Sarah Perret

Much of what goes into the immigration process seems to go against Catholic teachings.  Instead of welcoming and loving our neighbors, we challenge them to prove their worth.  People from all over the world come to the United States in hopes of a better future for themselves and their families.  Some immigrants do achieve this dream, but in a much more difficult way than those who were born in the United States.  Once an immigrant is granted permission to live in our country after a lengthy process, they face more challenges.  There is discrimination and judgment, language barriers, and if desired, an even more exhausting process of gaining a green card or citizenship.  In making immigration difficult, we actually challenge Catholic teachings.  We should remember that we are one human family.  Protecting ourselves and our own country is important, but even more so we have to protect all humankind.   A recent Washington Post article titled Pitting brightest immigrants against one another discusses some of the challenges immigrants face even against fellow immigrants.  In a proposed Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, immigrants are granted a green card based on who is most worthy by the skills they demonstrate in the workplace.  Hard work and skills are important and should be rewarded, but I wonder how these skills are being assessed and on what terms an immigrant is determined to be ‘highly skilled’.  However, I believe all people all over the world are highly skilled in something.  I understand that it would be impossible to leave our borders open to all of our neighbors, but I have faith that there must be a better way to open our doors and treat all peoples as the equals they are.

*The content of these blogs are the personal reflections of the author and do not represent official Columban positions or statements

I walked along the lane leading to the Beijing Diocesan seminary with one of the priests one day last week. “That wasn’t there when I came here last,” I said referring to the three hillocks of mud and rubbish on the left side of the lane. “Neither was the huge crater in the ground on the right side, from which the earth had been excavated. Where is the vibrant community and the marvellous market they had?” I asked. My friend replied, “the town has been demolished like many of the old communities and hutongs [narrow streets or alleys] in Beijing; the families are gone, and the workers are scattered across the country as in many similar situations before.”
All along the road to the seminary was a construction site, a kind of coliseum all lit from below. Before my eyes, another vast expanse of the new, modern Beijing suburbs was about to rise on a twenty acre site. Even in the darkness, the welders were still working, very high up, possibly twenty fi ve stories. In the darkness, we could see the sparks rising from the outline of the half-fi nished buildings.

Over the past ten years I have seen a gigantic construction boom not only in cities like Beijing with its Olympic feast of building but also in small cities and the expanding suburbs everywhere. Highways are being hewed out of mountains; airport terminals are sprouting like mushrooms. Malls are everywhere, often quite empty, and conference centers and hotels are to be seen even in third-tier cities. Land is being extracted from farmers for this expansion, because cites and skyscrapers are the fashion. The process that marks the end of an old community’s destruction to the grand opening of the new with banners and fanfare is sometimes only a matter of months.

The television ads and glossy magazines are harbingers of this new development from slums, hutongs, and old communities to sweeping yuppie suburbs with underground car parks and massive malls where every western luxury brand item can be purchased, even diamonds.

However, there is little or no space in the Chinese media or in the minds of many for the men and women from the countryside who construct these buildings, who labor hour after hour, day after day on minimal wages, terrible working conditions, and who live in the most basic, unsightly shacks that are just bulldozed when the project is over. I feel these are the real heroes, whose blood and sweat have created all the new buildings of this massive transformation of the landscape of Chinese cities and countryside that has taken place in China over the past years, including the now world famous Bird’s Nest of the Olympic Village.

I have seen these workers arrive at railway stations, in groups, sometimes with their families of little children, with plastic bundles strapped to their backs holding all their possessions. They may have walked, cycled or hitched rides from their villages, often from houses with mud floors, trying desperately to make something of their lives, and especially for the lives of their children. I have been in a couple of villages, where the only people remaining are grannies, granddads and the children. The mothers and fathers are so missed by their children, but they are just another statistic in what has been described as the greatest internal migration in human history. It is a migration that contributes immensely to what many consider will be the first economy in our globalized world in about fifteen years – China.

