EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

Hosting refugees can be very demanding: hurriedly
organising housing, food, jobs, welcoming committees,
sponsorships, and social contacts. In times
of high unemployment and economic recession,
people’s minds are not prepared and refugees are
looked upon as intruders. Their arrival also takes
on a political dimension which often means a series
of annoyances for the host country because the
countries from which the refugees fled often demand
their return or exert diplomatic pressure. It is so
much simpler to just ignore this human tragedy
and to shut one’s doors... But to have the courage
to welcome the refugees and the satisfaction of solving
their problems can be a source of great enrichment.
The whole history of mankind is made up of
displaced populations but nothing can be compared
to what is happening in our times on a worldwide
scale. Such numerous and such disparate displaced
masses demand of our established communities an
exceptional effort to adapt themselves to new ways
of life and different ways of thinking, and thus
to achieve mutual understanding and harmony.
And when assistance to newcomers goes beyond
satisfying their immediate needs and strives to integrate
them in their new environment, the chances
are that yesterday’s refugee becomes tomorrow’s
creative and productive citizen. We hold the power
to isolate ourselves or to open up to each other in
warm encounter.
Louis Joseph Goulet SJ, ‘A World of Refugees’, Le Brigand,
Missionary Review of the French-Canadian Jesuits, November-December,
1981
135