The Filipino Bishops' Conference met representatives of different groups of emigrants. The bishops have urged all those working abroad to carry a smiling face and a new way of living their faith wherever they go.
Manila (AsiaNews) The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has virtually reversed its stand against the flight of Filipinos searching for jobs abroad, saying overseas workers could be "missionaries of the Catholic faith" and help spread the gospel.
The former perception of the bishops on migration as an "attack on Filipino families" changed after it hosted a meeting held last week in Tagaytay City between representatives of 50 organizations of emigrant workers and the Episcopal Conference on Migrants and Itinerant Peoples (ECMI).
CBCP president, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, admitted that "the bishops' notion of the Filipino diaspora has been redefined" after they were given a clearer picture of the "new situation of migrants".
During his homily at the closing Mass of meeting last Sunday, the bishop said: "Coming from a predominantly Catholic country, these migrants could be equipped with the disposition and skills of lay missionaries, who will not necessarily preach, but live the Gospel in the context of cultural and religious pluralism."
He continued: "They are Filipinos in dialogue with other cultures and religions, which for them would be a new way of being Church and a new way of being in mission. Their arrival is a providential coincidence for the Church whose missionary priests and religious sisters started to dwindle."
The CBCP had earlier called on the government to focus on economic policies to raise job opportunities in the Philippines so as to prevent an exodus. The president of the bishops' conference said this problem has "become part of our social concern. How many of those who must leave the country suffer because they are deprived of their respect and basic rights? How many, mostly women, are abused? How many of them suffer the pain of isolation and discrimination?"
During the recent meeting, however, Lagdameo listed the "positive aspects" of migration.
"Along with our smiling faces, we offer to receiving countries or Churches, our Christian faith lived in the context of different cultures. This is the new challenge of the Filipino diaspora. It is both a challenge and a concern," he said.
About 10% of the Filipino population roughly eight million has migrated to 193 countries: half are in the US, to where over 85,000 more Filipinos continue to migrate every year.