Individually and collectively, they are heroes, the men and women who come to the cities and the old and very young who remain at home. The workers move dirt, mud, water, glass and rubbish. They shovel cement and run between jobs; sometimes the women are indistinguishable from the men as they work. Their features are burnt black by the searing sun, rain, humidity and pollution as they shift bricks, steel and earth, and their hands are full of welts. Their food is very simple. The old who are left at home in the villages are heroes also coping with a young generation; they knew poverty prior to the 1950s, now they have deep feelings of loss in their community, and uncertainty in coping with the social challenges that arise in parentless villages. Yet, they firmly believe their grandchildren will have a better life. These families, ripped apart from each other, are providing the comfortable world where the rising middle class of China live in, while they, alas, will never be able to afford it.

As I walked to language school four years ago, I had to pass what must have been the biggest building site I have ever seen. The men and women were often on the morning break as I went by, and I must have been gawking at them. A man, later known to me as Mr. Wang, gestured me to join them, offered me a breakfast, a split pancake with a fried egg and some vegetables. On that cold morning, it was delicious and led to a similar curbside breakfast for two weeks. We laughed, joked and gestured about our language capacity, mine in Mandarin and theirs in English was pretty low, and their dialect may not have been Mandarin, but I wouldn’t know the difference anyway! But still, we communicated. They had photos of those most dear to them, children, wives, parents and their old home towns. I had photos too of my nephews, nieces and grandnephew. I don’t think I ever convinced them that they were not my children! My gang was moved to another site, but before that Mr. Wang welcomed me to visit his family in South west China.

As we had breakfast, hundreds of well-dressed passers-by rushed to their air-conditioned offices in the new national television tower or the posh multi story buildings nearby. They were dressed in their immaculate suits, shoulder bags and exuding deodorants. They sometimes slowed down, clearly bemused at this strange scene, some laughing, maybe scoffing, their disapproval. I often reflected on both groups: the workers, whose labor was taken for granted and whose names would be written out of history, except in the hearts of their dear ones. It must have been, I thought, like the laborers who built the cathedrals of Europe or “won the West” in the great American adventure. For many of the yuppies passing by on the street, and their glitzy media culture, their internet exchanges, silvery computer screens and rolling images of a vibrant, young star of the month, there is no place for Mr. Wang and his fellow manual workers in the Chinese dream. These workers are seen by many as dirty, uneducated peasants, to be avoided and even feared for what they might do to you.

Recently, I had a retreat in Worth Abbey, where I was informed that the architect chartered to redesign the Abbey Chapel was also the one who designed the U.K. Center at the Shanghai Expo 2010. Tens of millions of people went to the Shanghai Exhibition. The local and the international press marvelled at the buildings, and praised to the sky all of their foreign designers, but I scarcely saw a word about the real heroes and their families at home, who constructed these marvels. Their lives were broken in the making of this exhibition Center and every other urban sprawl all over China. But despite the immense challenges to the workers and their families, lives also were made a bit better in small ways – a builder’s pay packet going to the village regularly, assurances of a child’s education, payment for medicine, a small shop serving the village, or the best house in the area.

The empty rhetoric about the place of workers in this society is being named as bogus by many. The indomitable spirit of Mr. Wang and his colleagues are playing their part in that process. With them I pray that in the near future they will fully reap what they have sown and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Now the pain is more evident, and the gains are simple such as those listed. But deep inside them I sense an unquenchable will which will prevail. It was well illustrated by the father of Mr. Wang and his village mates when I visited them and heard their story of how they managed in their hostile environment over the past 30 years. After a wonderful time with them, their resilience was admirably summed up in the final goodbye of Mr. Wang’s father. He was brought up in the French Catholic tradition, and he bid me goodbye in French with a determined twinkle in his eighty five year old eye, “all the best Fr. O’Brien, I have been the CATHOLIC party secretary of the Communist party of this village for 30 years. Long live Catholicism!”

Kevin Butts

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ publication no. 5-315 on “Themes from Catholic Social Teaching” tells us that, as God’s children, “We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.” I believe that it is around this principle that much of my work at the Columban Center will focus.

My area of concentration at CCAO is economic justice, and more specifically on trade, extractive industries, global food issues, and budgetary planning. I believe that, in these fields, monetary concerns far too often are given priority over real human lives in such a way that leads to the latter’s indignity and suffering.

