Thinking Migration

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Thinking Migration No 3, 2018

This publication comes under a new dress: for the first time, in fact, this is on-line. In doing so, we hope to reach out to a larger number of people and to make available the long and rich tradition of the teaching of the Catholic Church, in terms of theological reflection, policies, practices, and pastoral care to migrants and refugees, in a way possible only through cyber space.

This issue of Thinking Migration comes into existence in the week the Catholic Church in Australia marks the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. In His message for the occasion, Pope Francis says that:

“Every stranger who knocks at our door is an opportunity for an encounter with Jesus Christ, w ho identifies with the welcomed and rejected strangers of every age”. (Matthew 25:35 - 43).

The Holy Father qualifies this encounter with for action verbs: “Welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants and refugees”. The global political debate demonstrates, once again, that migration is looked upon not as an opportunity for an encounter, but rather, from the point of view of interest. Everyone seems to have some interest in migration: States, politicians, employers, migration agents and lawyers; perhaps it is less considered from the point of view of migrants and refugees.

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AMCRO Thinking-Migration-2013-low-cover
Thinking Migration No 2, 2013

Thinking Migration intends to be a forum to echo the thoughts and reflections of the Catholic Church in Australia who, aware of the complexity of the matter, focus on the sacredness of the human being and is committed to welcome migrants and refugees.

The present issue begins with an international look at religious freedom in the context of peace and the common good. The next two speeches are the proceedings of the Second Annual Colloquium on Ethics and Migration, dedicated to the memory of the late Bishop Joseph Grech. These two key note speeches deliver two perspectives of Australia's moral obligations towards people seeking asylum, one from the Catholic Church and one from the Australian Government. Following this we have a keynote presentation from the National Migrant Chaplains Day which explores the mission of the Catholic Church among migrants. The final section comprises of three presentations delivered at the Third National Conference on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees. These last three presentations all reflect the theme of the conference "I have heard them crying out" [Exodus 3:7] which focused on the plight of asylum seekers as they journey with the hope of finding new life in Australia.

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