INTRODUCTION On behalf of all of the beneficiaries of your generosity in the 2004 and 2005 SIA campaigns, I say a very genuine Thank you for your interest and support. These campaigns have highlighted the duty we have towards Irish people abroad. The campaign in 2004 focused on our elderly in the UK, particularly those who have fallen on hard times. Many of the agencies that are trying to meet the needs of these people now have greater resources at their disposal. It is always a challenge to ensure that the extra resources have the desired effect of increasing the well being of those most in need. I can assure you that the contributions you have made have realised this objective as you will see when you read the summaries in the newsletter. SIA 2006 The SIA Campaign for 2006 is focusing on developing stronger links with dioceses and parishes as we try to reach out to elderly people who may be living alone. I thank those priests, sisters and parishioners who are involved in the care of elderly Irish. We are well aware that the voluntary sector is very effective and it is only right that such people should be supported in their valuable work. Often times the pain they find in the people they visit is not financial, it is the pain of loneliness and isolation. A volunteer programme to enhance contact with the lonely and deprived is currently being expanded by the London Irish Centre. This year I encourage you to make contact with your elderly relatives who are living abroad. The age profile of these people suggests that they may be more in need than ever before. It was often brothers and sisters that maintained contact with loved ones. They themselves are elderly now and may not be able to travel as much as they used to. We invite the extended family to support the outreach to these family members who may have been the main financial support to families in the past. When I was visiting in the UK recently, one man said to me, ‘there is one thing worse than dying’, he said, ‘it’s being forgotten!’ SIA –(Supporting Irish Abroad) is the Gaelic word for longer and farther. The objective of this campaign is to make people feel nearer and more connected. Any small effort to reduce the sense of exile or isolation is to be lauded. SIA 2005 The 2005 SIA campaign focused on the undocumented Irish in the US. They are numbered among the ten to twelve million who live uncertain lives. As I write we await the response of the American legislature to this issue. The early indications are not hopeful. We will continue to work closely with the US bishops on their justice for immigrants campaign (www.justiceforimmigrants.org) as they request comprehensive immigration reform that takes account of those who live with great uncertainty. This campaign has highlighted for me the need to have just immigration laws in Ireland as we welcome so many to our shores. Legalisation based on labour market needs alone, that do not take consideration of the wider issues of an opportunity for citizenship and family reunification, will leave us with untold problems in the future. IECE In thanking the members of the Board of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants (IECE) their support and dedication, I also thank and express my admiration for all those involved in caring for Irish people abroad. My particular thanks go to the collaborators in the Maynooth office who have co-ordinated the SIA campaigns over the last number of years. May I take this opportunity to thank all those who have been involved in ministry to Irish Emigrants since the inception of our Commission. I am proud to be associated with IECE as we look forward to our 50th anniversary in 2007. Even though the numbers of people leaving our shores may not be as high as in the past we still have a mission to those Irish people who live abroad. This mission is primarily to those who find themselves in marginalised groups and who have no one to represent and support them. This year we marked twenty five years of commitment to Irish prisoners overseas. Our celebrations to mark the event highlighted the importance of our mission to those most marginalised in our society. DUTY TO IMMIGRANTS Our outreach to emigrants from Ireland prompts us to address the plight of the growing number of immigrants to our own shores. The overall objective of our work is expressed in the Pontifical Document Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi; which states, “it is important to reaffirm that such care also requires openness to a new world and a sincere effort to find one’s place in it, the final goal being the full participation of the migrants in the life of the diocese”. (1) CONCLUSION In conclusion I wish to acknowledge the outstanding response from you, the people of Ireland, to the SIA campaigns. I wish to thank the priests who have brought the plight of our Irish emigrants to your attention. I wish also to thank my Brother Bishops for their assistance and support in this integral aspect of the mission of the Irish Church. I welcome the positive and the active engagement of the Oireachtas expressed in substantial grant aid. By establishing the designated Unit for the Irish Abroad in the Department of Foreign Affairs the Government and the Episcopal Commission for Emigrants now collaborate very effectively in discharging a shared responsibility in their outreach to the Irish abroad. Other political parties are also most supportive. The welfare of emigrants has taken priority over party-political interests. “May the Virgin Mother, who together with her Blessed Son knew the pain of emigration and exile, help us to understand the experience, and very often the drama, of those who are compelled to live far from their homeland, and teach us to serve them in their necessities, truly accepting them as brothers and sisters, so that today’s migrations may be considered a call, albeit a mysterious one, to the Kingdom of God, which is already present in His Church, its beginning (cf. LG 9)(2), and instrument of Providence to further the unity of the human family and peace.”(3) + Seamus Hegarty Bishop of Derry & Chairman of IECE 1.‘Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi’ Vatican City 2004, Paragraph 77 2. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, Paragraph 9 3.‘Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi’ Vatican City 2004, Paragraph 104 ends