A world so oriented is antithetical to our responsibilities as servants of God. Jesus warns us in the Gospel of Matthew that earthly treasures will rot, and that that rot will eat away our hearts (6:19-21). He also tells us, “Truly…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:39).

The righteous society—the one we must strive for—is one whose treasures are stored not on Earth but in Heaven. And chief among these treasures are the kindness and love rendered unto those less fortunate.

I’m excited to bring this outlook to my work at the Columban Center this spring, and hope further to inspire it in those around me.

Joanne Angbazo

In the book of Genesis, we find that “God created the heavens and the earth (verse 1)… then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it (verse 28).” We see here that the earth we live in is a blessing given to us by the Lord and, according to the Church and God Himself, we are responsible to govern it for its well-being. Of course, why should we destroy a gift we have been given? Like anything we find valuable, we should use reason to make sure it lasts for our sake and in respect to Him who provided it for us. God created this earth and all that is in it for his people to sustain and enjoy it together.

Unfortunately, thus far we have not taken that great care of our environment. It is great to see that many people are starting to realize this and are taking measures to become “eco-friendly.” However, in a society driven by media and capitalism, I fear being eco-friendly may result to being a timely fad that will soon fade as the next big consumer-driven social movement takes its place. It is important to inform ourselves that the real reason for environmental justice is for the glory of God in the gift that he has provided us to sustain and enjoy—not because Leonardo Dicaprio drives a hybrid car.
*The content of these blogs are the personal reflections of the author and do not represent official Columban positions or statements

Being There for Others

Today I was talking to a woman who goes twice a week to visit her son who is serving ten years in prison. Listening to her, I began to understand how the family suffers. Pedro, her son, is in a jail built 100 years ago for a maximum of 1,800 men. Today that jail holds 7,000 inmates.

Pedro’s mother, like many other of the men’s relatives, began queuing at 2 a.m. to get in at 9 a.m. In the rain, in the cold, they have no shelter from the elements. The relatives of the inmates bring clothes and food as there is never enough food provided by the jail. In spite of visitors being partly strip searched —a degrading experience — drugs, cell phones and alcohol still find their way inside.

A Repressive System

The system is one of repression and punishment. Up to 30 men at a time sleep in cells that were built for eight. They pool the food and take turns cooking it. When they wash their clothes and hang them up over the passage way, they have to keep watch so that the clothes are not stolen and sold for drugs. Close living conditions with nothing to do, abysmal toilet facilities along with various mental and physical complaints creates a climate of unrest, fighting and drug consumption. Some of the men spend their time taking irons out of the beds, walls and stairs to make weapons like spears to fight each other which leads to many injuries. In one week, 203 inmates were murdered by other inmates.

In spite of these conditions, one is surprised by the depth of faith, hope and solidarity that is to be found there among those who have a change of mind, heart and spirit. Those who recognize they have done wrong, and they are few, want to change their way of thinking and acting; they want a new life. But sadly, for the great majority, life in this prison is a brutal affair where many give up all hope of new beginnings.

New Beginnings for Juan

In another jail outside Santiago where there are 5,000 men, we said good-bye to Juan as he left for Bolivia after serving an eightyear sentence. Over the last two years he worked in a workshop, St. Columban’s, where he learned a lot about copper work through the arts and crafts course. He also took a course in solar paneling. He made one for me and what a treat it is to have boiling water from the sun.

Throughout the last year Juan took four men each month and taught them all he had learned. With patience he even taught some of them to read and write. Juan felt very happy to be going to the workshop; he was one of the lucky ones who had availed himself of the opportunity to learn something he could work at when he got back to his own people. The fact that he was able to share his experience with others helped him in some small way to repair some of the damage he had done by working for eighteen years in drug factories in different parts of the world. In Bolivia he will begin a new and better life.

Realizing the Damage Done

One can never understand the mystery of life where there are some people who do a lot of damage and only fully realize it when they come to jail. As many say to me: “I had to come here to stop doing what I was doing when I was young; the dangers I was in and put others in.” Many see the hand of God in this. It is an opportunity for some to seek help to change, but others continue as they are and refuse any help that is offered.

