‘Duty to accompany migrants’: Indian bishops launch portal to support nation’s immigrants

Bangalore, India, Oct 8, 2024 / 10:50 am

India’s bishops recently launched a digital tool to help support the country’s hundreds of millions of migrants, hoping to address what one bishop calls the “serious concern” of migrant well-being. 

The digital portal was launched on Sept. 27 in Bangalore by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) ahead of the Vatican’s 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 29.

The digital portal, CCBI said in a press release, has been linked to the CatholicConnectIn platform of the Indian Church “to assist migrants moving for work, education, or other reasons of displacement. This initiative aligns with the vision of Pope Francis, who advocates for welcoming, protecting, promoting, and integrating migrants and refugees.”

Archbishop Victor Henry Thakur, who heads the CCBI Commission for Migrants as well as the  Archdiocese of Raipur, told CNA: “Migration is a reality and the Church has the duty to accompany migrants.”

“Dismissing migration as a problem, some argue that migration should be stopped,” the prelate said. “When people struggle for survival and jobs, they move to greener places for better opportunities. The constitution also gives them the right to move.”

Immigrants are estimated to be nearly one-third of India’s 1.44 billion people.

Migrant care “became a serious concern for the Church [in India] from early 2000,” Thakur said. “It is a challenging task for us to connect our social service wings at the diocesan level to reach out to as many migrants as possible.”

“India, home to one of the world’s largest diasporas, has over 450 million internal migrants,” the CCBI said in announcing the portal. “They often face challenges related to displacement, exploitation, and access to basic services.” 

“In response, the Catholic Church is stepping up efforts to assist migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, unaccompanied minors, and victims of human trafficking.”

“The portal will serve as a vital resource, allowing migrants to register and access Church services regardless of their location,” the bishops said. “Dioceses and parishes across India will support the initiative by helping migrants register, while trained volunteers from migrant communities will extend aid to those in distress.”

Father Jaison Vadassery, the secretary of the bishops’ Commission for Migrants, told CNA that “the service is open to all, regardless of caste, creed, or religion. The portal will enable the Church to accompany migrants in a more meaningful way. The platform will help migrants enroll in government schemes and provide assistance during emergencies, such as securing health care or education for their children.”

Vadassery said the commission has a lot of technical work to do to link the digital portal to a multilingual website that will connect all the country’s dioceses so that migrants can seek support from anywhere. 

“Our goal is to provide migrants a window to register and access Church services regardless of their location by helping them integrate into their host communities while remaining connected to their cultural and religious roots,” the priest said.

“A team of computer experts are setting up faultless networking while our regional coordinators are supervising surveys at the diocesan level,”  he added. 

“We have already conducted surveys among migrants in the Agra, Meerut, and Delhi Dioceses. In Delhi alone, we interviewed 400 migrants. Getting information is difficult as they are suspicious about fraudsters,” Sister Rani Punnasseril, a nun with the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the coordinator of  the migrant commission for the northern region, told CNA.

“Several teams are now engaged in conducting surveys among the migrants,” she said.