Education is the Path of Life – Conference keynote by Card. Michael Czerny S.J.

Refugee & Migrant Education: Pathways for Hope, Understanding, and Meaningful Integration
Pontifical Urbaniana University – Rome, 7 November 2024

Education is the path to Life
Card. Michael Czerny S.J.

Let me first greet the refugee students and researchers. You are living testimony to how education changes lives. It has enabled you, despite all the challenges and obstacles, to work for a better future for yourselves, your families, your people. Your presence and active participation help to guarantee the authenticity of our deliberations.

I am grateful to the Scalabrini International Migration Institute, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Refugee & Migrant Education Network, and Villanova University Strategic Initiative for Refugees and Migrants, for organizing this international conference. There is great value in bringing together academics with officials and front-line workers from the United Nations (UNHCR) and international organizations who all focus on the issues of forced migration and integration of migrants and refugees. Responding to the most pressing challenges of our wounded world requires collaborations that bridge our respective institutions and sectors of society, with their differing scales of impact.

Throughout this gathering, we are speaking of persons and communities displaced by persecution, injustice, natural disasters, and war, as well as those whom poverty – indeed hopelessness – force to seek a place where they, and especially their children, can truly live. From my experience as a migrant-refugee, 2.5 years of age when we fled Czechoslovakia and arrived in Canada, I know that one loses a homeland and that one will never have another. One may approximate something akin to home, but there is always that residual reality that refuses to be collapsed into the present, that remainder that is forever the loss of culture, language, networks of relationships, ways of interacting with nature. In brief, it is the loss of the world in which each of us first learns how to be a graced creation of God. Between avoiding assimilation and longing for meaningful integration, it is education that offers us a chance to regain some of what was lost by being forced to leave our communities of origin as well as to gain what is new.

In this long-term process of healing wounds caused by the direct and structural violence that marks forced displacement, and of learning how to forge life-giving hope amid an ever-increasing set of reasons to despair, education is the key. Education is both a goal and a means a destination and the path to life, because in addition to its more immediate socially transformative power, it also responds to a fundamental quality of being human, to the desire to learn, to know, to transcend ourselves in the contemplation of the great questions about life and the world that need a response.

As we think about education with and for migrant and refugee communities, let us always remember that, fundamentally, education touches the mystery of the human person at its core, that sacred ground that exceeds all practical or utilitarian uses of education, however important and necessary those may be for survival, stability, and advancement in society. It is by grounding our conception of education in this wider horizon of human nature as oriented toward infinite questions and infinite responses, toward an infinite capacity to learn and to know, and toward the truth that each of us is a living question unto ourselves, that we can better ensure that education among migrant and refugee communities does not become strictly instrumental, not reduced to “I learn to earn,” but always oriented toward the fullness of the mystery of being human.

Laudato si’ makes it clear that we now live in a world where the technocratic paradigm has been globalized, where the world and life are simply reduced to a problem to be solved with technology or science, and where a subject, “using logical and rational procedures, progressively approaches and gains control over an external object.”1 Pope Francis reminds us that we stand before a great cultural, spiritual, and educational challenge.2 We must not allow the educational bridges we construct simply further the very technocratic paradigm that ultimately makes the human person into a problem to be solved and no longer a mystery to be encountered. How we think about education with and for migrant and refugee communities is no exception.

Taking into account this broader horizon of education as both end and means of the mystery of being human, it is vital that an education grounded in the humanities does not become the privilege of the few. Globally, there is a growing loss of the humanities as an essential part of education. Increasingly, what used to be called the liberal arts, those ways of thinking that orient a person toward freedom in thought and action, are disappearing in favor of technical and instrumental forms of knowledge. In responding to the educational needs of migrant and refugee communities, the temptation can become to only develop programs that respond to the immediate concerns. Let’s keep the long-term possibilities open, namely the broader educational horizon that allows students to encounter the great literature of the world, philosophical ways of thinking, faith traditions, music or art or theater, medieval cultures ancient knowledge and wisdom, and a variety of worldviews that ultimately can enrich the whole person and the communities to which they belong. Forcibly displaced communities, the poor, and all who are not typically the focus of our educational institutions, in fact deserve the best formation, one which educates the intellect, the heart, and the spirit that draws the human person toward the mystery of others and of the totally Other.

For refugee parents, education is often the highest aspiration they have for their children, and the children are usually motivated and compelled to do very well. So, as we imagine pathways of education for migrant or refugee students, let the parents and communities be included in the very design of educational access. Research shows that the crisis of isolation that is experienced in the global north, but which is spreading to more and more societies, inhibits student progression in an educational program, leading to dropping out. Inversely, “children and adolescents who enjoy positive relationships with their peers, parents, and teachers experience improved academic outcomes.”3 At the heart of learning is a community who provides a certain intimacy that breaks down the patterns of isolation enforced by the othering forces of society.

