Catholic Outlook Magazine | September Edition | Season of Creation | 2023 Issue

Short & Sweet
Scripture tells us: “Love the stranger then, for you were strangers in the land
of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). The word ‘stranger’ is variously translated as
‘foreigner’, ‘immigrant’, ‘sojourner’ or ‘alien’. However, the message remains
consistent: those arriving from other parts of the world are our sisters and brothers.
We are called to see Christ in them, for all people are created in His image. And we
are called to see ourselves in them, for we all share this common humanity.
LOVE THE STRANGER
A Catholic Response to Migrants and Refugees
‘Love the Stranger: The Catholic response to migrants and refugees’ by the Catholic
Bishops Conference of England and Wales Department of International Affairs.
Image: Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
Department for International Affairs
Dear young friends, I am tremendously encouraged by your youthful enthusiasm.
We commission you to go to World Youth Day and enrich yourselves with that
unique experience. Deepen your faith, invigorate your hope and widen your love!
Come back with a renewed sense of purpose and mission! The Church needs you
to be the ambassadors for Christ or in the words of the Gospel tonight, growers of
the harvest.
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv in his homily for the Commissioning Mass for World Youth
Day 2023 on 16 July 2023. Image: Diocese of Parramatta.
I invite you to think – this is so beautiful – that God loves us as we are, not how
we would like to be or how society wants us to be, as we are. He loves us with
the limits we have, with the defects we have, and with the desire we have to keep
moving forward in life!
Pope Francis to young people at the Welcoming Ceremony of the 37th World Youth Day in
Lisbon, Portugal. Image: Shutterstock.
Pope Francis did not make up the word “synodality”, but he uses it because it
means “walking together.” He does not mean just a casual walk in the park or even
a longer trek through the bush. He is referring to the lifelong pilgrimage that the
Church is making as the People of God.
Dr Anne Benjamin is a writer, educator and parishioner of St Anthony of Padua Parish,
Toongabbie. She is on the Writing Committee for the Diocesan Synod. Image: Supplied.
At the heart of this year’s Social Justice Statement is a call for all the People of God
to embrace a new engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,
an engagement which involves a commitment to listen to our Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander sisters and brothers and to learn from them.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s Social Justice Statement for 2023-2024
Image: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
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