A representative of the Catholic Bishops here has urged emigrants to continue to help one another at a time when a new wave of Irish people is leaving to go abroad.
Recalling that Saint Patrick came here as a migrant, the Bishop of Derry, Dr Séamus Hegarty also urged that people who have come to Ireland be given the same welcome that we would wish for our own emigrants.
Dr Hegarty chairs the Bishops' Council for Emigrants which is still expanding its half-century-old ministry.
He said the economic downturn was causing increasing numbers of Irish people to again leave our shores in search of a new life for themselves and their families.
Observing that for many this could be a difficult journey, he urged the Irish Diaspora to continue working together in a spirit of charity and compassion to ensure the welfare of all its members.
He remembered especially the elderly Irish in Britain, our undocumented in the United States and over 420 Irish prisoners overseas. He reminded the government that the Flood report on the welfare of these prisoners remains to be fully implemented.
He outlined new structures through which the bishops try to support immigrants here and articulate their worries and concerns.
And he urged that our relatively recent arrivals would receive the same ‘ceád míle fáilte’ that we would wish for our own emigrants.
