St Joseph's College, Echuca

Refugee Week

 

 

Sunday 14-20 June 2020

#RefugeeWeek

#YearOfWelcome

#Justice@SJC

This year, #RefugeeWeek has a whole new look because of the necessity to ensure we can celebrate safely. 

 

You might recall last year's Refugee Week action initiated by our student leaders to STAND IN SOLIDARITY with refugees? A ‘CIRCLE OF SOLIDARITY’ made up of our Year 10-12 students in Victoria Park with pleas to understand the plight of refugees coming to our country, and prayers for their safety, our welcome and our Government's compassion.

 

 

 

This year by contrast, with social distancing in place, we will be conducting much of our celebration of Refugee Week online via daily notices on SIMON and PAM, and on all our social media platforms, so keep a lookout for ways you and your family can be involved.

At the beginning of this year, the Refugee Council of Australia declared 2020 to be the 

#YearOfWelcome, because “A more welcoming country doesn’t start with politicians, it starts with us. Make Australia a better place for refugees and people seeking asylum.”

 Accordingly, the theme for Refugee Week 2020 is ‘Celebrating the Year of Welcome’

 

Last year Pope Francis reminded us that “the Lord calls us to practice charity towards them (refugees) and calls us to restore their humanity, as well as our own, and to leave no one behind.” In addition to the exercise of charity, Pope Francis tells us “the Lord also invites us to think about the injustices that cause exclusion - and in particular the privileges of the few, who, in order to preserve their status, act to the detriment of the many.” He says “the culture of comfort … makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people… which results in indifference to others; indeed, it even leads to the globalization of indifference. In the end, we too risk becoming like that rich man in the Gospel who is unconcerned for the poor man Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Too intent on buying elegant clothes and organizing lavish banquets, the rich man in the parable is blind to Lazarus’s suffering. Overly concerned with preserving our own well-being, we too risk being blind to our brothers and sisters in difficulty.”

Pope Francis during Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on September 29, 2019.

At St Joseph’s, through our commitment to Catholic Social Teaching, during #RefugeeWeek 2020, we will

  • express solidarity by teaching and learning about those who are marginalised by their status as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants
  • remind ourselves and our community that everyone belongs to one human family
  • reaffirm our belief in the dignity of every person, independent of ethnicity, how they got to be here, or current citizenship status, and that no human being should have their dignity or freedom compromised.

 

Join us during #RefugeeWeek 2020 as we Celebrate the Year of Welcome.

Begin here with a few REFUGEE MYTHS AND FACTS.

 

#RefugeeWeek

#YearOfWelcome

#Justice@SJC