Monday, November 28, 2016
Parishes play a vital role in refugee resettlement
In the worldwide refugee crisis, U.S. Catholic parishes provide a warm welcome to those who must leave their homes.
When a woman had to quickly flee the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) to the United States after her husband was murdered because
of political strife, parishioners at St. Francis of Assisi Church in
Louisville, Kentucky were there for her. In the process of leaving her
home country, she had lost track of her three sons. But with the help of
the parish and social media, her sons were tracked down in Rwanda,
where they had sought refuge, and were joined together with their
mother. Parishioners at St. Francis helped facilitate the reunion.
For decades, refugee resettlement has been an essential
component of the social justice ministry at St. Francis, where the local
Catholic Charities is the resettlement agency for the state. Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese of Louisville has been resettling refugees
since 1992. The state gave the agency sole responsibility to run the
refugee resettlement there eight years later.
The parish
began welcoming Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the 1970s. Now the
parish helps resettle refugees from the DRC, Nepal, and Iraq. Among
those whom the parish has helped resettle is the family of an Iraqi
translator whose cooperation with the United States made him a target
for assassination.
For Father Lou Meiman, pastor of St.
Francis, refugee resettlement is a concrete reminder of the church's
social justice vision and a way to move that doctrine beyond flowery
goodwill statements. "It's enriched the life of the parish to have a
connection with the people who are the least of these," he says.
Catholic
parishes around the country, like St. Francis, play a vital role in the
global refugee crisis by welcoming newcomers. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that in 2015, of the 65.3
million displaced persons worldwide, 21.3 million were refugees.
"It's
not about doing things for people but being with people," Father Meiman
says. "They are part of our lives and part of our community. They are
human beings with faces, lives, and stories. It's a wonderful witness
for our children. It makes the gospel a real thing."
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