Presenters pointed out that China is slowly opening to the Church, offering great opportunities for communication, reconciliation, and cooperation with other local churches outside China. Currently there are about ten million Catholics and twenty million Protestant Christians in China. Sister Lee said that although the Church was growing from within, missionaries are needed in China for non-preaching forms of evangelization such as teaching and social work. Rev. Joseph Chiang of the National Pastoral Center for Chinese Apostolate agreed. He cited several instances of evangelization through the center’s welcome and hospitality program. Bishop Tong indicated that Pope John Paul II commissioned the Churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan to be the bridge for the Church in China. Asked whether we should expect a wave of immigrants from Hong Kong after July 1997, the Bishop replied that such was unlikely. Such emigration has already taken place. On the contrary, he expects immigrants from China into Hong Kong.

The pilgrims traveled many miles by bus into the heart of Korea and were able to walk in the footsteps of the Holy Lay Founders of the Korean Church, to touch the ground made sacred by the blood of the 10,000 martyrs who gave their lives during the first 100 years of the Church’s history from 1784-1884.

After years of occupation by a foreign country, and the devastating civil war during the early fifties, one could now witness the growth and vitality of the Catholic Church from the “seeds of the martyrs” and the dedicated work of the first lay evangelizers of the faith in Korea. One could feel the “spiritual pulse” of the faith of the modern Korean pilgrims encountered along the way, especially in ChonJinArm, the birthplace of the Church in Korea and MiRinae where the first Korean priest, St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon was buried. One was awed by the projects of the Church for the care of the poor, oppressed and abandoned, the building of shrines for increasing numbers of pilgrims, and plans for the future evangelization of North Korea, China, and all Asia.

Opportunities abounded for the pilgrims to be immersed in the rich cultural history of the land—visiting a traditional Korean village and various national heritage locations in Kyongju. A visit to a Buddhist monastery with a young monk offered insights into the continued influence of this group in Korea. A tour of the second largest steel company in the world, located in the port city of Po Hang, gave evidence of the country’s strong economic growth.

The pilgrimage offered each pilgrim the rare opportunity to see first-hand the Catholic Church in Korea today, to learn of its unique past, and be caught up in the Church’s vision for the future. The participants, grateful to all who sponsored and planned this tour, hope that it will be offered again in the future.

Submitted by Sr. Lorraine Masters, OLVM, director of Ethnic Ministry, and Mrs. Gemma Kang, Pastoral Ministry, both of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

• the need for dioceses and parishes to recognize the increased presence of new African immigrants, and to provide space to accommodate their social, spiritual, and sacramental needs,

• the need to promote healthy family life among these communities, focusing on attention to youth, counseling/discussion opportunities for married couples, and canonical marriage concerns,

• the desire of the African clergy to form an association similar to that of the African Sisters’ request for a national association.

Discussion centered around the following topics: promotion of ethnic vocations, ministry with refugees in detention centers, continuing education of pastors re: multi-cultural ministry, National Migration Week, and inter-diocesan program planning.

The Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts will host the next meeting during the fall of 1997.

• to increase the Church’s awareness that the United States is experiencing a new influx of European immigrants with special pastoral care needs,

• to explore further the relationship between Eastern and Roman Catholic Churches,

• to encourage the formation of permanent deacons/seminarians regarding ministry with ethnic communities,

• to urge that all ethnic groups be given fair and equitable attention by the Catholic Church.

Participants requested:

• that PCMR seek substantial foundation grants to fund projects of ethnic apostolates,

• that a handbook be prepared on the various ministries and functions typical of an American parish (especially needed for communities of immigrants from former communist countries).

The purpose of the visit was to check on the well-being of the incarcerated detainees, and minister to their needs. Father Wenski interceded with the director of Krome to transfer a 17-year old Chinese boy to Boys Town, a youth facility run by the Catholic Church. The priests compiled a list of the Chinese detainees to be distributed to members of the local Chinese community.

The Romnichel, another large group of Gypsies, emigrated from England, and are mostly affiliated with the Anglican or Episcopal Churches. In Chicago and Detroit, there are numbers of the Hungarian-Slovak Gypsies; while the Scottish and Irish Travelers are located in the southern states.

With regard to the Catholic Church, most of the Gypsies seek out a priest only for funerals and baptisms. What is needed on the part of the Church is for pastoral agents to become familiar with the Gypsies’ customs and traditional practices. Also, to gain some credibility with this mostly closed society, pastoral agents might serve as a resource for Catholic Social Services or Catholic Charities.

FYI: LEGISLATION

The Compromise

Substantial changes were made to Title V, the benefits section of the immigration bill. The following changes lessen the severity of provisions in both the immigration and welfare bills:

Amends the welfare bill

• Relieves any nonprofit charitable organization from the requirement enacted by the welfare reform legislation to verify the immigration status of any applicant for federal or state means-tested programs.

