Interview with Father Leonir Chiarello
“Scalabrini had a pastor’s heart: like a father he continued to care for the many parishioners who were leaving for the United States and South America.” Father Leonir Chiarello, Superior General of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo Scalabrinians, recounts the greatness of John Baptist Scalabrini, a man in love with God, able to see the face of Jesus in the least and to make himself a neighbor to his neighbor.
Father Leonir Chiarello how did you decide to join the Scalabrini Missionaries?
I was 15 years old, living in Serafina Correa, Brazil, and I dreamed of becoming a politician or a lawyer to defend people’s rights. My parish priest told me, “As a priest you can do this and much more.” One day while we were in the car he asked me, “Do you want to follow God?” At that moment I thought, “It’s now or never.” I said yes and entered the seminary. My pastor was right: as a missionary I worked in Argentina, Chile with migrant communities, became vice president of the Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants of the Conference of Bishops, was director of the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and New York. The Lord leads us in the ways He wants us to go.
We missionaries, as Scalabrini taught us, recognize the face of God in all people and seek to find answers to their challenges. Inspired by our founder, we have this holistic view of immigration that contemplates the economic, social and political dimensions. We believe that God is also guiding history through this phenomenon.
Who was John Baptist Scalabrini and why is his message still so relevant?
He was a man of tremendous will and concreteness. When he saw his parishioners leaving, he asked himself, “What can I do?” To create awareness about the migration phenomenon, he went to various dioceses, wrote, founded congregations and the St. Raphael Lay Association. He went from talk to action. He thought the local church had a responsibility to accompany migrants and immigrants.
When he sent the first missionaries to Brazil to assist the Italian community, he told them to build schools, hospitals, churches, cooperatives, jobs. Among those emigrants was my great-grandfather who left Padua in 1880. Scalabrini understood that he could not act alone and had to involve social and political actors. For example, when he went to New York he visited migrants, entrepreneurs, bishops and then went to Washington to President Roosevelt. He was the man of dialogue and mediation: in the face of migration he called everyone to co-responsibility. He is a model for the Church and for the world, and his actuality is precisely this.
Following in his footsteps, the Congregation has opened parishes, hospitals, study and training centers, houses for migrants, Stella Maris centers for sea workers. We are present in 34 countries around the world. Scalabrini’s dream was to be a missionary in India, and now we are trying to open a center there as well. Finally, Scalabrini as a saint will go to India.
As a missionary one often comes into contact with a suffering humanity, but also one that is full of hope. Is there an encounter that you carry in your heart and think back to often?
When I was in Santiago and I was called to take care of the Peruvian migrant community in Chile as a chaplain, the Cardinal told me, “If you want to be a good missionary, I suggest you go to Peru to figure out how to work with this community and visit the families of origin of these migrants.” So I went to the outskirts of Lima to visit an elderly lady to deliver the letter that her daughter, a parishioner of mine, had handed to me. When I arrived, the lady read the letter and started crying. She said, “Father, you saved my life because I am very sick and you found my daughter a job. With the money she sends me I can buy medicine and take care of the grandchildren she had to leave with me. Without this money, I would be already dead.” From this meeting, I realized that we needed to create jobs. Back in Santiago, we opened an employment center and in the eight years that followed we found jobs for 25,000 people.
Scalabrini had a prophetic vision of migration and always believed that we all had to do our part in the face of this phenomenon. Still today, however, migrants are mostly seen as a problem and not as a possible resource. How come?
In our society we want to pass off the migrant as the one who brings social insecurity, who steals jobs. We missionaries try to create awareness, as objective as possible, about the phenomenon of migration. The Church’s actions must respond to the reality of migrants and not to society’s perceptions of them. Distorted perceptions, driven by political and economic interests, are often sold. The solution is not to kick out migrants. Migration flows have always existed; what has changed is the way they have been managed throughout history.
To those who propose blocking the Mediterranean Sea to stem migrant landings in Italy, how do you missionaries respond?
We want bridges, not walls or blockades. Bridges between the country of origin and the country of destination. We believe as Pope Francis says that we must “welcome, protect, promote and integrate.” The first right of the migrant is to be able to stay in his homeland, it is the right to development, but if this is not guaranteed because of war, hunger, political or economic reasons, the person also has the right to live with dignity elsewhere. Once the migrant has left, one must welcome, protect and integrate him or her. Then, one must continue to work in the country of origin to promote development. Migrants are often an electoral weapon you use to get more votes or to make yourself strong in the party. We need coordination between states, between international bodies, the private sector, trade unions, associations and the church. We do not do immigration promotion but 360-degree humanitarian welcome to those who have already migrated.
