This week, we are celebrating Migrant and Refugee Sunday – an event which is always close to our heart as SVDs, because migrants and refugees are so much at the heart of what we do.
Most of our ministries in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand have significant populations of migrants and refugees and we have identified ministry in this area as one of our top mission priorities.
As missionaries, we ourselves know what it is to be migrants – to live far away from family and friends and to try to make sense of a new culture, new language, new food, new ways. Perhaps this first-hand experience is why we are often sought out by migrant communities to be chaplains for them, a ministry we cherish.
Pope Francis has given us a beautiful theme to meditate on for this year’s Migrant and Refugee Sunday: “Church without frontiers, Mother to all”.
What a wonderful image. It is one I intend to keep at the forefront of my mind and heart as we pursue Christ’s mission in our Province. Only when we are truly a Church without frontiers can we hope to gather in the marginalised, the lost and forsaken, many of whom live outside traditional Church life.
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, of Melbourne, himself a former refugee, in a letter for Refugee and Migrant Sunday, says the Holy Father, in setting this theme, is emphasising how he wishes us to proceed.
“He wishes us to go beyond ourselves, to live an authentic Christian life, and show compassion and solidarity to those at the furthest fringes of society,” Bishop Vincent says.
The Holy Father mentions that,“from the beginning, the Church has been a mother with a heart open to the whole world, and has been without borders.”(Message, 2015).
“We need to continue this tradition and welcome our brothers and sisters who are in most need of our assistance, in particular, those who have come from distant lands seeking a better life,” says Bishop Vincent.
“Whilst the plight of refugees is often present and visible on our television screens, let us not forget the difficulties faced by the many migrants who have come to call Australia home. Often their hardships are not evident, but nonetheless still present.”
May we all take time this week to pray for refugees and migrants around the world and here in Australia or in offshore processing centres. And maybe we can take it one step further and reach out to migrant and refugee communities in our area, to be that welcoming hand of Christ for them, to advocate for the voiceless and to do what we can to ensure we are truly a Church without frontiers.