Learning requires trust. Students need sufficient closeness to fall into the present time, without the overwhelming anxiety of an uncertain future and the unhealed wounds of the past. The challenge of migrant and refugee education is that it takes place amidst wounded social relationships, not after. Educational programs need to design educational processes that focus on social infrastructure, the building and strengthening of community bonds, within a given educational institution and beyond. Our institutions need to become hubs of cultural, linguistic and religious diversity where the educational goals of the institution help the students and their families to begin to locate themselves, their hopes and aspirations. The goal of education is always communal, for it is in community that we find the path of our own unique life vocation. “Vocation is not a profession. It is definitely not ‘work’ and even less a ‘job.’” Rather it is that which “stirs inside, calls out to be heard, to be followed. It beckons us
home.”4 Education is the path to life, to finding vocation, to constructing home even amid the ongoing effects of forced displacement.

The four verbs that Pope Francis commonly uses when he speaks about migrants and refugees—welcome, protect, promote, integrate—all apply to educational institutions as well.5 Each institution must conjugate these words according to its local reality and must ask whether or in what ways these verbs are given life or are absent:

Does my institution welcome migrants and refugees? Is it clear that they are welcome? Does my institution facilitate their admission or make it exceedingly difficult? Once admitted, what protective structures ensure their dignity and safety, regardless of legal status? Do we recognize differences and affirm them as good and gift? Do we promote their full potential within the diverse cultural and religious dimensions that are part of their humanity?

Catholic education should make quality formation accessible to refugees, forced migrants, and internally displaced persons and communities. This will help to fulfil the Church’s mission to promote “integral human development for the entire People of God, ensuring that no one is excluded.”6 In the words of Jesus, it will be offering “life, life in abundance” (John 10:10), or, to use the Jesuit expression, it will be contributing to their becoming men and women for others, persons who give themselves for the greater life of others.

An education that is centered on others applies to all students, including migrant and refugee students. In a Catholic university context, Pope Francis recently asked:

For whom to study? For yourselves? In order to be accountable to others? We ought to study in order to be able to educate and serve others, and to serve others with competence and confidence. Before asking ourselves if studying is useful for something, we should first make sure that it is useful for someone. It is a beautiful question for a university student to ask: whom can I serve, myself? Or do I have a heart open for another type of service? A university degree will then indicate a capacity for serving the common good. I study for myself, for work, to be useful, for the common good. This requires a great deal of balance.7

Pope Francis’s remarks invite us to think more profoundly about education as long-term and other-centered, beyond its obvious immediate utility. It can foster a search for personal and transcendent truth and meaning in each learner’s life. Beyond improving the life of the individual, education also impacts entire families and communities as parts of the educational social infrastructure.

I am reminded of the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador where I spent time after my Jesuit brothers were killed in 1989. This is how the UCA envisioned the purpose of a university education. They used the term “proyección social,” social outreach, to describe the way in which a university, with its knowledge and expertise, is to project itself in order to impact the national reality, the true state of a society with its injustices, exclusionary structures, violence, corruption, and all that does not foster freedom, solidarity, and respect for the rights of humanity. They envisioned and worked toward a university community whose center was outside itself. 8

Similarly, Pope Francis’s words invite students to discern and understand their education as preparation to serve a wounded humanity, touching the wounds of history.9 It is through an other-centered education that students can resist the dominant technocratic paradigm that seeks to dominate rather than liberate other persons, social structures, and the created world.

Pope Francis emphasizes the link, in a university’s search, for truth and freedom:

Do not forget that studying makes sense when it seeks the truth. When seeking it we understand that we are made in order to find it. Truth is meant to be found, for it is inviting, accessible and generous. But if we renounce the search for truth, then study becomes an instrument of power, a way to control others; it no longer serves but dominates. I must confess that it makes me sad when I discover a university that only prepares students to make money or gain power. It is overly individualistic, without community. Alma mater is a university community that helps to shape society, to create fraternity. Studying is not useful if it does not include a communal search for the truth. It is not helpful. It dominates. Whereas the truth sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32).10

Truth, in its widest sense, is a quality of being in right relationship with reality, one’s own and that of others and the world. Now, thinking specifically of forcibly displaced students, the search for truth is a heavy responsibility, and ultimately a journey of liberation that impacts a whole educational community. A community of learners is unequivocally enriched by the presence of migrants and refugees who weave the truth of their reality, of their world, with the broader fabric of the university community. Both are enriched by the educational encounter and communal search for shared truth.

