Into a gridlocked road of migration in Canada

This time our provinces (St Charles and St John the Baptist) of North America held their annual meeting of the Scalabrinian Young Missionaries 4-8 October 2004 at Queen of Apostles Retreat Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.The two provincial superiors, Frs Sergio Dall'Agnese and Antonio Tapparello were present in our meeting.This year's theme though brought a migratory tone to our ministries as God's continuing call and presence in the life of his people.

While the need to address some issues pertinent to our priestly life and commitment with depth and value judgments, Frs Edison Osorio and Miguel Alvarez made a general emphasis on the process of education-formation that coexist with our willingness to take on a journey to psycho-spiritual maturity.

As we reflect on the realities in today's church, we were led to come down to the issue of how we can serve our people in the most effective way and offer them the best possible pastoral care.The call to collaboration with the Lay Scalabrinian Movement was given a special weight of importance in living out our commitment as missionaries for the migrants.Mr Joel Licuanan, one of the Scalabrinian lay members, shared his own testimony as a migrant who became involved in the life of the parish.

Fr Ezio Marchetti, CS, local superior of the Ontario region, brought to the fore our faith journey as Scalabrinians in different mission territories in Canada.He underscored our historical and cultural backgrounds in bringing to that expression who we are, what we value, and how we think about our mission in the Canadian setting.

On the one hand, Dr Monica Boyd, professor at the University of Toronto, spoke on the human face of migration in Canada.She explored the historical, political and economic need of Immigration Enforcement activities which highlights the criteria and suitability as regards refugees (humanitarian based migration), family unification, and skilled-workers.She said that the aftermath of 9/11 disaster has turned the worldwide security intelligence into in-depth examination of immigrants and eventually revisit legislation concerning refugees.

As a sequel to the myths and facts of Immigration, Alcido Fank and Lucie Mouro, from the Scalabrini Migrant Centre Inc., highlighted some cases on the Immigration Levels certain countries whose ethnic diversity contributes immensely in the economic situation of the receiving country like Canada in particular.They presented the facts and figures of the principal applicants and dependents specifically in the Toronto.

Towards the end, the usual movement of celebrations swept glut of hospitality and convivial gatherings one would kind of like to experience, from two Scalabrinian parishes - St Anthony and St Catherine of Siena with Bishop John Boissonneau, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto, as the main celebrant.