Within Australia, particularly the Archdiocese of Adelaide, is a group of elderly Filipino women who were once mail-order bridges for Australian men. Who provides pastoral care for them? The scarcity of pastoral care strategies, particularly for migrant women in Church documents, is what gave birth to an undertaking, in addition to the late Pope Francis’ strong, persistent call to care for migrants. The dearth of references about women migrants in Church documents stems from the fact that it is usually the husband/father who migrates to work.
The first phase of a study on elderly Filipino mail-order brides in the Archdiocese of Adelaide, Australia, was presented by Senior High School faculty member Vince Henry M. Salles, who is concurrently a PhD in Theology student in the Graduate School at the Fifteenth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society entitled “Fragile Meanings: Vulnerability in the Study of Religions and Spirituality” last June 19-20, 2025 at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Co-authoring the study is Prof. Allan Basas, SThD, of the Institute of Religion.
The study surveyed existing conciliar, papal, and magisterial documents on migration and did a close reading of these, keeping in mind what applies to the situation of migrant women in order to craft a responsive pastoral care program. The existing Church documents uphold the Catholic Social Teachings with emphasis on Human Dignity and Solidarity. The documents also promote comprehensive pastoral care programs for migrants, urging nations to integrate migrants and avoid discriminating against them, calling local churches to provide material and spiritual support, and warning individuals against indifference and xenophobia. The general themes of the existing Church documents can be expanded to include paying attention to the unique needs of women, particularly the aging ones, helping them make sense of their experiences as elderly and as women who may have been victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the past.
The second phase of the study will include the lived experiences of the women by conducting in-depth interviews with them, so the pastoral care program will be more relevant and effective.
