Migrant workers weaken family with consumerism
Manila (AsiaNews) - For the past 68 years, the sisters of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul have been running the private-owned White Cross Orphanage in San Juan, Metro Manila. "But we will be handing-over the orphanage to the board of directors by tomorrow, June 30," Sr. Teresita Montañano told AsiaNews. "A sister congregation was suppose to take our place but it
seems they have changed their minds."
Seventeen sisters used to work here. But under Sr. Montañano's leadership, they have cut down on their personnel with only 5 sisters for the 91 resident children. Included in their work is the day-care centre which caters to the children of the poor families in the community. Though there are more than 500 sisters in the congregation, the majority of them are elderly, says Sr. Montañano, who works as para-legal at the Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People at the Bishops' Conference. "And there are less vocations. And even among the young sisters, many of them are sickly. The others do not have a strong constitution. They easily get tired." The congregations administer about 50 private institutions, hospitals and schools nationwide. "We have to give up most of the institutions which we were tasked to administer." Where they used to have several officers in each province, this is also being centralized, with only one group of officers for each province.
Among the young women who enter the convent, Sr.Montañano notices, "They are geared to much on consumerism. They are attracted to material things and have less commitments."
The young women usually come from parishes, from pastoral communities. But despite of this, they tend towards materialism. Many even prefer to work abroad. Many of them have different values because of the change in family life. "The family is getting weak because either the father or mother or both are working abroad." To compensate for their absence in the family, the migrant parent sends money to their children, in this way encouraging consumerism.
An official of Department of Labour added that due to global market opportunities, the government will be able to generate one million jobs for migrant workers this year.
"There is a real crisis in the vocations and it starts with the family, a change of values in the family, caused by migration," says Sr. Montañano. (SE)