World Migrant and Refugee Sunday: Reflection from Fr. Andrew Hamilton SJ
In Australia, as in other nations today, many people are hostile to refugees and to migrants.
That is not surprising. People who struggle to find accommodation or to keep work can easily come to see as threats people coming to Australia. They believe that governments should solve local problems first and only then admit others to Australia. Although such opinions may not make economic sense and are self-centred, they are understandable.
The conduct of politicians and ideologues who spread false rumours against people from other cultures, stir up violent demonstrations, and depict refugees and immigrants from unfavoured nations as dangerous people who should be locked up, is less forgivable. In Great Britain and in Europe we have seen how dangerous this behaviour is, how it can be inflamed by politicians and by social media, and how it threatens peace and civil order.
In these times it is important to plead the cause of refugees.
It is even more important to open our minds and hearts to all the persons who are doing it hard, and not to barrack for some, while lumping together others who can be treated as things and not as persons.
As we reflect on the hardships which many people who live in Australia must bear, feel compassion for them, and argue for change in our unequal economy, our hearts should then open to the stories of people who have been forced from their homes and who seek protection and a new life in Australia.
Australians who do it hard and refugees are not competitors but are all our brothers and sisters.
In his 2024 message for Migrant and Refugee Sunday Pope Francis emphasises the closeness of our link as Christians to people forced to leave their home country. He also shows how his own strong pleading for refugees and encouragement to Catholics to reach out beyond the church doors belong together.
Pope Francis insists that the Church is on a pilgrim journey towards the Kingdom of God. It follows Jesus whose own life, death and rising echoed the journey of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the promised land. In these pilgrim journeys God walked with the pilgrims.
Our calling as followers of Jesus is to walk with our brothers and sisters in company with Christ. In practical terms, that means listening to their stories, reaching out to them, and making them feel welcome.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton SJ is consulting editor of Eureka Street, and writer at Jesuit Social Services
World Migrant and Refugee Sunday – 29 September 2024