EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

today the pressure for migration is a predominant characteristic of
the interaction between states. But despite the growth of a global
market, in which states are more open to the free flow of commodities,
they nonetheless place increasing restrictions on the movement
of peoples. In this context there is a world-wide growth in criminal
human trafficking by which many refugees are doubly punished.
They must pay cash in order to enjoy their fundamental human
right of asylum. And as a result they are frequently seen as ‘illegal’.
Fortunately, Catholic social teaching uses a broad understanding
of who is a refugee. Yet while the needs of refugees differ according
their countries of origin or of asylum, or because of the reasons for
which they left home, the pastoral and human response of JRS remains
consistent.
Moreover, as Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach remarked in his Review of
Jesuit Refugee Service in 1990, this response of JRS is typically Ignatian.
It is similar to what Ignatius and his early companions actually did
in response to a crisis of homelessness and poverty in the Roman
winter of 1938.
This book gathers key documents that record the inspiration and
the mission given to Jesuit Refugee Service by the Society of Jesus. It
is a tool that will help JRS to develop the services it offers for today
and the future. In new circumstances of refugees, the responses of JRS
must also be creative. JRS workers are to be like the good scribe of the
Gospel (Mt 13;52), making use of the old things and adding new
elements.
Mark Raper SJ,
International Director, Jesuit Refugee Service, 1990-2000
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