Freedom to choose

Sep 22, 2023

Guest Editorial - Deacon Aaron Alammalay

This year’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees gives us a glimpse of freedom particularly in our freedom to choose, as the theme speaks Free to choose whether to migrate or to stay. As one of the growing countries in Southeast Asia, we have been receiving migrants and refugees that is not limited to the ASEAN region but from all across the globe. Sometimes it can be too much to handle on our plates that we have to turn the stranger away.

The issue of migrating, whether temporarily or permanently has always been an issue since the beginning of time. In the Christian faith, it goes back to Genesis in the story of Adam and Eve, a forced migration due to the penalty of sin. In today’s time however, migration in its various forms either to seek a better life or to support our loved ones’ back home who are unable to migrate with us due to whatever reason cannot just use the problem of sin as an excuse to migrate. We have read about climate change, heard about unjust policies, unequal rights and corrupt governments among the causes for migration, instability in such areas if we may put it as such.

Our involvement in the local diocesan ministry for migrants and refugees be it a ministry by itself or in collaboration with ministries involved in Social Action of the Church is not just to defend social action or social justice or to to uphold the ‘Human Life and Dignity.’ We must also understand that as Church we are more than just being another NGO.

The heart of ministry is first and foremost about empowerment through our own encounter with Christ, welcoming Christ, feeding and taking care of Christ in the people we serve and liberating them that they too can empower others to encounter Christ in their lives and in the life of the Church. Our mission then is empowerment through an encounter with Christ.

Our involvement in this ministry is also not just about our contribution in kind or material goods, to give and not be present, to provide and not feed, to heal and not provide aftercare or accompaniment. This ministry is about lending a listening ear, building relationships through empowerment, collaborations with NGOs where we are unable to meet the needs of the migrants and refugees in our own locality, and to provide a safe place where migrants who choose to stay can call home, where they can be vulnerable and yet safe to share their lives through the life of the Church. Therefore, it is necessary to empower our neighbourhood migrants by welcoming them into our local BECs and church just as we took our first steps to integrate ourselves when we first moved into a new neighbourhood.

Unfortunately, this ministry can also be just a passing phase for a diocese or even a parish, and the downfall of such ministries is not just because there is no one to serve, but because of the negative experiences that members of this ministry encounter and the stigma of the migrants that members encounter through the ministry.

There is no perfect ministry. However, we must keep in our hearts, that the strength of any ministry is our prayer life. A ministry that has a very good prayer life, even if it is at the weakest point, will grow to be the most effective ministry for the church even if the members are few. Christ should be at the heart any ministry through the ministry’s prayer life. Despite the challenges faced by the ministry, every labourer who signed up at the last minute still receives a just wage (Matt 20:14-14). The just wage is the little consolations we experience in this challenging ministry, not to give us some form of comfort, but to constantly remind us that Christ is our joy and that we can find Him in our service to our migrant neighbour.

The migrants in our country should be given a choice, just as we are given a choice as Church. No human being deserves to be forced into making a decision especially a critical decision to leave or remain in the country. However, it is also our responsibility and effort to help them decide. We never ever should answer for them; we may be their voice just as Christ Himself was our voice when we ourselves (or our ancestors) had to go through migration to seek a better life or even freedom. The decision is still their own to make.

We can only encourage them. Still, after all the help we can give them, we should not expect everything to go smoothly or score points. We know through our discernment that we have given our best to them, and through our ministries for migrants and refugees, our aim is always to defend the human life and dignity through the actions from our own migrant himself, Christ our Lord. We empower the migrants and refugees through our own lives in the life of Christ and His Church.

(Deacon Aaron Alammalay is Assistant Head to the Diocesan Ministry for Migrants and Refugees, Diocese of Malacca Johore.)