‘Our Lady was also a migrant’, says priest

This year the Catholic Church celebrated the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on September 29. The date is a moment for prayer worldwide and an opportunity for reflection on the reality of migration and its effect on the people, the world and the Church.

Commenting on the importance of Our Lady Aparecida on Brazilian migrants’ lives, Fr Severino Pinheiro da Silva Neto OFMCap, Chaplain for the Brazilian Community in Dublin, said the Virgin “was also a migrant, she went to Egypt and lived the distress of the one who leaves their place, the one who goes towards the unknown but is certain God does not abandon us.”

To mark the annual celebration, Nenagh Parish, Co. Tipperary celebrated the veneration of the Relics of the Polish Martyrs. The Killaloe Diocese’s website underlines “the need to welcome the stranger into our lives.” The gospel read during the Mass in Nenagh “preaches acceptance of difference and the setting aside of prejudice.”

Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Denis Nulty, during his homily in Our Lady of the Rosary and the Guardian Angels Church on Sunday, said: “Every encounter with migrant people is an encounter with Christ himself. For migrants, God is always a travelling companion.”

“It is also important for the Church at all levels to continuously set out and reflect on the great treasure of Catholic Social Teaching in terms of welcoming the stranger and building a sustainable sense of belonging and integration,” Bishop Michael Duignan, Chair of the Council for Immigrants of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said.

Pope Francis’ message for the Day says that migrants “entrust themselves to Him before setting out and seek Him in times of need,” and that “thanks to Him, there are good Samaritans along the way.” “Let us unite in prayer for all those who have had to leave their land in search of dignified living conditions.”