SVD, SSpS mark 2022 migrants day in Accra

Catherine Dery, Accra - The Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) and the Mission Congregation of the Servant of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) in Ghana, both missionary societies founded by St. Arnold Janssen have marked migrants day in Accra.

The celebration took place at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, Dansoman, Accra, on September 24 and was aimed at celebrating migrants in the country.

The theme for the celebration was “Building a Home away from Home”. Rev. Fr. Patrick Kodom, SVD, Priest in Charge of St. John Paul II Catholic Community in Ashaiman, who is a seasoned Missionary, specialized in Migration Theology, gave a very insightful presentation on the aforementioned theme.

Fr. Patrick, in his presentation, indicated that for most people, the word Migrant has a negative connotation where host countries often see such migrants as threats to their country, disregarding the fact that we are all migrants in one way or the other.

He made an analogy of God, making his dwelling in our midst in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ as a migrant. He added that even within Ghana when one moves from one place of origin to settle in another place, that makes him/her a migrant.

Fr. Patrick Kodom, SVD, also highlighted some of the treatment minted out to our brothers and sisters from different countries or to a deeper understanding, to people from different areas within the same country. He noted that “we often take one bad story of an individual or a small group of people and a hasty generalization about it.

Fr. Patrick did not mince words in asking migrants to see Ghana as their home and behave as they would in their country of origin.

Some of the factors that lead to the struggles we have with one another (host nation verse migrants) is based on cultural challenges, changes in environment, language barriers and economic hardship. As part of the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church, it is the call and work of every Catholic and for that matter every Christian to welcome strangers, because, as the saying in the Akan palace goes, “it is the stranger(s) in a place who make a community grow”.

Migrant Apostolate is a distinctive call for the SVDs and SSpS, who through their Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) offices create platforms for migrants to come together, share their stories, interact and above all, made to feel at home.

In Pope Francis’ message on the World Day of Migrants, he invites all of us, who are also migrants to identify with our brothers and sisters from other countries and make them welcome; from any background, be it race, color or religion. The program was graced by people from Ghana, Togo, Gambia, Gabon, Nigeria, the Philippines and Burkina Faso.