Let us welcome migrants in simple ways

MELAKA JOHOR: The Episcopal Commission of Migrants and Itinerants (ECMI) has adopted the theme of Welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants and refugees. Bishop Bernard Paul, the President of ECMI, said in a video message prepared for the celebration.

“There are two aspects we look into. On a personal level, what do we do? We smile. We give them a smile. We appreciate what they do. We welcome them and include them in our homes and in our families.

“At the parish level, we include them in our communities. We are neighbours to them and they are also neighbours to us.

Let us welcome them just like the Samaritan welcomed the stranger into his own life. Let us include them in our own lives. Let us also organise our parishes to be missionary, to have missionary outreaches to the migrants or even set up parish migrant ministries. And lastly, let us also recognise the ready-made leaders in their midst. Let us welcome them.

Let us include them and let them be part of the parish decision-making process.

“So my dear friends, in very simple ways, we welcome, we protect, we promote and integrate. “A final word, something for us to consider. A Church only becomes a credible witness when it is welcoming, when it is protecting, when it is promoting, when it is integrating the strangers, the foreigners, the poor, the weak and the powerless.

“And I conclude by saying, welcome one another, welcome and you welcome the Lord. Again I say, welcome one another and you welcome the Lord.”

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online