Tag Archive for ‘refugees’
This Is What An Angel Looks Like
Cover Photo: New Zealander, Fr Tony O’Connor-Hickman SM baptises a baby in the parish church of San Felipe in Brownsville, a town on the border between the US and Mexico. It faces the Mexican town of Matamoros, divided by the Rio Grande and by the border wall. Fr Tony spent 12 years there, having also been […]
“For You Were Strangers In The Land of Egypt”
Five years ago, I visited the UK during the Brexit campaign. It was an interesting time to be there. However, for me, the historic importance of the vote’s outcome was overshadowed by a chance meeting the day after. I was leaning on the railing along the promenade of a south coast town, stoically enjoying the […]
A reflection on the prayer of Jacob
An edited version of the Pope’s catechesis One day Jacob hears the call of home. He sets out, undertaking a long journey until he reaches the final step, the Jabbok stream. Here the Book of Genesis (32: 23-33) describes that the patriarch Jacob, after having all of his people and all the livestock cross the […]
‘Forced like Jesus Christ to Flee’
World Day of Prayer for Migrants and Refugees in New Zealand, 21 June As the title for his annual message for the World Day of Prayer for Migrants and Refugess, Pope Francis has chosen ‘Forced like Jesus Christ to Flee’. The message will focus on the pastoral care of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who currently […]
Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees
(Abridged) Faith assures us that in a mysterious way the Kingdom of God is already present here on earth (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 39). Yet in our own time, we are saddened to see the obstacles and opposition it encounters. Violent conflicts and all-out wars continue to tear humanity apart; injustices and discrimination follow one […]
Refugeees and Migrants
In late June, the Vatican released a statement saying that Pope Francis was deeply upset by the photo of a father and daughter from El Salvador, Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria, who drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande to reach Brownsville, Texas: “The pope is profoundly saddened by […]
Recognising the Child Jesus in the faces of little children
In Bethlehem, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. He was born, not by the will of man, but by the gift of the love of God our Father, who so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). We […]
104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees
14 January 2018 Statistics about refugees and migrants are mind-boggling and horrendous. The United Nations Refugee Agency calculates that 65.6 million people were forced from their homes in 2016. Among them were nearly 22.5 million refugees, more than half of whom were under the age of 18. Of these, about 8 million were being hosted […]
The carpenter and the crosses
In 2011, a bedraggled group of Eritrean refugees went to Mass in the local Church to pray for their loved ones who had not survived the crossing
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