ABSTRACT
In contemporary times, the majority of people on the move are workers. A confluence of factors mean that millions of migrant workers end up not only in temporary contractual labor markets with the lowest salaries but also in so-called 3D (dirty, disdained, and dangerous) jobs. The chapter interrogates the poor treatment of migrants in low-skilled contractual work and the Churches’ pastoral response to it, particularly the Catholic Church. It starts with a description of the difficulties experienced by Asian and Pacific migrants as underclass workers, namely their treatment as “needed but not wanted” workers and the exploitation and abuse they experience from various actors in the migration process. This is followed by reflections on spiritual accompaniment and works of charity and justice as essential forms of pastoral ministry by the Churches, and the ways in which these pastoral responses may be improved. The chapter submits that pastoral work by the Churches in such context necessitates an expanded and expanding incarnational understanding of ministry in such a way that witness becomes withness.
