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In this edition:
| Newly created Oceania Migrants and Refugees Network’s pastoral ministry to the region’s migrant workers, refugees, and families
| 2024 ACMRO National Conference resources now available
| Archdiocese of Melbourne celebrated WDMR 2024 with the inaugural Migrant Youth Festival and the annual Mass of All Nations
| Congregation of the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres celebrates 40 years of mission in Australia
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While attending the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican, the President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO), Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo, announced the creation of the Oceania Migrants and Refugees Network (OMRN).
“This is what a Synodal Church looks like where words are supported by actions that foster and generate real human relationships, a region not on the periphery but a region in which we live and work together in solidarity, making sure no one is forgotten,” Bishop Randazzo said.
The network’s main functions include advocacy, cooperation, and connection and will closely focus on pastoral care in three key areas, such as people affected by climate change, seasonal workers, and other migrants and refugees, with a focus on West Papua refugees. The OMRN will also serve as a unifying voice for our Oceania region at international levels through the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The network’s core group is comprised of the offices of the Bishops Conferences of Oceania, which are mandated to advise and serve on issues relating to migrants and refugees: ACMRO representing the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the President and Secretary General representing the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand representing the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, and the Migrant and Refugee Desk representing the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
In response to this announcement, the OMRN core group members affirm what Bishop Randazzo envisages for this network: “Together we can offer direct practical support as well as bringing our needs to the attention of the global community. This will lead to renewal, unity, and a future filled with hope.” They also shared what they hope the network could look into:
Ms Grace Morton, Advocacy Analyst, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand highlighted that “Currently, in New Zealand, significant action is required to better protect people against human trafficking and exploitation, such as increasing efforts to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers, many of whom are coming from neighbouring Pacific Island Nations. The Migrant and Refugee Oceania Network will work to ensure that the dignity of migrants is prioritised in the region, helping to facilitate shared advocacy for fair treatment, stronger protections, and justice for those most vulnerable to exploitation.”
Dr Tim McKenna, Chair of the Vincentian Refugee Network and an ACMRO collaborator emphasised that “One of the saddest refugee issues in Oceania is Australia’s continued outsourcing of the holding of people it doesn’t want in Port Moresby and Nauru. Forty-three people are still held in Port Moresby after more than a decade in PNG, 20 of whom have no prospect of safe resettlement, including 10 who are extremely sick. Ninety-four people have been held in Nauru for up to a year, but the Australian Government has no plans at all for their safe resettlement.”
Mr Jason Siwat, Director of the Migrants and Refugees Desk, expressed his great and positive feeling about this network. “It will enhance our connectedness to one another as families and strengthen our spirit of resilience as people of the ocean, navigating the many challenges and discovering solutions together. With this network, Oceania will no longer be the periphery but an epicentre of actions against climate-induced displacement.”
Fr Khalid Marogi, ACMRO National Director, said that the ACMRO team is very much looking forward to collaborating with the office’s counterparts in the region in creating and fostering an environment for mutual support and encouragement, cooperation, prayer, information sharing, and discussing migrant and refugee issues in our Oceania region and advising the FCBCO on these matters.
Acknowledgements:
CathNews and Diocese of Broken Bay
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How delightful it is to witness conference participants gathering and discussing the topic Welcoming Seasonal Workers in Australia: Gift and Responsibility during the 2024 ACMRO National Conference held in July this year.
The conference program featured a variety of engaging and motivating keynote and discussion speakers, as well as opportunities for group discussions. Online access is now available to the keynote and discussion slide presentations and videos on the ACMRO website.
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The archdiocese came together with hundreds of young people for its very first Migrant Youth Festival (MYF), followed by the annual Mass of All Nations at St Patrick’s Cathedral on 29 September to mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) 2024.
Initiated and organised by the Migrant Catholic Chaplaincies, the MYF brought together over 300 youth from 20 various migrant communities throughout the archdiocese. The festival celebrated the varied gifts of Melbourne's migrant communities and served as an encouraging sign that we are never alone on the journey of faith. The occasion included prayer and worship opportunities, inspiring keynote speeches, a conversation with Archbishop Peter Comensoli, good food, and cultural performances from a number of groups.
Helping young Catholics in Melbourne understand and value the breadth of the community they are a part of is one of the MYF's objectives. “We want everyone to connect, to see that we are united in faith. There is a purpose in what we are all doing separately, and it’s greater when we come together,” says Vu Nguyen, one of the festival organisers.
Kemp Vinson, another member of the organising team, agrees, pointing out, “It’s really a chance for young Catholics to gather, enjoy and celebrate their uniqueness. The festival isn’t purely religious. We start with party music and transition into a more prayerful atmosphere.”
In his homily during the Mass, Archbishop Peter Comensoli used the ACMRO WDMR 2024 Song as a launchpad in emphasising our being pilgrims: “A special song was composed for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to go with the theme: God walks with his people… That image of moving from wanderers to pilgrims is quite powerful. A wanderer does not have a purpose to what they do, and no destiny they are aiming for; they have no goal towards which they are journeying. A pilgrim, on the other hand, has a destiny, a goal towards which they are oriented, and their journey there has a purpose.”
He reminded the faithful that “God walks with us; he is a pilgrim God.” “The first peoples of this land, the Aboriginals, knew this in powerful, though hidden and symbolic ways. They traced through this Great Southern Land of the Holy Spirit song-lines to follow to water, food, shelter and home. What was, for them, only known in signs and symbols, has now been made evident for us in Christ Jesus. Might we follow the song-lines of faith that God lays out before us, as we make our pilgrimage of life here in this place?”
Acknowledgements:
Photographer: Angelo Rivera of "APR Digital Portfolio"
Videographer: JC Apolo of "Cana Project"
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The ACMRO joins in prayer and thanksgiving a valued collaborator, the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres, in celebrating their 40th anniversary of mission here in Australia.
The Congregation is currently active in 40 countries worldwide, prepared to respond to human and spiritual needs at any time or place. More than 1,000 Sisters are ministering in hospitals, schools, orphanages, and aged care facilities in Vietnam, which is home to one of the largest groups of Sisters. In 1984, Sisters from Hong Kong were sent to Australia to start communities. The Sisters’ current works in Australia include running a residential aged care facility and an international college, ministering with youth ministries within various multicultural communities, and actively participating in various pastoral ministries in local parishes spread throughout Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales.
To mark this momentous occasion, an anniversary Mass was presided over by Wilcannia-Forbes Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE on 19 October 2024 at the St Paul International College, Moss Vale in New South Wales.
In his homily, Bishop Macbeth-Green also reflected on the Sisters’ imitation of Mary’s 'Fiat—saying yes’ to enter into a deep relationship with God and embracing the wisdom of the cross, which spells out love and sacrifice. These form part of the joy of the vocation of the religious life.
The ACMRO team wishes the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres many more years of a fruitful ministry here in Australia.
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