Women religious reflect on challenges of migration

Sister-led dialogue at the UISG

By Sebastián Sansón and Mireia Bonilla

The International Union of Superiors General (UISG) holds a meeting on migrants and refugees at its headquarters in Rome, marking the second symposium in a series of dialogues on key issues for the future of our societies.

To analyse the root causes of migration trends and explore ways of allocating resources to promote inclusive and sustainable solutions was the main objective of the Sister-led dialogue on migration, organized by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) in collaboration with the Global Solidarity Fund (GSF).

The meeting, held at the UISG headquarters in Rome on Monday, 3 July, marked the second in a series of events that began on 17 April with a seminar on climate change.

These events are structured as a series of thematic debates between government representatives, intergovernmental organisations, Vatican institutions, civil society, academics and the press. They will conclude with the first UISG Advocacy Forum to be held in October 2023 in the Eternal City.

During the day, Catholic women religious from around the world reflected on humanitarian assistance, human rights, integral human development, social cohesion, among other issues.

A series of “dialogues,” organised by the UISG, has brought together international experts and women religious determined to play a concrete role in protecting people and communities in need.

Putting people back at the centre

Among the participants was Sister Carmen Elisa Bandeo, originally from Argentina and coordinator of the International Network of Migrants and Refugees, who expressed her satisfaction with this meeting and explained that this space began in response to the situation generated by the shipwreck of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea in 2013.

She commended it as a platform that has been growing, facilitating the creation of inter-congregational and international communities “acting as bridges between the local community and the community that arrived through asylum seekers.”

She spoke to Vatican News’ Sebastián Sansón about her and her fellow sisters’ priorities and commitments.

“I am very happy to be here with this dialogue because we, in our projects, wish to put the person, at the center of all the policies, and all the advocacy efforts. The human person is the most important element at the center of everything.”

She recalled their commitment to remind the society that all arriving in Italy and in other parts of the world, are seeking something better, and looking for a better world. “Together with them, we can build that better world,” she said, noting that projects organized by religious sisters worldwide help make this hope become a reality, especially through exchanging information and developing a network.

“For us, this is a very important moment as a UISG is the second dialogue that we are having. First was the environment, now it is migration. But both of them are coming together because it’s the human person, the one who will really channel this change in order to respond to the realities and the crisis, or I will say, it’s not the crisis, it’s a new challenge for our society.”

From their experience, she said they recognized the need to establish themselves internationally.

In fact, she pointed out that there are many projects that are underway in different countries and, in this sense, the purpose of the network is to connect them, to create sufficient avenues that encourage exchanging information and reflection.

As consecrated women, Sister Carmen expressed, they aim to uphold a spirituality that allows them to be converted by this reality that is knocking at their doors, which places the person back at the centre. The Sisters invite migrants and asylum seekers to sit at the same table to talk with them, as well as with civil society actors, to promote policies that emphasise promoting the person.

Changing lives more than promoting welfare

Sister Nieves Crespo, a Salesian missionary who has been in Ethiopia for more than 20 years, shared her joy and gratitude for the UISG conference.

The nun commented that in the African country they are carrying out a project, with the Global Solidarity Fund and five other congregations, which seeks to provide a quality response to internally displaced women, who arrive through the Missionaries of Charity, and to refugees from Eritrea and Yemen.

“It is a very beautiful experience; we see how lives are changing.”

The missionary called the activity as an enriching initiative that involves women’s congregations working together “in a reality that is not new, and that requires a change of paradigm, vision, and narrative, in which we are really able to put the people who migrate at the centre”.

Sister Nieves underscored that the focus is not “to give a welfare response,” but to “make migrants become protagonists in a new world that has changed and will continue to change.” – Vatican News