HONG KONG (SE): Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan SJ, met with the Diocesan Commission for Pastoral Services to Migrant Workers on January 11 at the Catholic Diocese Centre to listen to the needs of the migrant communities and expressed his concern about the children of migrants.
After listening to the sharing of different migrant communities, Bishop Chow expressed his appreciation for the services they rendered to people far away from home and the marginalised members of Hong Kong society. Besides foreign domestic workers, he also expressed his concern for the lives of the resident migrants and asylum-seekers.
The bishop stressed that the voices of the migrants are crucial and need to be heard as the diocese conducts its synodal consultations on the principle of plurality and inclusion in their mission. He emphasised the importance of listening and attending to each group, irrespective of their differences. Moreover, he encouraged the communities to pay attention to young people and the children of migrants and bring them to the Church.
Those at the meeting included prison chaplain for Filipinos, Father Jun Jacobe; Sister Michelle Reynolds, of the Association of Major Superiors of Women Religious; director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Migrants, Sister Corazon Demetillo; chaplain for Indonesians, Father Heribertus Hadiarto; chaplain for Filipinos, Father Jay Flandez, and Father Blaise Coorey and Father John Baptist Le Van Ba, who serve the Sri Lankan and Vietnamese communities. Carmen Lee from Caritas-Hong Kong and Cindy Bernardez of the El Shaddai group were also present.
“The bishop’s interest in the mission to migrants and encouragement inspires us to look beyond and do more for the betterment of their life condition. It was an engaging meeting for him and us,” Sister Demetillo said.
Father Flandez said that the meeting had enabled them to share about their apostolate with the migrants of different nationalities and learn from one another.
“The commission is not only interested in spiritual formation. We also talked about how we can assist migrants in their plights as we shared how we have responded to the migrants’ problems and accompanied them in their struggles,” Father Flandez said.
Father Hadiarto, on the other hand, said he was impressed by the bishop’s concern about hearing the migrants’ voices. “We are so grateful for the bishop’s concern and actions to address unity in plurality in our migrant communities. I look forward to our journey together with migrants with different nationalities,” he said.
