The Australian bishops’ Migrant and Refugee Office launched their parish resource for Migrant and Refugee Week, which is underway.
This year’s theme for the resource is taken from Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees: “Migrations: Pilgrimage of Faith and Hope.”
Bishop Gerard Hanna, the bishops’ delegate for the office, noted that migration is deeply linked with faith, and that this year’s parish resource reflects that.
“Faith and hope are inseparable in the hearts of many migrants, who deeply desire a better life and not infrequently try to leave behind the ‘hopelessness’ of an unpromising future. During their journeys, many of them are sustained by the deep trust that God never abandons his children and this certainty makes the pain of their uprooting and separation more tolerable and even gives them the hope of eventually returning to their country of origin,” he said in a letter introducing the resource.
The kit was designed by students from ACU National who each year volunteer to create the design.
The front cover design is based on the theme “Migrations: Pilgrimage of Faith and Hope” and the design was inspired by people around the world who are helping migrants and refugees, and images of migrating birds are representative of people who are on a pilgrimage or journey.
The resource includes the Holy Father’s message for Migrant and Refugee Sunday; a message from Bishop Hanna; migration statistics; a game for students on migrant life; a migration story; Catholic Social Teaching on mandatory immigration detention; the Sunday Gospel and Homily suggestions, as well as prayers in a number of different languages.
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On the Net:
Parish resource: 99th-Migrant-Refugee-Kit-2013
