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Talk Story: Migrants as Missionaries of Hope

August 11, 2025

(Maria Marganingsih / Shutterstock.com)

 

From the Office for Social Ministry

“Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible.”~ Pope Leo XIV Jubilee Year Message for 111^th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2025

As the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee Year under the theme Pilgrims of Hope, our new Pope Leo XIV has chosen “Migrants as Missionaries of Hope” as the focus for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in 2025. In his message released this August, Pope Leo emphasized the deep connection between migration and hope: “The search for happiness, and the prospect of finding it beyond one’s place of origin, is certainly one of the main motivations for the movement of people today.” Our Holy Father also highlighted some ways migrants and refugees can contribute to where they are welcomed. “In a special way, Catholic migrants and refugees can become missionaries of hope in the countries that welcome them, forging new paths of faith where the message of Jesus Christ has not yet arrived or initiating interreligious dialogue based on everyday life and the search for common values.”  Their presence, he said, should be recognized not only as a gift to the Church, but also an opportunity for renewal. “In this way, migrants and refugees are recognized as brothers and sisters, part of a family in which they can express their talents and participate fully in community life.”

This inspiring message was echoed strongly by Bishop Mark Seitz of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops  (USCCB), who reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants as a core Gospel value. “Solidarity with refugees and migrants is not optional; it’s a living testimony of the Gospel.” Bishop Seitz encourages all to accompany those on the move with compassion and mercy: “In their journey, refugees embody the hope we are called to share as Christians. Their resilience and faith challenge us to serve others more deeply and to build a world where every person is treated with dignity and can live in peace and freedom.” He added that “opening hearts and homes to strangers in need can help bring healing to a wounded world.” He renewed Pope Leo’s call for all to be witnesses of Christ. “We bishops of the United States remain resolute in our call for the consistent protection of refugees. As our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has affirmed, the temptation to turn inward, to isolate ourselves from the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world, is incompatible with a Christian vision for the common good.”

Hawaii’s own history is shaped by many waves of migration from early Polynesian settlers to more recent populations from Asia, the Pacific, and other parts of the world. These communities have enriched our islands with numerous cultural contributions of aloha. As the Diocese of Honolulu prepares to celebrate the upcoming bicentennial of Catholic faith in Hawaii, we are reminded of the enduring legacy of migrant missionary Saints Damien and Marianne, who were living testimonies of God’s compassionate presence. Their spirit of aloha carries on today in the faithful who continue to bless our islands with faith, love, hope and service. Among these blessings was Fr. Khahn Pham-Nguyen, a migrant refugee from Vietnam, who recently passed away after serving nearly 17 years of faithful ministry in the Diocese of Honolulu. Many people, including migrant parishoners who were touched by his gentle generosity, packed the parishes of Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Stephen’s Honolulu to lovingly honor him with a prayer service and memorial mass. He will always be remembered for his tireless support of social ministries, including the food pantry for kupuna, and the Ohana Mass for families with disabled persons. During the canonization year of St. Marianne in 2012, he helped spearhead the first annual fun “walk in the park” to honor Mother Marianne, so others could be inspired to follow in the footsteps of Hawaii’s saints. Fr. Khanh is just one example of the many inspiring priests, religious and lay persons in Hawaii who embody the spirit of Migrant Missionaries of Hope. For more on the loving legacy of Fr. Khahn Pham- Nguyen, please visit the website of St. Peter and Paul Parish www.sspeterpaulhawaii.org. For the recent statements of Bishop’s Mark Seitz, the chair of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Migration, please visit the USCCB website www.usccb.org. For the full message of Pope Leo XIV to the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees. please visit the Vatican website: www.humandevelopment.va. In essence, we are all pilgrims on this journey of life. So let’s walk together, migrant brothers and sisters all, with the blessing of Jesus’s Mother Mary, that Pope Leo XIV prays for our pilgrimage of hope: “I wish to entrust all those who are on the journey, as well as those who are working to accompany them, to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, comfort of migrants, so that she may keep hope alive in their hearts and sustain them in their commitment to building a world that increasingly resembles the Kingdom of God, the true homeland that awaits us at the end of our journey.” Mahalo.