CAPSA’s #refugeeweekreflections
CAPSA recently joined communities all over Australia in celebrating Refugee Week 2022, from June 19th-25th. One way in which CAPSA engaged with the broader community was through social media. From Monday – Friday, #refugeeweekreflections were posted on CAPSA Twitter and Facebook. If you missed these reflections, we’ve collated them all below for you to use beyond Refugee Week:
Day 1:
‘The theme of Refugee Week in Australia this year is healing, and as Pope Francis noted, our shared response must be to continue “to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate” refugees and people seeking asylum who search for safety in Australia and around the world. It is surely what the call of Jesus to “love your neighbour” demands’ (Julie Edwards, co-Chair of CAPSA and CEO of Jesuit Social Services).
Think of a refugee or person seeking asylum who you may know or know of. If you were to write them a letter in celebration and honour of them – what would you say?
Day 2:
“Trauma results from abruptly broken connections. Healing comes from the gentle re-making of connections…Trauma arises when we are treated as things of no value, fit only to be broken and discarded. Healing comes when we are treated as persons with a unique value, as brothers and sisters.”
Andrew Hamilton SJ, Refugee Week 2022 article published on the CAPSA website
Have you had an experience of healing in your community with others who may be different to you?
Day 3:
Isaiah 1:17
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
In our own communities, and Australia more broadly, how can we show generosity to others?
Day 4:
“We need to feel outrage that galvanizes us into action to demand change. And to collectively give voice to that outrage. We can use our voice and our computers or pens or any means of making our points. Let’s all go with a will to talk to our local member of Parliament. That noise will get to Canberra.”
Sister Brigid Arthur, Palm Sunday Walk for Justice 2021
How can we work together, led by people with a lived experience of seeking asylum and refuge, to call on decision makers in power to enact change?
Day 5:
“Our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate.”
Pope Francis, International Forum on Migration and Peace 2017
Think about your own community and sphere of influence. How can we work with refugees and people seeking asylum to welcome, protect, promote and integrate them in our communities?