What would Jesus do?

I ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” How would He relate to the Pedros and the Juans in these prisons? To the innumerable men “spaced out” by drugs, brutalized by violence, alienated from warm human contact, sunk in despair? And every day I hear Him say, “I was in prison and you came…” Maybe, in the end, that is all He asks of us — to simply be there for others.

Juanita Abii

I know what conflict can do to a nation. My mum was a child during my country’s civil war. My aunt was born in transit between two villages because nowhere was safe. War is never the ultimate resolution. Too much is lost, because too much is at stake. It’s an irony in itself. I would love to delve more into this.

I must say that the question of war has always plagued my conscience; I guess that’s why I chose to go into conflict and resolution. A lot of times I find myself caught in a dilemma, trying to figure out where the church stands on war. I am really interested in getting a better grasp of this, because as much as I condemn war, I have come to the realization that it is nearly impossible to convince other people not to go to war. This is why I have taken the stand to avoid it at all costs.

In today’s secular society, the boundaries between right and wrong are disturbingly unclear. The precepts of the Church are relegated.  Many of the Lord’s faithful are led astray. How can we support war when it goes against the sacredness of the human person? Where can we stand when terrorists attack and the only seemingly logical retaliation is war? Our principles and beliefs are distorted in this age because we have separated our faith from our state.

I arrived in Cagayan de Oro in the early afternoon of Monday, January 2.  The signs of the calamity were visible from the air as we approached the airport, but the full extent of the damage hits you when you stand on the river bank or visit those places where whole neighborhoods were simply washed away.

The damage to the water system was such that most of Cagayan still did not have running water when I arrived.  On the way from the airport we saw groups of people surrounding trucks or fire hydrants where water was being dispensed while others were coming and going with all kinds of water containers – the innovative spirit of people once more shining through the difficulties.  Drinking water was also being dispensed at points set up by the Red Cross and others who had large water purifying machines.   The lack of water leads to many difficulties one of which is the difficulty people have in doing any kind of cleaning up. Water was restored to the western side of Cagayan by Thursday, January 5, a big help.

Holy Rosary Parish, which is served by the Columbans, was affected but, when compared to other parts of Cagayan and Iligan, only relatively so.  Fr. Paul Finlayson estimates about 100 families are affected with about 30 homes destroyed.   Food and other immediate necessities have been provided for these families.  At a meeting on Tuesday, January 3, attended by most Columbans in Mindanao, it was agreed that we will continue to cooperate with the Archdiocese of Cagayan who are doing a very good job of coordinating the relief operations, without prejudice to the specific needs of the parish.

What is the more pressing need now is that of rehabilitation, which must include relocation for most of those affected.   There is little point in rebuilding homes in those areas that could be hit again in the immediate future.  Getting this right and utilizing all the help that has been promised by the Government, foreign governments, aid agencies and private individuals is both a priority and a challenge. In the meanwhile, there is a need for some kind of intermediate accommodation so that people can get back to some normality. We will continue to provide any further “immediate” aid where it is seen to be genuinely needed.
The effort now is to get people out of the evacuation centers which are mostly schools and churches and into temporary accommodation.   Archbishop Ledesma in his pastoral letter just before Christmas urged those who were not affected to “adopt” a family and care for them not only during Christmas but also in the coming months until that family can go to a more permanent home.  Of course, relatives are already doing this for their own families, but one of the fears that some people have is that if they leave the evacuation centers now they might lose their status as genuine claimants on the aid that is promised.  There are a number of tent communities being set up also to give each family some way of being together.

There is a lot of pain not only for those directly affected but also for those who heard the cries of others for help and were unable to do anything. I’m not sure that time will heal all this, but certainly God can and the faith of many of these people is both challenging and humbling.  One eight year old boy who lost his mother and two of his siblings had found a photo of her and would look at it and say, “I will see you in Heaven Mommy.”

There are the happy stories too: the child who was saved by riding on the back of a neighbor’s Labrador retriever dog.  The owners of the dog were not at home when the tragedy struck.  Or my little friend Cedric, who is all of four years old, who clung to a floating refrigerator when he got separated from his parents.  He was found by fishermen several miles away later that morning still astride the fridge.

