In a 13 October 2016 statement the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference calls on the Australian government to bring asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus Island to Australia. Conference President, Archbishop Hart, got behind the Bring Them Here campaign: We endorse the campaign to Bring Them Here to Australia. We pledge the help of...
Director of the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office, Fr Maurizio Pettena calls for immediate action on the allegations made in the leaked Nauru files. The Nauru files detail numerous alleged incidents of physical and sexual abuse of detainees at Australia’s offshore immigration detention centre. Fr Pettena expressed “grave concern that more than half...
Bishop Patrick Dunn, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, has welcomed an increase in New Zealand’s refugee intake, and the pilot of a community sponsorship program. He acknowledged that New Zealand’s contribution is modest and pointed to the need to address the causes of the refugee crisis, saying: “The extent of the...
View Bishop Peter Comensoli’s video message to the people of the Broken Bay Diocese in Australia for Migrant & Refugee Sunday 2015. Social Spirituality’s Sandie Cornish helps out. She spells out the calls to offer friendship, be informed, and promote social inclusion a little more in the text below. We may not be able...
Pope Francis links the ecological crisis and forced displacement, pointing out that those forcibly displaced by environmental degradation and climate change are not protected by international humanitarian law. Environmental refugees are a new category of refugees who are not effectively assisted by the international community. Who are the people in your region...