JRS annual report follows Refugee Week

In 2022, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) made a notable difference in the lives of more than one and a half million women, men and children in 58 countries, according to its annual report released at the end of June.

Titled “Hope makes the difference”, it outlined the charity’s work from the acute crises of the war in Ukraine and the Syrian earthquake, to ongoing violence in DR Congo, to forgotten refugees in India and Indonesia.

The JRS accompanies refugees in emergencies and long-standing crises, providing education, livelihoods, psychosocial support, reconciliation, and advocacy.

“Hope is not an optimism that everything will be better tomorrow; rather, hope is the horizon of those we serve and the foundation of the work we do,” said Fr Thomas H Smolich SJ, JRS international director.

“We help people rebuild lives and once JRS arrives, we stay,” he added. “We accompany, educate, and train our forcibly displaced sisters and brothers so that they become full human beings building God’s Kingdom.”

There are more than 100 million refugees and other forcibly displaced people around the world. Each year on 20 June, the world celebrates World Refugee Day, and the 2023 theme was “hope away from home”.

Churches around the world marked the occasion, led by the call of Pope Francis to welcome and support people forced to flee their homes.

In Australia at the end of June, JRS collaborated with the Diocese of Parramatta to launch Refugee Week at St Patrick’s Cathedral, aimed at “raising the voices of refugees and people seeking protection”.

Parishes and schools in the diocese were urged to collect food essentials for JRS to distribute to people who have fled their country in fear of their lives but, because of their bridging visas restrictions, cannot work, nor receive government support in Australia.

Catholic campaigners joined refugee groups in criticising detention, where some have been detained for many years and many are separated from their families. They welcomed the change of Temporary Protection Visas to permanent residence.