• Provides a transition period for aliens with regard to the Food Stamp bar enacted in the Welfare Reform Act; delays ineligibility of any alien currently receiving Food Stamp benefits until April 1, 1997, and orders states to recertify an alien’s eligibility for Food Stamp benefits from April 1, 1997 through August 22, 1997.

• Defers deeming for up to 12 months for legal immigrants who find themselves homeless or hungry if their sponsor refuses to assist the immigrant, and if assistance is necessary to prevent the sponsored immigrant from going without food or shelter. This deferment may be extended is the immigrant is unable to locate the sponsor.

• Exempts battered immigrant spouses and children from deeming, so long as they do not reside with the batterer. Eligibility for public benefits may be extended beyond 12 months if the battery or cruelty was perpetuated by the sponsor and HS been recognized by a court order or INS determination.

Mitigates the punitive nature of the immigration bill

• Struck deportation provisions, which would have made legal immigrants deportable for using means-tested benefits for more than aggregate of 12 months in their first seven years after entry. The deportation threat would not have ended until seven years after the alien last used the assistance. Note: current law remains in place.

• Removed the retroactive deeming provision, which would have made the majority of legal immigrants ineligible for most federal, state and local means-tested benefits.

• Lowered income requirements for sponsorship to 125% of the poverty level and permits someone other than the sponsor to take on joint liability through an enforceable affidavit of support in order to satisfy the 125% rule.

The Remaining Titles of the Bill

Unfortunately, none of the other titles of the bill were changed, and the bill will have an enormous, harmful effect on legal immigrants and citizens. The Gallegly Amendment, which would have permitted states to deny an education to undocumented children, was removed from the conference report. The separately-passed Gallegly bill was not folded into the continuing resolution. The provisions regarding refugees were not amended. A one-year time limit for filing asylum applications will be imposed. People fleeing persecution will be summarily excluded if they arrive without documentation or with false documentation, and are unable to prove a “credible fear” of persecution. Asylum seekers who arrive from a third country will also be placed into summary exclusion proceedings....We are currently analyzing the entire bill and will be providing you with more detailed summaries of the various provisions and/or titles.

Source: “Dear Colleague” letter from John Swenson, Executive Director, MRS, October 3, 1996

FYI: DEMOGRAPHICS

• Africa accounts for nearly one-third of the world’s refugees.
• The number of refugees in Africa declined from 5.8 million in 1994 to 5.2 million in 1995.
• However, there were 260,000 new refugees in Africa during 1995, with some 360,000 persons newly internally displaced due to repatriation and resettlement.
• Approximately 10.2 million people are internally displaced in Africa, half the internally displaced worldwide.
• More than thirty countries in Africa host or produce significant numbers of refugees.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA

• The number of refugees in South and Central Asia decreased from about 1.8 million in 1994 to 1.4 million in 1995.
• However, the region has some 1.6 million internally displaced people in three countries: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and India.
• More than 300,000 people were newly displaced in Sri Lanka during the year.
• The second largest single refugee population in the world are Afghans, numbering over 2.3 million. Afghans both fled and returned in 1995, reflecting the continued war and upheaval in the country.
• Despite a repatriation agreement between UNHCR, Burma, and Bangladesh, repatriation to Burma remained controversial in 1995.

MIDDLE EAST

• The Middle East accounts for just over one-third of the world’s refugees.
• The number of refugees in the Middle East remained constant during 1995: approximately 5.5 million.
• The single largest population of refugees in the world are Palestinians.
• Iran hosted the largest number of refugees of any country in the world. The largest single group was Afghan refugees, numbering almost 1.4 million.
• Approximately 1.7 million people are internally displaced in the Middle East—one-tenth of the world’s displaced persons.

EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC

• The number of refugees in East Asia and the Pacific increased slightly from 444,000 in 1994 to 453,000 in 1995.
• In 1995, the international community moved closer to completing the final chapter in the nearly 20-year saga of Vietnamese boat people. More than 150,000 Vietnamese refugees and asylum seekers have been resettled or repatriated under the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA). More than 38,000 Vietnamese remained in first asylum countries at the end of 1995.
• Burma has produced most of the internally displaced in the region. Estimates vary from 500,000 to 1 million.

EUROPE

• The number of applicants for asylum in Europe decreased for the third consecutive year.
• Norway, Denmark, and Sweden contributed at least seven times as much money to international refugee aid agencies per capita as did the United States in 1995.
• More than half of Bosnia’s pre-war population of 4.4 million was uprooted by the war. At the end of 1995, more than 400,000 Bosnian refugees were living in other republics of former Yugoslavia, and more than 400,000 had temporary protection in Europe. Some 1.3 million Bosnians remained internally displaced despite the signing of the Dayton Accords in late 1995.
• Russia inaugurated its attack on the secessionist republic of Chechnya in 1995. An estimated 300,000 of the capital’s 400,000 population fled within weeks of the battle for the city. At the end of 1995, some 200,000 people remained uprooted.

