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Responding with hope and love to global family

By Jerry Eaton, LMSW
Executive Director
Catholic Charities

The polarizing politics of our nation generate real anger and sometimes that anger prevents us from responding thoughtfully as we face difficult issues. This is very plain as the whole world faces the reality of massive migration – it isn’t just an issue here in the United States. What is going on?

Generally people don’t leave their homes, their villages, their towns, their countries unless they are seeking a better opportunity, or they have to because of things like war, “ethnic cleansing”, or extreme poverty and deprivation. There are many places in this world in South America, Central America, in Mexico, in Africa, in Eastern Europe, and in Asia where people live in very precarious positions that none of us would want to live in ourselves. Migrating to another country would look very attractive to us as well, given the circumstances.

Many of those people are migrating to Europe, to the United States, and to other parts of the developed world are seeking safety, relief from poverty, freedom, and opportunity. In the same circumstance many of us would be doing the same thing. Given the choice between migrating “legally” and “illegally”, the vast majority of those migrating would choose “legally.”

Clearly, this process of immigration isn’t going to stop in our now global community. Why is it so hard to immigrate “legally” into another country when the need for labor there is so great that employers are willing to knowingly hire “illegal” immigrants that don’t even speak the same language as their employer?

When we ask this question we move from the reality of the problems that people face throughout the world that started this massive migration. When we do this we start to get into arguments about whom is doing what to whom, whose fault it is, and angry solutions that don’t take into account the reality of ongoing nature of this massive migration that is taking place throughout the world. Our politicians have done a wonderful job of taking advantage of our logical questions, fears, and uneasiness for their political purposes; like winning elections.

Our Church takes a much different approach worldwide. The following are quotes from Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Migration and Travelers. “The passage from mono-cultural to multicultural societies can be a sign of the living presence of God in history and in the community of mankind, for it offers a providential opportunity for the fulfillment of God’s plan for universal communion.” “Today’s migrants may be considered a call, albeit a mysterious one, to the kingdom of God, already present in his Church, which is its beginning, and an instrument of Providence to further unity of the human family and peace.”

The Church looks with Hope and Love to the future possibilities given this massive migration; one that is much harder for us to see. We hear everyone talk about becoming a global community; our Church has an established global community where we as Catholics are at home anywhere in the world that we go when we walk into a Catholic Church. The Church has an experience in building this global community that the rest of us struggle with.

While it is easy to talk about a global community we all recognize that there are problems that are going to have to be faced. Immigration is just the tip of the iceberg and like the rest of this globalization process this issue of immigration isn’t going to simply go away. Given the state of living conditions in the rest of the world, and the fact that as we become this global community it is easier to go from one place to another all of this means that the need for workers in some parts of the world is met by the availability of workers from other parts of the world, or the movement of jobs from one part of this global community to another - how are we going to face this reality thoughtfully?

What kind of questions would we ask? Would any of us still be angry even if every one of the “illegal” immigrants were “legal?” If so, why would we be angry? Would we still be upset that they were taking away our jobs because they are willing to work for less? Would we still be upset that there are so many of them that we almost have to learn their language because they don’t learn our language fast enough? Would we be upset that they aren’t like us? Would we be uncomfortable that their way of life is changing our way of life?

How would we deal with our fear and our anger thoughtfully? How would our Church’s position and guidance help us as we face the reality of the change that is taking place, not just here but worldwide? Multicultural also means multi-faith as well. In many parts of the world the immigrants are coming from countries of different faiths and that too brings up many challenges in this global community.

The Church is global and though the influx in our country does increase the size of the Catholic community in our nation, that isn’t what is happening in the rest of the world. The Church isn’t just looking out for itself when it speaks on the issue of migrants and immigration, instead it is looking for the development of our humanity and looking toward an opportunity to make what is happening productive rather that destructive. How can we make it productive rather than destructive as we face this issue worldwide and in our own country, and what does the Church offer us in guidance as we do this?