WORLD REFUGEES & MIGRATION DAY

The theme for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees is 'Migrants, Missionaries of Hope'. The World Day for Migrants and Refugees invites us to recognise the contribution that they make to our nation. It also encourages us to welcome them. In times of economic hardship hospitality to people coming from other nations is especially important and challenging. Many people are forced from their own homes by poverty and conflict and seek a new life elsewhere. At the same time people in more wealthy nations fear for jobs and homes. .... It reminds us that each human being is loved by God and that we are not enemies but brothers and sisters. A happy society is one that is hospitable to strangers, compassionate to people in need, and respectful of difference. In Australia our ancestors were all once immigrants and foreigners.

(Fr Andrew Hamilton— Australian Catholics)