Refugee
Awareness
Session
World Day For Migrants
and Refugees
Pope Benedict has declared
1/13/2013 as World Day for
Migrants and Refugees
Don’t Miss:
•
Screening of awardwinning film: Monkey
Dance, dealing with teens
growing up in refugee
families in Lowell,
Massachusetts. The
Director of the film, Julie
Mallozzi, will speak.
•
find out what the Church
does to help refugees:
•
globally
•
around the US
•
in Massachusetts
•
right here at St.
Ignatius Parish.
Come to the refugee awareness
session!
What: awareness session
When: Sunday January 13, 2013 11 a.m.
Where: lower church, Media Room St
Ignatius Church
sponsored by St. Ignatius parish ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement Using Parish Energies)
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Some definitions
• Who is a refugee
• Outside their own country
• Well founded fear of persecution because of their:
• Race
• Religion
• Nationality
• Political opinion
• Membership in a particular social group
• United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951
• A person with refugee status in the United States by
definition has been lawfully admitted to the country.
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Some definitions
• Other types of forced migrants may not necessarily
qualify as refugees:
• e.g. Internally displaced persons, victims of natural disasters, victims of
trafficking
• The scope of the problem: see the numbers at
www.unhcr.org
• Over 10M refugees
• Over 27M IDP’s
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
The Church Helps Refugees Globally
• Vatican: Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants
• http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/migrants/index.ht
m
• Abroad – refugee processing and more
• International Catholic Migration Commission
• Jesuit Refugee Service & other Catholic organizations.
• In the US
• USCCB – resettles over 25% of refugees in the United States
• http://www.usccb.org/about/migration-and-refugee-services/
• Via Dioceses – Massachusetts: Catholic Charities.
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Why the Church Helps Refugees
“The Church is ever mindful that Jesus Christ was himself a
refugee, that as a child he had to flee with his parents from his
native land in order to escape persecution. In every age,
therefore, the Church feels herself called to help refugees.”
Pope John Paul II
Refugee Center,
Morong, Phillipines
1981
WHY ARRUPE HELPS
Expressing Christ’s Love for the Poor
Reflecting Our Worldwide Communion in the Local
Church
The first place for the Church's attention to refugees remains the
parish community, which has the task of sensitizing its members
to the plight of refugees, exhorting them to welcome as Jesus
taught: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35).
Benevolence, respect, trust and sharing are practical expressions
of a culture of solidarity and hospitality.
--”Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity”
Pontifical Council
for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
1992
Catholic Charities resettles Refugees in the
Archdiocese of Boston
GOAL: Early Employment and Self-Sufficiency within 6 Months
Resettlement Services
Welcome and Reception
Housing, food, furnishings
Clothing, basic needs
Employment Services: from rice
farmers to dentists
English as a Second Language
Cultural Orientation/Acculturation
Parish and Community integration
 Interpreter and Translation services
Resettlement Challenges
UnFunded Mandates
 Lack of Affordable Housing
 Acculturation
 Community Living
 Unfamiliarity with Western society
 Exposure to violence
 Health
 Malnutrition
 Lack of pre-natal care/women’s
health
 Post Traumatic Stress
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
What St. Ignatius does to help refugees
• Outreach Commission
• Sr. Diane coordinates regular donations of clothing to refugee
community here in Massachusetts; provided Christmas gifts for
refugee families
• ARRUPE Group
• household goods to furnish apartments for arriving refugee families;
• mentoring refugees after arrival;
• assisting refugees after resettlement;
• refugee awareness sessions like this one
HOW ARRUPE HELPS
Household Goods
Companionship
Education
Advocacy
Prayer
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting
Refugee Resettlement Using Parish Energies)
Resources
(not an exhaustive list)
• Around the world
• Pope Benedict’s message for world day for migrants/refugees:
• http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/migration/documents/hf_benxvi_mes_20121012_world-migrants-day_en.html
• Pontifical Council for Migrants
• http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/migrants/
• UNHCR, Geneva – United Nations High Commission on Refugees www.unhcr.org
• Statistics, excel spreadsheets http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c4d6.html
• Play against all odds – online game about the refugee experience: http://www.playagainstallodds.com/
• UNHCR youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/unhcr
• International Organization for Migration, Geneva http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/observer-
status
• International Catholic Migration Commission, Geneva
•
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) is a network of members in nearly every
country of the world with its own operations and staff which serves and protects refugees, migrants,
especially vulnerable migrant workers, victims of human trafficking, fragile families and unaccompanied
minors, and internally displaced persons, regardless of their faith, race, ethnicity or national origin.
• OPE – overseas processing entity
• http://www.icmc.net/activities/overseas-processing-entity-ope-refugee-resettlement
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Resources
• Jesuit Refugee Service: accompanying, educating, giving
pastoral care, advocacy
• http://www.jrsusa.org/research
• http://www.jrsusa.org/multimedia
• JRS Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/jesuitrefugeeservice
• JRS Documentary:
• http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101218/local/migrants
-lives-held-in-suspense
• Caritas – www.caritas.org US member: www.crs.org
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Resources continued - US
• US Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration
• http://www.state.gov/g/prm/
• Center for Applied Linguistics- Refugee background
Information http://www.cal.org/topics/ri/
• Department of Homeland Security – number and origin of
refugees admitted to USA
• http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/YrBk09RA.shtm
• http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_rfa_fr_2009.pdf
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Resources continued
• In the United States - continued
• USCCB – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
• Migration and Refugee Services: http://www.usccb.org/mrs
sponsored by St. Ignatius ARRUPE group (Assisting Refugee Resettlement
Using Parish Energies)
Resources continued - Massachusetts
• Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration Services
• http://www.ccab.org/refugee.html