THE AMERICAS AND THE CARIBBEAN

• The number of refugees in the Americas and the Caribbean continued to decrease slowly from nearly 300,000 in 1994 to 256,000 in 1995.
• In 1995, the United States resettled 99,490 refugees, an 11.7 percent decrease from 1994. The backlog of asylum applicants grew from 420,794 in 1994 to 457,670 in 1995.
• Latin America alone has over 1.2 million internally displaced people in three countries: Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala.
• In January 1995, the United States forcibly repatriated 3,765 Haitians from the Guantanamo “safe haven,” after cursory screenings. From May until year’s end, the United States interdicted 282 Cubans at sea and returned 224 directly to Cuba.

Source: Monday, a bi-weekly newsletter on refugee and immigration issues, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, Church World Services Immigration and Refugee Program, 475 Riverside Drive, New York NY 10115. Order copy of World Refugee Survey, 1996 from U.S. Committee for Refugees: Tel: (202) 347-3507, fax: (202) 347-3418. Cost: $19.

Since 1984 (when 103 Korean Martyrs were canonized) 1,345 priests were ordained, marking a dramatic increase in ordinations in the last twelve years. Also, since St. Andrew Kim’s martyrdom on July 5, 1846, the Catholic Church in Korea produced one native cardinal, and thirty bishops.

Source: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea Newsletter, Fall 1996.

Copies of “What Governments Can Do,” the Annual Food Day report by Bread for the World from which these statistics were drawn, may be obtained from Bread for the World, 1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Cost: $17.95.

Source: Catholic News Service, October 17

Congratulations to Most Reverend Nicholas A. Di Marzio, former executive director of Migration and Refugee Services, USCC, who was installed as Auxiliary Bishop of Newark on October 31.

The forty-sixth International Eucharistic Congress will take place in Wroclaw, Poland, May 25-June 1, 1997. Planned events include workshop discussions, cultural activities, liturgical pageants, celebration of Mass and ecumenical services. Those interested may want to contact their diocesan offices regarding diocesan-sponsored pilgrimages.

The fifteenth Annual National Convention of the Haitian Apostolate, sponsored by the National Center of the Haitian Apostolate, will take place at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 6-8, 1997. For more information, call (718) 856-3323.

Asian/Pacific PCMR Network Mtg
Welcome & Reception for all Conference participants (MRS/CLINIC/PCMR):

Keynote speaker: Judith Ann Mayotte, Ph.D., Special Advisor on Refugee Issues and Policy, Bureau of Population, U.S. Department of State.

Morning Presentation for all Conference participants:

Keynote speaker: Sergio Vieira de Mello, Assistant High Commissioner, UNHCR.

PCMR General Session - Topic: Faith & Culture

PCMR Breakout Sessions - Topics include:

Role of Diocesan Contacts in Medium & Small Dioceses;
Pastoral Care for Small Ethnic Communities;
Evangelization and Lay Leadership Development;
Pastoral Responses: “From Separateness to Integration;”
Youth Issues;
Challenges of Ministry to People on the Move.

Workshops for all conference participants - Topics Scheduled:

Resettlement as a Tool of Protection
Effective Health and Mental Health Strategies Dealing
with New Refugee Populations
Growing Need for Support of International Principles
of Refugee Protection
Eligibility for Health Care Benefits
Detention Issues for Aliens in INS Custody
Immigration Law and Procedure - Basic Topics for
Pastoral Workers
Intergenerational & Gender Issues in Immigrant
Communities
Pastoral Care of INS Detainees
National Refugee Resettlement Trends
Pastoral Care as an Element of Quality Case
Management
Diocesan Pastoral Care - What Is It?
Improving Management Systems of Community-Based Immigration
Eastern Rites in the Catholic Church
Liturgy and Popular Devotions of Newcomers
Using Media Effectively
Understanding Islam and Newcomers

General Session for all Conference participants:

Immigration Policy Update Including Practical Effects of Pending Legislation on Local Immigration Programs

Pastoral Reflection Process - all conference participants invited

Ministry & Our Work with Newcomers - Rev. John Oliveira

Liturgy

Most Reverend John S. Cummins, Bishop of Oakland and Chair of the NCCB Committee on Migration, will be the main celebrant & homilist.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE:	FEBRUARY 20, 1997
REGISTRATION FEE:	$175
ASIAN/PACIFIC PCMR NETWORK MEETING FEE:	$ 15

Please return your registration form and check payable to MRS/USCC to: Arcenia Macklin, MRS/USCC, 3211 Fourth Street, NE, Washington, DC 20017-1194.

Please call 202-541-3232 for a registration form or for additional information.