ACMRO News Mar 2023

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Australian Catholic Migrant & Refugee Office

ACMRO News Mar 2023

Theme for the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees

The Holy Father has chosen “Free to choose whether to migrate or to stay” as the theme for the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated on Sunday, 24 September 2023.

A communiqué issued by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development states the fact that “many persons are forced to migrate demands a careful consideration of the causes of contemporary migration. The right to remain is older, more deeply rooted and broader than the right to migrate. It includes the possibility of sharing in the common good, the right to live in dignity and to have access to sustainable development. All of these rights should be effectively guaranteed in the nations of origin through a real exercise of shared responsibility on the part of the international community”.

Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of Human Mobility

A new guideline has been published by the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The guideline aims to serve the local Churches to organise pastoral care of migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking.

To read the guideline, please click here.

Love the Stranger

A new publication, titled Love the Stranger, has been prepared by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales’s Department for International Affairs.

The document outlines Catholic social teaching on migrants and refugees and highlights specific principles that the Church in England and Wales can apply when engaging with the political and social context.

To read the document, please click here.

Support for Refugee Justice on Palm Sunday

The St Vincent de Paul Society is urging Australians to march for refugee justice on Palm Sunday. The Society is calling on the Australian Government to:

Implement a fairer process for all affected by the unjust fast-track process and provide an adequate safety net for all asylum seekers.
Resettle all people still subject to offshore processing and move people held offshore to Australia while they await resettlement.
Make detention a last resort and improve the living conditions of those that must be detained for security reasons.
Reform the family reunion process and expedite implementation of the increased humanitarian intake, with a minimum intake of 20,000 people in 2023-24.

To read more, please click here.

Have a story to share?

Submit your stories and photos from events and we will consider publishing in future newsletters at info@acmro.catholic.org.au