"A mi me gusta tener el altar verdad, tener mi Virgen,
mi Señor, nuestro señor Jesucristo, junto a la Virgen de Guadalupe
que es la madre de Dios verdad y ella me ha hecho milagros muy grandes."
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14.4 28.8
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The Harvest is Great...and the Laborers Are Many
Because of the fact that many of the migrants are Spanish-speaking, with
roots in Mexico, they have strong cultural and religious ties to the Church.
The transitory nature of their stay in any area often makes it difficult
or impossible for them to retain strong ties to any parish community. Those
who have a "permanent residence" in Texas, Florida, California,
or Mexico may have a "home" parish. Most, however, seek pastoral
and sacramental ministry from any parish or area where they may happen to
be. It is not uncommon for each child of a large family to have been baptized
in a different state, and in a different parish. If the family loses the
all-important bag or box of documents, which includes birth certificates,
baptismal certificates, social security cards (for citizens), or work authorizations,
or SAW application numbers, plus all the other documents needed at social
service agencies, they are in trouble. It is difficult, if not impossible,
to track down all these documents again.
The migrant farmworkers possess a strong sense of family life, which
can be very helpful in outreach efforts. Families ministering to families
is a very useful model. However, it must be acknowledged that increasingly,
because of shortages of family housing, migrant communities are composed
of young, single (i.e., often separated from spouses and children) males.
Many successful attempts to involve local youth in outreach to the farmworker
youth have been made. Children are, of course, often the first to break
the barriers of mistrust and prejudice. It is not uncommon for younger children
to await the arrival of the migrant students in the schools in spring when
the families return to begin the annual crop season.
Pastoral ministry to the migrants includes a variety of options and opportunities.
Most pastoral agents are parish or diocesan-based and do outreach ministry
for periods ranging from four weeks to seven or eight months, depending
on the length of time the farmworkers are in the area. Some few diocesan-sponsored
teams mover from the south to the north and follow the migrant stream for
several months providing pastoral care and attention at times when the "home"
population is also on the move. Ministry includes outreach and education
regarding available social services and assistance, as well as attempts
at evangelization and catechesis. A scarcity of catechetical and liturgical
materials for use with migrant farmworkers makes the ministry a challenge
for the pastoral workers. Most catechetical materials available are designed
for more stable populations; adaptation is difficult. A number of evangelization
programs have been developed and used successfully with the adult farmworker
community.
The many challenges of ministering to migrant farmworkers are multiplied
today as a variety of ethnic and language groups have joined the migrant
streams. Today's migrant farmworkers include Puerto Ricans, Haitians, Central
American, Vietnamese, Hmong, Native American, Guatemalan Indians, Filipinos,
Jamaicans, Tongans, as well as African Americans and white Americans. All
of these groups share in the difficulties encountered by the migrant farmworker,
that is, a life lived at the mercy of the elements, hazards of travel, lack
of housing, inadequate health care, poor education, low wages, inadequate
or nonexistent benefits, exposure to pesticides or herbicides, and a host
of other problems. The pastoral worker must often spend a great deal of
time being an advocate first, as language barriers make access to services
very difficult or impossible for the migrant. The pastoral ministry
to the migrant farmworker community must include an attempt to involve the
local parishes in outreach to the farmworkers. Here, one can face a variety
of obstacles and prejudices. Local churches, without a committed leadership,
often are reluctant to allow the farmworker community to use parish facilities
for liturgies and for socializing. The local community needs education and
exposure to the life of the migrants, as well as an understanding of the
benefits which the migrants provide to the local economy and to the Church.
- Excerpted from "The Harvest is Great...and the Laborers Are Many."
Sister Adela Gross, O.S.F. Sisters Today. March 1992, 111-114.
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