However, when it comes to accessing educational opportunities, migrants and refugees face several obstacles. Countries that already struggle with providing education to their resident populations might not have the resources and capacity to provide the necessary support for migrants and refugees. Also, refugees are often denied freedom of movement and affordable access to training and education. Additionally, those who are already well educated find it nearly impossible to have their qualifications recognized.

Considering these challenges, all efforts to enhance refugee and migrant education should begin with listening to the displaced themselves. The purpose is to provide strong practical guidance to educational research, policy, and pastoral action. From an ecclesial perspective, it is important to combine scientific and theological reflection, and to involve educational institutions with the local Church when developing programs. This should include training courses for pastoral agents who can then engage in many different initiatives aimed at accompanying refugees and migrants. Regarding all these options, full or partial bursaries or scholarships are obviously a great help.

We see today that the education gap between refugees and their host community peers can be wide, especially at the higher levels of education. As of 2023, only about seven percent of refugees worldwide have access to post-secondary education and training.11 These learning and educational opportunities are essential to their success. Opportunities to work, earn a living, and be self-reliant are the most effective ways for refugees to rebuild their lives.12 Education at all levels can offer refugee children, adolescents, and youth, opportunities to participate in the local community, and even some initial integration.

As a JRS 2022 report states, post-secondary education helps make possible a sustainable livelihood that is not dependent on humanitarian aid. It allows forcibly displaced migrants and refugees to establish economic independence and a better standard of living no matter where they are or how long they remain displaced, and it provides better socio-economic inclusion within their host communities. This is particularly important because three-quarters of refugees (76 percent) have been in exile for at least five consecutive years.13

One key, concrete contribution that Catholic universities can make to empowering refugees and migrants and meeting the aforementioned challenges is the mutual recognition of academic degrees. The academic and professional qualifications of refugees and migrants often require updating and upgrading, and these are programs and courses that Catholic universities should be able to provide.

To these ends, as the Holy Father observes, “Interdisciplinary approaches, international cooperation and the sharing of resources are important elements that can permit universality to translate into shared and fruitful projects on behalf of humanity, of all men and women, and the environment in which they live and grow.” He continues by reminding us that a university is, by nature, meant to be universal and yet grounded in the local context: “With your universal openness (precisely as an “universitas”), you can enable the Catholic university to become a place where solutions for civil and cultural progress for individual persons and for humanity, marked by solidarity, are pursued with perseverance and professionalism. You can also examine that which is contingent without losing sight of that which has a more general value. Old and new problems must be studied in their specificity and immediacy, but always within a personal and global perspective.”14

Finally, you may have noticed that I never once used the expression “catholic students”. This is because my whole discourse really applies to all those whom Catholic education must be available to serving. So, I leave us with a question: how should our schools assure the religious and spiritual formation which Catholic migrants and refugees deserve? How may it be offered, if possible, in conjunction with the local Church?

Thank you for the joint Catholic educational effort that this conference represents and seeks to promote. Let us not forget that forcibly displaced persons and communities are refugees from despair, but along with the motto of the 2025 year of Jubilee we can also proclaim them to be “Pilgrims of Hope”. It is between despair and hope that they walk. Let us pray that we do everything within our power to walk with them, under the guidance of the Spirit of God.

The great camino of education is the path to life.
Thank you.

_______________

Sources:

1 Pope Francis, Laudato Si, para. 106.
2 Laudato Si, 202
3 Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social
Connection and Community (2023), 34.
4 John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination (Oxford, 2005), 167.
5 Pope Francis, Message for the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 14 January 2018.
6 Pope Francis, Praedicate Evangelium, 19 March 2022.
7 Pope Francis, Meeting with university students, Université Catholique de Louvain, 28 September 2024.
8 Cf. Michael Czerny, “La università come coscienza critica,” in Francesco Lazzari, ed., 1989 L’eccidio de San
Salvador (MGS Press, 2010), 108-110.
9 Cf. Pope Francis, Address to the Gregorian University, Rome, 5 November 2024.
10 Pope Francis, Meeting with university students, Université Catholique de Louvain, 28 September 2024.
11 The UN Refugee Agency, Refugee Education: Five years on from the Launch of the 2030 refugee Education
strategy, 2024.
12 JRS USA, A Path Forward: Building a Future for Refugee Students Through Post-Secondary Education, 2022.
13 Cf. JRS USA, A Path Forward.
14 Pope Francis, International conference for leaders of catholic universities, New frontiers for university leaders: The future of health and the university ecosystem, Roma, 4 November 2019.