There is much more that could be added to this, but I simply want to give you some snapshots of the situation as I experienced it.  In truth it reduced me to silence, or more accurately perhaps, it called to silence.  In so many ways it is overwhelming and yet people do what they can and many have sent help.  At times I felt like an intruder, but as I listened to the stories and simply held a hand or embraced the person, I was glad I was there and privileged to be with such people.

I want to thank all those who have sent in money to our fund and to assure you that we will continue to monitor the situation in both Cagayan and Iligan so as to best use the money we have received.  As I mentioned above, we see the greater need now to be that of rehabilitation and that is probably where we will use most of the money left in the fund and any that will get added to it.  I hope that this is acceptable to all of you.

Finally, on this Feast of the Epiphany, may Jesus show His face to all those who are still suffering so terribly.  May He also show His face to those who, by the help they send, the prayers they make or their work on the ground, have become that face of Christ for others.
Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue

John Ampiah-Addison

I had a good experience as an intern at the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach (CCAO). My experience has definitely changed my views about the world and given me a better understanding of my next step in life.  Attending the presentation on sustainable development was one of my favorite experiences at my internship because it changed my view and approach to development.

Like most people, I have always thought about economic growth as the major indicator for improvement in a developing country. Despite how relevant economic growth might be to development, I think sustainable development should be given more precedence over economic growth. Since we live on a finite planet it only makes sense to look for ways to sustain growth—this kind of growth aim to meet human needs while putting the environment in perspective. We need focus more on having better schools, better sanitation, healthcare, clean water, and disease prevention. The other issues I worked on like the Keystone Pipeline, KORUS FTA and Jeju Island, all gave me a better understanding of advocacy work. I really appreciate having the opportunity to work with CCAO. Thank you.

The Columban Internship program is the cornerstone of the Columban Center for Advocacy & Outreach (CCAO).  Spring and fall semester internships give those living in the Washington, D.C., area the opportunity to participate in the advocacy process using their faith as a starting point.  Interns begin by researching a specific advocacy area or country, and follow through with letters to members of Congress, Capitol Hill visits, and meetings with interfaith agencies.  Interns may focus their work in other areas, such as communications or website design, depending on their skills.  A full-time six week summer internship is also offered but is typically reserved for individuals from outside the D.C. region.  The internship is an opportunity to bridge faith and justice and work towards structural change.  One former intern shared that “it is so humbling to assist in bridging gaps, reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Columban mission countries and beyond.  It reminded me that I’m a part of something important and something bigger than myself.”

Longer-term domestic and international volunteer opportunities are available in several Columban locations.  “The struggle for justice is an integral part of proclaiming the Gospel. CCAO is at the heart of that proclamation for Columbans,” shares Fr. Eamon Sheridan, member of the Society’s General Council and Central JPIC Coordinator.  To that end, the CCAO office in Washington, D.C., accepts volunteers for a minimum of six months for advocacy positions similar in nature to the work of interns but more in depth.  Volunteers live simply and in community with others working in service in the nation’s capital.

If you want to serve abroad, there are teaching positions available through AITECE (Association for International Teaching, Educational and Cultural Exchange), a program which facilitates placing people as teachers who witness their Christian values of respect, generosity, and service.  AITECE volunteers spend a year working at a Chinese university in poorer areas of the country, helping to build better relations through mutual sharing.  There are also volunteer opportunities to spend a minimum of six months in Taiwan, working in migrant worker ministry.  Both of these placements would allow the volunteer to experience a new culture and live in solidarity with those they serve. Columban priest Liam O’Callaghan says that volunteer service “has the potential to make a significant difference for so many who are suffering and struggling in many parts of the world.”

Can’t travel but still want to give?  Consider supporting the Columban Fathers which offers scholarships to people who would like to serve as an intern or volunteer, or join one of our Mission Exposure trips, but are limited by financial constraints. For more information about any of these programs, contact the CCAO at ccaoprograms@columban.org or visit our website at www.columban.org/get-involved.