We are invited to embody God’s love in our relationship to one another, especially to those most in need.
The theme of Refugee Week (15-21 June) is ‘Finding freedom: diversity in community’. It responds to the public attitude to refugees both in Australia and in the world at large.
In a time of economic hardship, political upheaval and expanding wars, refugees and their search for a secure and free home receive only irregular attention. They are often seen as competitors for support, housing, employment and education in a fragile economy. They are also often demonised for their difference and imagined threat to security.
In response to refugees many nations have imitated Australia in refusing them entry, detaining them, or banishing them to inhospitable places.
HOSTILITY TO IMMIGRANTS
The US, built on the contribution of refugees, has now led the world in its hostility to them and longstanding immigrants. It has initiated a campaign to send millions of people back to nations where they may face poverty and imprisonment. Many of them have lived and built a life and family over many years in the US. The effects of this treatment on them cannot be calculated in numbers only. Its real measure is the pain of refugees at the loss of a resting place, of hopes for children and of freedom, and the shame of citizens at what governments do in their name.
When power, prejudice and self-interest override the respect due to each human being, the most vulnerable members of society are everywhere left defenceless in the face of closed borders, xenophobia, the withdrawal of funding, rejection, punishment and imprisonment.
In the face of this grim scene the theme of Refugee Week is both a call for compassion and a badge of hope. It reminds us that refugees seek freedom and that nations are at their best when they build diversity in community. This is the humane vision enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the status of Refugees and the subsequent Protocol, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in the body of international law and agreements. Underlying these documents is the conviction that each human being is precious regardless of race, religion, behaviour and wealth, and so must be respected in in the laws and conduct of each nation.
EACH HUMAN’S VALUE
In the Christian Gospel the unique value of each human being and the respect due to each person are non-negotiable. At the centre of Christian faith is God’s costly love of sinners. We are invited to embody this love in our relationship to one another, especially to people most in need. The early Christians in the Roman Empire embodied this faith in ways that drew their neighbours to Christ’s message.
In a world where people who fled from war in other towns routinely found the gates shut against them, Christians welcomed and fed them. Where Christian faith is strong, such stories of a practical love that scorns harsh laws will always be told. They are told in many Catholic communities in Australia and invite us to reach out to people who are different, especially to those who have fled from persecution in their own lands.
This article was written by Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ for Jesuit Communications and accessed at pray.com.au..