As we focus on Migrants and Refugees this weekend, let’s not forget to pray for those in our midst who pray for us. Of the 31 priests actively serving in Sandhurst parishes 18 (58%) were born overseas. These migrant priests are men of profound faith; they are highly educated and dedicated to the communities they serve.

They leave their family and friends behind to venture into the unknown with a desire to serve where needed. They are a far cry from the cynical notion of men from the developing world used to fill the homegrown priest void. In fact, they reflect the changing face of Australia at large, and meet the needs, not only of Australian-born Catholics, but of the ever-increasing number of migrants to Australia, many of whom are Catholic and many who have kept our parish and school doors open.

More than half of all Australians are first or second-generation migrants. So, it makes sense for at least some of our clergy to represent the same culture and language groups as some of the people in their pews. When the Rogationists arrive in November, there will be ten Filipino priests actively working in Sandhurst parishes. Of the eight diocesan priests, five completed their priestly formation at Corpus Christi College in Melbourne, four are incardinated to the Diocese of Sandhurst, five now have permanent residency and two have become Australian citizens.

As well as leading their parish communities, Filipino priests hold leadership positions in the Diocese; Fr Nathan Verallo is the Director of Vocations, Fr Novelito Lim is Dean of the Western Deanery, and Fr Junjun Amaya is a member of the College of Consultors and Dean of the North East Deanery.

Migrants from the Philippines make up 1.2 per cent of the overall Australian population and are the fifth largest culturally and linguistically diverse community in Australia. 76 per cent of Filipinos in Australia are Catholic, so they have a significant impact on the Church in Australia, especially in regional areas such as Pyramid Hill where they represent 20 per cent of the town’s population and have been credited with saving the town from “imminent ruin”.

Filipino migrants have shaped Australian society since they first started migrating to Australia in the 1870s to work in the pearling and sugar industries. In the 1950s Filipino migrant, Lorenzo Gamboas, was credited with changing Australian attitudes to immigration, which eventually helped destroy the White Australia Policy (which was officially renounced in 1973).

For Filipinos, whether they are building new lives in Australia, or working temporarily, the comfort of a priest from their homeland, even if from a culturally different area, must be a blessing they never anticipated. For Filipino priests working in Sandhurst, it is perhaps a delightfully unexpected mission to be priest to a congregation filled with fellow Filipinos so far away from home.

The vibrancy our Filipino migrants, both priests and lay people, bring to many of our parishes is never more evident than on Feast Days and at Migrant and Refugee Sunday celebrations.

There are four Indian priests serving in the Diocese of Sandhurst. If we include a priest from the Syro-Malabar Eparchy, who is resident in Shepparton, there are five. These priests, all relatively new to Australia, are already making welcome contributions to their parishes and have stepped into leadership roles. Fr Vijay Bandanadam is a member of the College of Consultors and Fr John Paul Pasala is the Dean of the Goulburn Valley Deanery.

Migrants from India represent a quarter of all migration to Australia between 2016 and 2021. In 2021, 2.8 per cent of Australia’s total population were Indian migrants, forming the second largest migrant community in Australia. India is now, no doubt, Australia’s number one source of migrants – the first group ever to push the UK out of the top spot. Over the last twenty years, migration from India has increased five-fold and will continue to do so, especially with recently signed bilateral migration deals and strengthening diplomatic ties.

In the past, migrants from India were predominantly Christian, but today they are as diverse as the Indian population itself. These days approximately 18 per cent of migrants from India are Christian.

In Australia until recently, a person’s religious affiliation could be correlated to their ethnicity (or social class); the Catholic Church was initially associated with Irish migrants, for example, then Italian and east European migrants and then Vietnamese. Today, there is not such a strong association between a migrant’s ethnicity and their religion.

At the end of the day, where a person comes from has little to do with the contribution, they make to the communities they (hopefully) choose to live in. At the Ninth Bishop Joe Grech Memorial Colloquium on Ethics and Migration in 2019, Bishop Vincent Long OFM shared his thoughts on the contribution of migrants to Australia.

“Migrants and refugees always bring energy and dynamism to a new country … We are what we are and who we are today – a dynamic, young prosperous country – because of the love of freedom and the love of fundamental human values on the part of our new Australians.”

As a Vietnamese ‘boat person’ who was sent from a Malaysian refugee camp to Australia – a country he knew nothing about – Vincent Long spoke of the contribution of Vietnamese migrants to Australia.

“We, the Vietnamese boat people have been generously accepted in this country, and haven’t done too badly since … Most of us are well settled and doing our bit for the country. We have practically cornered the bakeries, the hair salons, the manicure, and the waxing businesses. We are making our presence felt even in the Australian Church too … we are the new Irish!”

Who are the new Irish today? And who will be the new Irish of tomorrow?