LEAP of Faith
“If you want peace, work for justice.” ~ Pope Paul VI
The Inclusive Justice Initiative (IJI) invites you to take a LEAP of faith with us … exploring Catholic Social Teaching, this month focusing on Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. We are called by Catholic tradition and teaching to prioritize the needs of the poor and vulnerable.
Learn: A refugee is a person who has been forced to flee his or her home country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion.
The world is currently in the midst of the largest refugee crisis on record. As of May 2024, more than 120 million were forcibly displaced worldwide. The US resettled 60,000 refugees in 2023, about.5 percent of the world’s refugees. In contrast, Europe hosted 36 percent of refugees including in 10 percent in Turkey and 6 percent in Germany.
Here is a short video looking at the world’s refugees and the US from September 2022. Notice the number of refugees at that time was 27 million. https://bit.ly/3W6GST9
Explore: “If you have more than enough material possessions and see your neighbors in need yet close your hearts to them, how can the love of God be living in you?” (1 Jn 3:17)
The Bible has an overall emphasis on hospitality toward strangers, aliens and migrants. Some examples of migrants in Scripture include Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Moses and the Israelites, Ruth, and Joseph and Mary with Jesus.
See what it is like to live in a refugee camp with these videos from a camp in Yemen: https://bit.ly/3Wj4gho
Act: St. Thomas Outreach and Social Justice provides many opportunities to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. The Immigration/Refugee Initiative, one of the Outreach and Social Justice ministries, seeks to raise awareness and provide education and action opportunities regarding issues around immigration and the refugee crisis. In doing this work, the Immigration/Refugee Initiative has partnered with World Relief Services (worldrelief.org/chicagoland/), Exodus World Service (exodusworldservice.org/) and New Vecinos (newlifecenters.org/en/new-vecinos/). For more information or to become involved in the Immigration/Refugee Initiative at St. Thomas, reach out to Peggy Goralski at pgoralski@stapostle.org.
Pray:
Almighty and merciful God,
whose Son became a refugee
and had no place to call his own;
look with mercy on those who today
are fleeing from danger,
homeless and hungry.
Bless those who work to bring them relief;
inspire generosity and compassion in all our hearts;
and guide the nations of the world towards that day
when all will rejoice in your Kingdom of justice and of peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
