel asks is to be welcoming, to offer the Word of God to everyone, to be generous. Here lies the misunderstanding. Some say the Church should not be involved in politics. To denounce something wrong is not being involved in politics. The things are separate: give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Christians, the Church, have a responsibility in society, we cannot close our eyes to what goes on around them. This is a problem for society: like the issues of bio-ethics or justice. A balanced statement issued by the Bishops on the issues of immigration was well received.
Bishop De Kesel, the issues were well received, but here in Belgium churches can be occupied by immigrants, I visited one such church … Mattresses everywhere. Is there no police action?
Yes. Here in Brussels for some years now churches have been occupied by immigrants and they refuse to go. This is unacceptable. We do not call the police ourselves, but they can intervene. In some parishes people are for and against and this creates tension. Then once they occupy a church, how can you leave them without food? The parish takes a collection... it is a difficult situation, very difficult... Churches are meant to be churches and assistance centres, centres of assistance. Churches occupied, occupants thrown out, there is no solution in sight. Many immigrants come from Africa, Latin America. I watched a procession of a Latin American community, young people, children, whole families in the snow escorted by the police. Most of them 'sans papiers'. The district authorities provide a hot meal. It's a party. Almost the entire population turned out. I looked at them closely and saw faces of desperate parents with two of three children and no residence permit. No permit, no regular job. Life is precarious. They have been living here for four or five years assisted by our communities, but this is not our task, it is a responsibility, a job for politics. How can you repatriate children who have been here for so long? Then there is the objective issue of the falling birth rate in the West. The challenge is not just to accept immigrants, but to help them integrate. And this is something which the world of politics is afraid to say, whereas the economic world admits it. For the west it is not only a matter of generosity, it is a question of survival. We need people to support us. Many immigrants are Muslims, but many are Christians from Eastern Europe, Africa, South America. Usually those from Africa, and South America, are practising believers. The Church calls for policies which are generous and fair.
I leave the Bishops' Conference offices, satisfied but hungry. With my priest friend I enter an eating place called 'Kebab Pascià'. The smell is delicious. We order two kababs, and I ask for a chocolate. The owner laughs, “ chocolates here ? Friend. Chocolates very good, but across the road”. Right! Across the road, from where I had just come.
(Luca De Mata from Brussels, part 13, to be continued) (Agenzia Fides 31 January 2009; righe 75, parole 1.015)
