1st Indonesian Migrants Wedding

Our parish had it's first Indonesian migrants wedding at 12 pm in the church on Sunday, 29 August 2010. The groom is Blasius Manek and the bride Erina Manek. The wedding was attended by Visitation Church parishioners, friends and fellow Indonesian migrants.

Formation for Myanmarese/ Chin Refugees

A team of 3 Myanmarese pastoral workers from the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur came down to Seremban today to give a talk to 38 Myanmarese/Chin refugees to create awareness of and provide ways to cope with the problems related to displacement, physical and mental health issues.

Refugees are no different than any other person in that they are equally vulnerable to the diseases that affect local communities. But where they differ is that refugees often find local healthcare facilities difficult to access due to costs, fear of travelling to reach those facilities and language barriers.

Refugees know that their safety and wellbeing depend on their accurate reading and careful negotiation of different spaces and landscapes in urban areas.

There are over 28 million people living in Malaysia. Among the three to four million non-citizens are around 100,000 asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons.

Malaysia is signatory neither to the 1951 Refugee Convention, nor to its 1967 Protocol. It has not enacted domestic legislation recognising the legal status of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons. However, it permits UNHCR to register, determine status and provide assistance to these populations. There are no refugee camps in Malaysia. Most reside in urban areas – the largest numbers in Kuala Lumpur, the Klang Valley and Penang.

Unreliable income, exploitation at work (in particular, in the form of unpaid wages), extortion by law enforcement officers, robbery by local gangsters, the high cost of rent, health services and education, as well as the need to support those unable to find work make poverty endemic amongst refugees in Malaysia.

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"A Home is ..." - Myanmarese refugees tie the knot

"A home isn't a building or a locality but a place where relationships are nurtured and given an opportunity to grow ... a place where one learns to forgive, share, and make sacrifices," Rev. Fr. Michael Chua, the Parish Priest of the Church of Visitation, Seremban, reminded the couple, Manuel and Bee Nyar, who entered into the sacred bond of marriage this afternoon. This is the first wedding of refugees conducted in the Church of Visitation.

The occasion was truly a celebration of love and friendship as members of the parish migrant ministry and liturgical team took special effort to make it a memorable event for the couple. Fr. Chua also explained that although the couple and the Myanmarese refugees community were far from their homeland, they have, however, found a new home and a new family here in this parish.

Burmese migrants and refugees are often arrested by Malaysian authorities, whether or not they have registered with the UNHCR and have identification papers. While Malaysia accepts the presence of Burmese and others from outside of the country for the purpose of contributing to the work force, persons identified as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a third country are viewed as threats to national security. They are also subjected to a whole range of discrimination and exploitation in terms of employment, education and housing.

The Catholic Church in Malaysia has been one of the few organisations which takes the defense of the rights of refugees and migrants seriously in its pastoral ministry. The Migrant Ministry of Visitation has been assisting migrants and refugees in terms of cash and food aid, English classes, integral human formation, health care, legal documentation,housing etc.

Those interested to join or support this ministry, please contact Mr. Alfred Selvam (016-2129404).

Migrants Easter Fellowship 2010

The Migrant Ministry and Chinese Apostolate of the Church of Visitation jointly organised an Easter Fellowship and Gathering for its migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines. Lunch was followed by several performances, i.e. songs and dances etc.

This event has been an annual affair for the past few years. It usually takes place immediately after the Bahasa Malaysia Easter Sunday service for migrants.

Celebrating Christmas in the Kongsi

Fr. Michael celebrated mass with Indonesian migrant workers in a kongsi in Senawang area.

Immigration: Making Catholicity Tangible

Vatican Aide Notes How Migration Helps Ecclesiology

BRASILIA, Brazil, SEPT. 16, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Immigration makes the nature of the universal Church visible, according to a Vatican aide who was reflecting on migrants and catholicity.

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, spoke about immigration and ecclesiology when he addressed the third international conference on migrant ministry, which opened today in Brazil.

The prelate affirmed that immigration, which he called a "sign of the times," can be a chance for local Churches to live and feel the ecclesiology of communion and mission spoken about in "Lumen Gentium" from the Second Vatican Council.

The pastoral care of migrants "contributes to making visible the genuine physiognomy of the Church," he contended.

"Also through them," the archbishop added, "God's plan of salvific communion can be carried out among peoples."

Archbishop Marchetto further observed that immigrants themselves have the "privileged though painful opportunity of coming to a greater sense of belonging to the universal Church, beyond any particularity."

He recalled how "Lumen Gentium" teaches that the Church exists as universal and particular, without contradiction.

And the Church's pastoral program with immigrants must be carried out "in hierarchical communion with the bishop, the clergy, the laity and the religious," the archbishop said. He added that a concept of "mission" must also be taken into account.

"Mission is not only carried out in the so-called mission territories, traditionally in Asia and Africa, given that today the inhabitants of the different continents move, and with them, moves the mission," he observed.

"The Church becomes the history of a people on the way who, starting from the mystery of Christ and the circumstances of the people and groups that make it up, is called to build a new history, gift of God and fruit of human liberty," Archbishop Marchetto said. "This is the thread of the history that enters in God's order, in the paschal mystery of death and life, and also the thread of the joys and sorrows of migrants, pilgrims on earth."