On Nov. 17, the Boston College Boisi Center, Church in the 21st Century Center, and Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good co-sponsored a virtual event entitled “Refugees and Migrants: Paradoxes in the Age of COVID-19.” Moderated by Professor of Theology and Director of Graduate Studies Kristin E. Heyer, Ph.D., the event brought together Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Marjean Perhot, Director of Refugee and Immigration Services for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston; and Alejandro Olayo-Mendez, S.J., Assistant Professor in the Boston College School of Social Work.
Cardinal Czerny opened the event by explaining that he and his team are tasked with helping the Church support local dioceses around the world as they care for people migrating. Whether dealing with asylees, refugees, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced peoples, or vulnerable migrants notwithstanding, Czerny said that the ultimate question that the Church has to confront is how to best employ its resources in the assistance of those on the move.
To better explain the paradox of migration during a global pandemic, Heyer then spent a few minutes speaking about the tension between migrants on the move and the reality of lockdowns necessitated by COVID-19.
In response to Heyer’s question about the particular role that COVID-19 has played in global migration, Czerny described the increasing complexity of the actual migration process. At the same time, however, Czerny was hopeful that because COVID-19 has emptied many detention centers, there might be more future interest in the decriminalization of human movement.
As an expert on immigration to the United States, especially through its southern border with Mexico, Olayo-Mendez reiterated the serious strain that many migrants were under even before COVID-19. Though he said that COVID-19 has certainly slowed the process of migration, it has not stopped it altogether, forcing families to make incredibly consequential decisions about how to move in difficult circumstances.
In Boston, Perhot recalled the stories of those individuals whom Catholic Charities has supported since the onset of COVID-19. From unaccompanied children to families fleeing instability in Africa, Perhot further explained that the immigration process during COVID-19 has been weaponized to discourage people from seeking asylum under international law. Nevertheless, despite the many challenges that COVID-19 has posed to “usual operations,” Perhot said that refugees and immigrants are “very resilient” and doing all they can to learn skills that will allow them to be successful in their new homes.
Turning to the role that Catholic social teaching can have on our approach to human movement, Heyer asked Cardinal Czerny how he would characterize the primary concerns he has in light of COVID-19. Czerny responded by saying that right from the start, COVID-19 should have been something we perceive from the perspective of the most vulnerable. Olayo-Mendez then connected Czerny’s response to the Church’s call to the faithful to find the “peripheries” wherever they are.
In the latter half of the event, much of the discussion focused on how Pope Francis’s latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, could inform a Catholic understanding of service to those on the move. After Czerny made clear his appreciation for the encyclical beyond the mere fact of its applicability to COVID-19, he said that “Fratelli tutti gives us […] a self portrait and a mission” embodied in the picture at Genesis and in the picture of Angels Unaware: that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
Drawing on the Angels Unaware installation, the conversation then moved to the role that Catholic universities can have in supporting migrants. First, Cardinal Czerny encouraged Catholic universities to increase the number of international and first generation students they admit. Olayo-Mendez then proposed that universities should promote research around migration and interdisciplinary approaches to study that emphasize the fundamental dignity of the person. Finally, Perhot hoped for further attention to training bilingual and bicultural clinicians.
The event concluded with questions posed by the audience through an online form. A recording of the event can be found of the Church in the 21st Century Center’s YouTube page.
Featured image courtesy of Gémes Sándor via WikiMedia.
- Yes, Boston College is Still Catholic: A Response to Nick Letts - May 5, 2023
- Boisi Center Experts Discuss US-Vatican Relations - March 16, 2021
- Cardinal, Experts Discuss Migration and COVID-19 - December 16, 2020