Deep concern over plight of offshore detainees

The Catholic Church in Western Australia has joined an ecumenical and community approach to the Australian Government to move asylum-seeker families from controversial offshore detention centres to the Australian mainland.

The initiative follows reports of mothers self-harming and attempting suicide on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean near Indonesia where asylum seekers are held.

The Archdiocese of Perth, Catholic welfare agency Centrecare and the St Vincent de Paul Society have joined the Anglican, Baptist and Uniting Churches, the Salvation Army and the Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees in making the appeal to the Minister of Immigration, Scott Morrison. Other community groups have offered to house and support detained families with young children, allowing them to live in the Australian community while their claims are processed.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth said: “We are hearing of the profound psychological damage that occurs in detention, with babies and infants being the most vulnerable. If we fail to offer them the necessary protection they deserve, then Australia may well be found to be at serious fault by future generations.”

* At the annual Knights of Columbus Convention in Orlando, Florida, Cardinal Seán O’Malley called the group to solidarity with the unaccompanied immigrant children flocking to the US from Central America, writes Michael Sean Winters, recalling Pope Francis’ warnings against “globalised indifference”.