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Over a century ago, Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini, the "Father of the Migrants" envisionned a proactive and prophetic presence of lay people among the migrants he loved so much. He called them forth to join his religious missionaries to welcome, watch over, counsel and defend migrants and refugees.
Again, only over 30 years ago, the Council fathers made another request for aid: "The Council makes an earnest plea in the Lord's name that all Lay People give a glad, generous, and prompt response to the impulse of the Holy Spirit and to the Voice of Christ, who is giving them an especially urgent invitation at this moment... to come closer to him every day and with the recognition that what is his is also their own (Phil 2 : 5), they ought to associate themselves with him in his Saving mission." (Apostolicam Actuositatem 33). This invitation has brought fruit in the form of a renewed awareness of the special vocation and mission of the Laity within the Church and in the world.
Many around the world are hearing and responding to God's call... a call to Christian maturity, to service and leadership, to deeper spirituality and to concrete social action.
The Lay Scalabrinian is a person who, aware of his or her baptismal calling, wishes too commit to the needs of the migrant in accordance with the Scalabrinian Spirit and Charism. Through the years it has become apparent that these lay people have a need and a desire for formation.
A formation program composed of 7 "Teaching Units" was designed to address this quest for knowledge, competence and deeper understanding of the unique needs of migrants and refugees. By covering various aspects of the Migration Experience, the teaching units provide powerful elements of reflection which inevitably favor further personal growth and individual study.
Formation Objective
Ever-clearer discovery of one's vocation and ever-clearer willingness to live it so as to fulfill one's mission. (Christifideles Laici, 58)
I. CULTURAL IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY IN A WORLD OF MIGRATION.
II. MIGRATION - THE PHENOMENON, THE TERMINOLOGY, ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES.
III. THE RIGHTS OF THE MIGRANTS : A POLITICAL, BIBLICAL AND ECCLESIAL PERSPECTIVE.
IV. BLESSED JOHN BAPTIST SCALABRINI : THE MAN OF GOD, THE FATHER OF THE MIGRANTS.
V. SCALABRINIAN SPIRITUALITY : HOLINESS IN THE WORLD OF HUMAN MOBILITY.
VI. VOCATION AND MISSION OF THE SCALABRINIAN LAITY.
VII. TOWARDS A SCALABRINIAN LAY MINISTRY.
"My father was a wondering Aramean" (Deut 26 : 5)
"There was a famine in the land..." (Ruth 1 : 1)
"Do not oppress the immigrant ; you know what it is to be an immigrant" (Ex 23 : 9)
"I will place sheperds over them who will care for them" (Jer 23 : 3)
"And the word was made flesh ; he pitched his tent among us" (Jn 1 : 14)
"You go into my vineyard too" (Mt 20 : 4)
"Go, then, and do the same" (Lk 10 : 37)