Calais: Parish priests support hunger strike for migrants

Fr Philippe (right) with Ludovic and Anaïs

Local parish priests in Calais have voiced their support for three people on hunger strike over the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees by the authorities.

Jesuit Fr Philippe Demeestere, aged 72, together with Anaïs Vogel and Ludovic Holbein in their 30s, are in the 19th day of their fast. The trio have set up camp beds in Saint-Pierre de Calais Catholic church, in the city centre to ask for humanitarian treatment for migrants as winter approaches.

They are calling on local police to stop dismantling migrant camps and confiscating migrants' personal belongings and tents, at least during the winter months. Currently charities and NGOs are struggling to distribute food, drink and humanitarian aid - because their work is being obstructed by local authorities.

Saint-Pierre de Calais, is the main parish church in Calais. Parish priests Fathers Pierre Poidevin and Louis-Emmanuel Meyer write:

'We are being criticised for our position on the migrant question. We are ordinary priests, fairly normal, Roman collar and so on. On the surface, we would fit in quite well with majority of urban middle class Catholics seen coming out of Masses in France.

So some are astonished to see us furious about the migration issues here in Calais: How can priests like that support this hunger strike in the parish church? We have received a number of insults, such as 'traitors', 'collaborating with the invasion', 'blasphemers', 'selling out', not to mention talk of the Holy Father who is a 'heretic'.

Our proposal to defend the migrants seems in fact to muddy the waters in this pro-Zemour atmosphere at the beginning of the (Presidential) campaign; making for discomfort in living room discussions. In this context, when we talk of our Calais parishes, eyes widen: 'poor priests in a war-zone', they sympathise, and we rarely escape a desperate plea for the regulation of migration that must be put in place.

The problem is humanitarian!

Seen from Calais, we are astonished at many Catholic standpoints on the migrants. Many blame, argue, shock or protest. But it seems to us that the demands of the hunger strikers, Anais, Ludovic, and Father Philippe, should not affront anyone, and especially not a Catholic. This is what they (the hunger strikers) are asking for:

- A stop to the systematic eviction of migrant settlements during the winter truce (when the homeless are provided with temporary shelter for periods of cold weather)
- A stop to the confiscation of their tents and personal effects
- The opening up of a dialogue between the authorities and the NGOs so as to define jointly the methods of humanitarian aid.

For us, the whole basis of our position on the migrant crisis rests on these demands. We root ourselves on humanitarian ground, the ground of charity. There is a humanitarian crisis in Calais: it is that issue that we consider in taking our position. We would prefer Catholics not to embark on the political route, which does not see the world with through the prism of the Gospel.

There is a denial of reality. They, the migrants are THERE.

Why do the migrants come to Calais? Is their presence legal or legitimate? Should they be leaving their countries? These questions belong to the domain of politics. In Calais we can't concern ourselves with them. The refugees, migrants, exiles, call them what you will, are THERE. More than a thousand men, women and children, trying to cross the sea to England. They are there for good or bad reasons, but they are there. That is the reality, and as Catholic priests we want to repeat this. Today, in Calais there is a refusal of reality: tents are destroyed, the meagre personal belongings are confiscated, and access to food is made difficult, as to water and other needs.

Hunted, abused, pushed from wasteland to wasteland, from dune to dune, the migrants are a wound which is being hidden.

Maybe the Government does have a mediocre migration policy, but that does not prevent anyone from responding to a humanitarian crisis. We are just calling for charity. It matters little whether we vote for Rassemblement National, or La France Insoumise, or some option between the two. The priority is that charity takes place here, towards those who are here in Calais, whether for good or bad reasons.

Our desire is to separate out the political response from the humanitarian one.

We sincerely hope that at the heart of the migration question, Catholics learn to distinguish the level of response. The political level concerns our vote, our personal political commitment. On the humanitarian level, the migrants are there - it is a Gospel imperative to feed clothe and care for them. Opinions can vary as to the first level, but we do not see what kind of debate can exist on the humanitarian question.

The conflation of migrant and Islam must stop.

Here in Calais, a large proportion of refugees is made up of Eastern Christians, in particular those of the Alexandrine rite, coming from the Orthodox churches and of Catholics from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Added to these are some communities from the Middle East.

Beneath this conflation lies the idea that we owe less help to someone who does not share our faith: the very antithesis of the Gospel. Also underlying this is the absurd expression, 'Well-organised charity', even the idea that we might be threatened in our faith, even in our lives. That seems to us a disordered attachment to the earthly city, and the opposite of an apostolic attitude which would win souls to Christ, never mind the spirit of sacrifice which obviously never occurs to those contradicting us.

We are fully behind the hunger strikers in the name of the Gospel. It is discouraging to see the Gospel weakened by biased views. The humanitarian crisis in Calais is neither of the left nor the right; it is real, and demands a response of love. We do not have a solution, we are just giving a glass of water to the small and the weak.'

Signed

Abbé Pierre POIDEVIN, Curé

Abbé Louis-Emmanuel MEYER, Vicaire

Two young men, a Sudanese and an Eritrean-Sudanese, Mohammed and Yasser, have died in the last few weeks trying to reach England. Ben Bano of Seeking Sanctuary will lay flowers in their memory at the memorial plaque for migrants on the seafront in Calais on Saturday 30th October.