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Sisters of St Joseph of Peace World Refugee Day Message


The Catholic Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in the UK and US united to denounce divisive political rhetoric and to welcome immigrants and refugees as sisters and brothers in a statement released in time for World Refugee Day on June 20. Their formal congregational statement entitled: Welcome Immigrants and Refugees also urges governments to look to the causes of forced migration such as economic inequality, war, arms sales, and excessive use of fossil fuels that are causing seas to rise, forcing island peoples out of their homes.

The statement urges:

· all governments to expeditiously provide safe haven for refugees with all rights guaranteed in the UN Convention and Protocol on Refugees

· the UK and US governments to allow citizens willing to serve refugees the opportunity to offer hospitality as an expression of their faith

· an immediate end to all rhetoric that instills fear, creates division, or incites violence, regardless of the migrant's faith or nation of origin.

Sisters and associates are already addressing immigrant and refugee needs by visiting immigrants in detention, providing housing for refugees, teaching English to immigrants and financially supporting a range of immigrant/refugee organizations in the UK and US More recently, the Congregation has committed to sending members to serve at the Calais refugee camp in France.

Sr Katrina Alton, CSJP, who volunteers with asylum seekers at the Catholic Worker in Glasgow shared what one destitute asylum seeker from Afghanistan told her: "The people I meet in Glasgow are kind, but the immigration system here is cruel. In sha'Allah my new friends here will help me get over that." Sr Katrina continued, "We are all one family in the eyes of God."

Responding to the current refugee crisis is one way the congregation lives out its mission to be "in company with poor and marginalized people" and to "recommit to Jesus' way of radical hospitality."

In 2016, on World Refugee Day, June 20 there are a record 60 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide, more than any time since the end of World War II. Of particular concern are the unaccompanied children in refugee camps.

The Sisters of St Joseph of Peace are an international order of Catholic sisters and lay associates founded in 1884. The first sisters were immigrants who served primarily Irish immigrants in England and in the United States. The Congregation serves in the UK and in the New Jersey and Pacific Northwest regions of the US.

Read more about the Sisters here: www.csjp.org

For more information about World Refugee Day see: www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday

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