Dear Colleagues,

Families are the repositories of spirituality, and at the same time spirituality is the bedrock of how they make meaning and inhabit and imbibe values, which in turn promotes the wellbeing of individuals and society. When families are fractured by movement, whether internal or external, their spirituality—often tied in with their cultural way of experiencing and expressing their  religion and belief—offers a foothold in the new culture as they rebuild their lives. Spirituality, the utmost source of resilience for many, is even more needed for people in transition. Providing resources and space for migrants to hone their spiritual practices, as well as providing spiritually integrated care, is crucial to their psychological and physical wellbeing.

Often, however, there are barriers to providing these resources and appropriate care. The needed culturally sensitive hospitality in the form of nonjudgmental and nonprejudicial acceptance of the migrant is missing. The attempts at care are usually fraught with complexities which emphasize difference since the migrant is otherized or expected to assimilate in order to find home. However, migration, whether volitional or forced, should allow for a back and forth traversing of the new space and the former space. Unfortunately, the process of so-called legalization of stay in a new country takes so long that migrant angst sets in and alienation from extended family and even oneself occurs. These dynamics are even more complicated for those migrants who overstay a deportation order and live undocumented.

Religions, especially those with scriptures like the Judeo-Christian, have such hope to offer migrants because their metanarratives are often told from the perspective of migrants, pilgrims, the marginalized, and the most vulnerable. Such hope fortifies and shores people up for the task of navigating the adversities associated with living on the move. 

This Special Issue entitled Spiritual Care for Migrant Families aims to create an intellectual frame of reference for the academic study of the spiritual care of migrant families and to create an interdisciplinary conversation on the role spirituality plays in fostering more stable and enduring identities despite the fluidity that usually accompanies displacements, whether internal or external. It is intended as a place for critical engagement, examination, and experimentation with practical ideas that connect psychospiritual resources from various religions and contexts in the world, both formal and informal, to enduring practices of migrant care. The Issue addresses the need for critical discussion on the spiritual care of migrants and the relevant issues that arise from doing such care in intercultural, interfaith, and interreligious perspectives—specifically as they are situated in the present-day contexts of ethics, warfare, pandemics, politics, anthropology, sociology, education, policy, and the dissonance or resonance between religious traditions and globalization.

Articles published in the journal range from the theoretical to the practical, with attention given to analysis based on deep familiarity and understanding of a particular area of religious tradition. They bring into dialogue philosophers, theologians, psychologists, policy-makers, and educators, to name a few of the stakeholders in this conversation.

This Special Issue is relevant to teachers, psychologists, theologians, policy-makers, chaplains, spiritual directors, and educators with an interest in—and a concern for—religious practice, religious theory and research, the impact of religious and spiritual traditions on human flourishing, and their implications for a more just society.

We seek papers that address but are not limited to the following areas:

• Internal and external migrations and the effect on identity formation;
• Resilience in religious communities and spiritualities;
• Rootedness and connectedness while living in the host country;
• Religious diasporas and shifting religious landscapes and implications for caring practices for migrant and host communities;
• Legal frameworks for addressing policy issues around migrants;
• Role of spirituality in the migratory journey and settlement in new country;
• Cultural obstacles confronted by migrants in the construction and conceptualization of family and gender relations in host country.

Dr. Esther E. Acolatse
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• identity
• bicultural living
• alienation and marginalization
• interstitial space
• hybridity
• work—including downward occupational status
• interfaith/interreligious dialogue
• spiritual care
• push-and-pull factors
• Integration and assimilation
• education
• culture