Seasonal migrant workers: A need for pastoral care

On Wednesday, July 9th, members of the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) met with Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Díli in Timor-Leste. Ms. Carla Chung, the ACRATH Migrant Support Worker for seasonal labourers working under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALMS), led the meeting.

The meeting was facilitated to discuss the well-being and pastoral needs of seasonal migrant workers from Timor-Leste. ACRATH members from Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania attended the meeting via Zoom. They were able to share with His Eminence the realities that the Timor-Leste people experience on the ground. Many workers experience the pressures of providing for family back home while enduring hardships like isolation, exploitation by employers, language barriers, limited knowledge of their rights, and a disconnect from their Catholic faith because they either live too far from a local parish or are working on Sundays.

Ms. Chung stated that the Timor-Leste people are known for their strong spirituality and devotion to the Catholic faith, but have had limited access to pastoral support while navigating the challenges of being migrant workers in Australia. She requested His Eminence appoint a priest to provide the pastoral support and spiritual guidance needed to help Timor-Leste workers achieve their goals and complete work contracts before returning home.

His Eminence, Cardinal Virgilio, listened intently and thanked the ACRATH members for their support and accompaniment of his people. He then spoke about how the Church was unprepared for the heavy demands to provide pastoral counselling and care for workers who left home for opportunities abroad in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. His Eminence explained that surging unemployment rates meant many young people left Timor-Leste to support themselves and their families. While His Eminence could not promise anything at the time of the meeting, he vowed to share the information and request at the Timor-Leste Bishop’s Conference next month.

The Columban Missionaries have supported ACRATH solidly, particularly through the work and legacy of Society Vicar and Columban Fr Peter O’Neill, who now resides in Hong Kong. Fr Peter’s advocacy for migrant workers resulted in his reviewing national policies and legislation, but he also accompanied Ms. Chung on a few occasions to visit Timor-Leste workers in East Warrnambool. Today, as the meeting closed with His Eminence, it was evident that while migrant workers leave their homes for better opportunities abroad, many face challenges that affect their well-being and compromise their human dignity and right to work.

To this degree, the Columban Missionary Society stands in solidarity with ACRATH to support the good work being done in host communities and advocate for seasonal migrant workers. Thank you, Cardinal Virgilio, for taking the time to listen deeply and respond prayerfully. In this year of Jubilee, we aim to be pilgrims of hope for the vulnerable and the “least of these,” to whom Christ identified by saying, “For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matt 25:35-36.