The Refugee Crisis

“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. “  
Pope Francis

According to Catholic Relief Services, there are 65 million refugees and displaced people worldwide and 50 percent of them are children.  Many are displaced for an average of 17 years.  They come from Latin America to Afghanistan — the largest group is from Syria. The majority are living in urban areas rather than refugee camps, urban areas in developing countries struggling to meet their own needs.  It is an international problem that requires new long-term solutions.

It is a crisis too large to ignore.  Humanitarian groups like Catholic Relief Services are providing refugees with lifesaving basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter. But so much more is needed. We need to urge our leaders and the international community to address education, jobs, and resettlement issues. Equally important is the need to work for diplomatic solutions to the war and political instability that are the root causes of this global humanitarian crisis.

The task seems overwhelming, but if we can figure out how to send a man to the moon and rebuild cities completely bombed out by war, we can do this. It will take commitment, cooperation, and an international plan to allocate resources. Relief agencies are being stretched to the limit, but they do amazing work.

Most of us can’t be on the front lines, but each of us can be a part of the solution. Whether it is tutoring refugees in English, giving furniture to a refugee family, providing transportation for refugees, helping them navigate the legal processes, urging our government to treat immigrants with fairness, pressing our congresspersons to put an end to unjust immigration laws.  

Those  who have read Matthew 25 know that at the Last Judgment, Jesus will say, "I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, etc. Would we turn Jesus away?