AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Migrant Week 2009: “Establishing dignity in cultural diversity”: “offering a testimony of fraternal charity at the service of our brother immigrants and refugees”

Bogota (Agenzia Fides) - “Establishing dignity in cultural diversity” will be the theme of Migrant Week 2009, which will be held in Colombia, September 13-20. The event is coordinated by the Section of Human Mobility of the National Secretariat of Social-Pastoral Ministry (SNPS/Caritas Colombia), which has issued a guide for celebrations to be held in the various communities.
Among the objectives of the Week is the will to “grow in our pastoral work of welcoming people, humanitarian attention, and support” to those most in need, according to material sent to Agenzia Fides issued by the Bogota Pastoral Office for Human Mobility. Recalling the Year of St. Paul that has just concluded, it highlighted that “the attitude of the Apostle to the Gentiles calls us to accompany the various social and cultural situations through our pastoral activity of welcoming people, offering a testimony of fraternal charity at the service of our brother immigrants and refugees.”
The various initiatives scheduled for the Week, in order to “awaken consciences and social services to the needs of immigrants and refugees, taking into consideration their cultural diversity,” will focus on immigration from various points of view: difference; a pilgrimage; programs on the issue, from the mass media; a Holy Hour for immigrants; a celebration of peoples for promoting multi-ethnic integration; the Holy Mass with these particular intentions in the parishes, on the National Day of the Migrant on September 20; a Special Collection for refugees. (GT) (Agenzia Fides 11/9/2009)