There is more than enough evidence to support the view expressed by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas that the OFWs are in great demand mainly because they have a good mix of hard (technical) skills, and soft skills (language proficiency, good communication skills, and a cheerful disposition, combined with hard work). In Barcelona alone, there are some 14,000 to 15,000 Filipino workers in the domestic service and tourism industry. The Spaniards are especially glad that Filipino workers can help them address the serious shortage of some workers resulting from the lowest birth rate in Europe. Without the help of overseas workers, many Spanish households would suffer a significant deterioration in the comfortable lifestyle that they have attained through rapid economic growth over the last 20 years. I got the impression that the demand for Filipino workers will be a permanent feature of modern living in such European countries as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany.

In addition to the social and economic value of their presence in many European countries, Filipino families are contributing to the revival of Christian values in these countries which have suffered a decline in religious practice despite their deeply Christian heritage. Many Catholic parishes are actually being revived by the active participation of Filipino families. One can even observe the distinctly Filipino approaches to Catholic devotions like the Wednesday Novenas to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Flores de Mayo celebrations, Santacruzans, and other religious processions specific to some regions in the Philippines.

Filipino workers abroad can be of special assistance in the renewed effort of the Vatican in giving pastoral care to migrants and itinerant people. A recent instruction was issued by the Pastoral Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant people entitled "The love of Christ towards migrants." Filipino priests and lay persons can provide some leadership in implementing the guidelines of this recently published Instruction. Let me quote from the concluding paragraphs of this important document about the phenomenon of migration:

"Today’s migrations constitute the greatest movement of persons, if not of peoples, of all time. They bring us into contact with men and women, our brothers and sisters, who, for economic, cultural, political, or religious reasons, have left or have been compelled to leave their homes and end up, for the most part, in refugee camps, in a soulless megalopolis, and in slums on the outskirts of cities, where they often share the marginalization of the unemployed, the ill-adjusted youth, and abandoned women. The migrant thirsts for some gesture that will make him feel welcome, recognised, and acknowledged as a person. Even just a simple greeting is one of these.

"In answer to this yearning, men and women of the consecrated life, communities, lay associations, and ecclesial movements, as well as pastoral workers should feel above all the duty to educate Christians to welcome solidarity and openness to foreigners, so that migration may become more and more a ‘significant’ factor for the Church, and the faithful may discover the semina Verbi (seeds of the Word) found in different cultures and religions.

"In the Christian community born of Pentecost, migration is an integral part of the Church’s life, clearly expresses its universality, promotes communion within it, and influences its growth. Migration thus offers the Church a historic opportunity to prove its four characteristic marks: The Church is one because in a certain sense it also expresses the unity of the whole human family; it is holy also to make all people holy and that God’s name may be sanctified in them; it is catholic furthermore in its openness to diversity that is to be harmonized; and it is likewise apostolic because it is also committed to evangelize the whole human person and all people.

"It is thus clear that the Church’s missionary calling is not determined only by geographic distances but by differences of culture and religion. ‘Mission’ is thus going out to every person to proclaim Jesus Christ and, in Christ and the Church, to bring him into communion with all humanity."