The Archdiocese of Malta has established a fund of €30,000 to promote hospitality initiatives within parishes and other communities. The Church will be using the fund – set up to mark 2022 World Day of Migrants and Refugees themed ‘Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees’ – to encourage collaborative initiatives within the community between citizens and migrants.

A spokesperson said that this fund is being set up as a follow-up to Pope Francis’s message during his visit to Malta, which recalled how St Paul had been received with ‘unusual kindness’. “The Church is inviting religious and civil community organisations – including those led by migrants – to propose seed initiatives that celebrate Malta’s diversity and promote a culture of hospitality, dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and fraternity.

“Seed initiatives are gestures that have the potential to bear much fruit as first steps towards more robust community building. By encouraging initiatives where citizens and migrants exchange different gifts, together we become active participants in building strong communities in a spirit of fraternity, as ‘one family’.”

Seed initiatives can include:

  • The exchange of cultural patrimony through the arts and creative expression;
  • Learning about each other’s traditions, beliefs, and customs;
  • Opening spaces for respectful dialogue;
  • Celebrating the richness of Malta as an island in the Mediterranean with a history of being a ‘safe haven’ for peoples from surrounding continents;
  • Integral ecology and the stories engendered by Malta’s natural landscape;
  • Initiatives inspired by Pope Francis’s teachings, especially in Laudato Sì and Fratelli tutti;
  • Sports and leisure activities and inter-generational encounters across ethnic and cultural divides.

A minimum of €500 will be allocated to each seed initiative that exemplifies the Fund’s aims and objectives up to a maximum of €1,000.

Proposals for initiatives are welcome at any time of the year and will be assessed by a board composed of representatives from the Vicariate for Evangelisation, the Secretariat for Parishes, and the Migrants Commission.

For more information about the fund interested applicants are to visit http://www.migrants.mt/fund or send an email on [email protected].