Episcopal Visit to Migrant Farmworkers in Yakima, Washington
By: Sr. Joanna Okereke, HHCJ |Assistant Director, Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers (PCMRT)
After a four-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Subcommittee on the Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers (PCMRT) resumed its annual pastoral visits to migrant farmworkers by visiting the Diocese of Yakima, WA, August 27-30, 2023. Along with Most Rev. Eusebio Elizondo, Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle and PCMRT chairman, Most Rev. Frank R. Schuster Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle, and Most Rev. Joseph Tyson, Bishop of Yakima and PCMRT Episcopal Liaison to Migrant Farmworkers, the group included members of the board of the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network (CMFN), USCCB staff, and diocesan delegates from several dioceses. The visit included dialogues with migrants, visits to the fields, shared meals, and the celebration of the Eucharist. In its daily work, PCMRT develops catechetical, liturgical and evangelization materials for use with farmworkers, the promotion of regional, diocesan, and local gatherings of persons involved in ministry with farmworkers, and consultation to the USCCB Migration and Refugee Services’ Policy Office on the development of statements and positions regarding legislation affecting farmworkers.
The annual visit provides an opportunity to meet and pray with our brothers and sisters doing farm work and the ministry leaders who accompany them, and to provide clarity about the cultural, economic, and spiritual challenges that migrant workers confront while living and working in the United States. The visit sought to learn, empower, and strengthen migrant ministry efforts by, sharing resources and best practices, and creating opportunities for new collaborations with other migrant ministry leaders in the nation. It also provides an opportunity to engage the farmworker community in Yakima through conversation, cultural exchange, and pastoral accompaniment. The visit included site tours of fields and orchards, fruit packing facilities, and work sites and housing facilities, and times of prayer, community sharing and meals, with H-2A workers and other local migrant farmworkers, as well as workshops and discussion of best practices with local and national leaders in migrant farmworker ministry. PCMRT continues to work to find opportunities to accompany and sustain these often isolated, forgotten, and invisible communities.
Here are some of the best practices in migrant ministry shared by the community of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Wenatchee, WA and the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network (CMFN).
1. Consider ways to be iglesia en salida (Evangelium gaudium 24) – in the words of Pope Francis, a church that “goes forth”, to bring the Gospel to and accompany the people where they are. Accompanying migrant farmworker communities as “iglesia en salida” may look different across the country, depending on local pastoral realities of farmworkers, but may include elements seen in Yakima, such as developing an active and sustained ministry of presence, creating opportunities for community and connection, offering opportunities for integral human development, and being flexible with schedules of migrant worker communities.
2. In areas where migrant farmworkers are employed, consider including experiences working alongside farmworkers as a part of seminary and permanent diaconate formation and training.
3. Encourage seminarians to have Spanish language proficiency, as well as promote seminarians, permanent deacons and ministry leaders’ participation in intercultural competency trainings, such as the Building Intercultural Competence for Ministers, offered by USCCB Secretariate of Cultural Diversity in the Church.