Irish experience ‘key’ to tackling migrant crisis – bishop

Irish people are well-placed to understand and help migrants and refugees, Limerick’s Bishop Brendan Leahy has said, describing Pope Francis’ call for migrants to be welcomed into our communities as a ‘pressing invitation’ for Catholics.

In a homily in St Nessan’s Church, Raheen, on January 1, the Church’s 51st World Day of Peace, Bishop Leahy said Irish people have “a particular sensitivity to the theme of migration, emigration”.

“We have a key to understanding migration,” Dr Leahy told The Irish Catholic. “We ourselves have been a migrant people – lots of us have relations who’ve gone abroad, and many of us have gone and come back.”

This gives a special insight into the challenges, difficulties and opportunities migrants face in unfamiliar countries, he said, adding that Irish people should be aware of how “every migrant has their own unique story of who they’ve left behind and why they had to leave their homelands”.

In his homily Dr Leahy urged Irish people to do all they could to welcome and integrate migrants, taking care to ensure vulnerable migrants are not taken advantage of or endangered in the process.

“We need to be on the look-out to make sure migrants, especially women and children, are not exposed to risks or being exploited,” he said, explaining how educational and other supports are crucial to this.

“In Ireland we need to support the human development of migrants and refugees, ensuring access to all levels of education for children and young people,” he said, noting that “this will enable them not only to cultivate and realise their potential, but also equip them better in their turn to go out and encounter others in a spirit of dialogue rather than confrontation”.

Emphasising how enabling migrants to participate fully in society is “to the benefit of us all”, Dr Leahy paid tribute to the work done by schools and others tasked with helping migrants integrate in Irish society but said these should be strengthened, and that many people still need help.

“Asylum seekers are living in dire circumstances not far from us. For each of us, personally but also as a parish and as a diocese, Pope Francis’ message comes as a pressing invitation,” he concluded.