EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

Christian reflections and responses
Pope John Paul II has consistently drawn the world’s attention
to refugees, not only to prompt compassionate action but to invite
structural reflection. More than 10 years ago he described the tragedy
of refugees as a wound that typifies and reveals the imbalance and
conflicts of the modern world (Encyclical letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,
1987, no. 24). The plight of refugees cannot be solved by local projects
alone, but calls for a new global vision.
Christians have many reasons to insist on the dignity of each
human person. They look for inspiration to a Lord who was humbly
born, experienced exile as a child and felt rejection as an adult,
and who constantly sought out the company of those whom society
sidelined. In our time refugees and displaced persons suffer
diminishment of their dignity as human persons. We are called not
only to insist on their dignity but to stand with them. To accompany
any person in need is the first duty of the Church.
Caring for refugees in fact offers Christians many opportunities
to contact and assist people of other faiths. Over half the world’s
refugees today are Muslim. Most of my own fieldwork has been
among Buddhists. Such efforts accord fully with mainstream Catholic
teaching. The present Pope has urged Christians to offer love and
assistance to all refugees without distinction as to religion or race, respecting
in each of them the inalienable dignity of the human person created in the
image of God. (Pontificio Consiglio della Pastorale per i Migranti e gli
Itineranti, I Rifugiati, Una Sfida alla Solidarietà, 1992, no. 1).
One task for the Church and for all people of goodwill is to arouse
public opinion. Opinion makers need to understand that in too many
countries human rights are still violated with impunity. And that a
world in which human rights are not respected will continue to
produce refugees. The Pope has been consistently strong in refusing
to accept that displaced populations are to be regarded as normal:
It is something repugnant and abnormal for hundreds and thousands of
human beings to be forced to leave their own countries because of their
race, ethnic origin, political convictions or religion, or because they are in
danger of violence or even death from civil strife or political turmoil.
Exile seriously violates the human conscience and the norms of life in
society; it is clearly contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and to international law itself (Address to government authorities and
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