World Refugee Day
Food for Thought Friday: Catholic Relief Services Releases Video Featuring Refugees
Food for Thought Friday: On June 20, the world celebrated World Refugee Day in honor and commemoration of the 65 million refugees and displaced persons around the world. As a way of making sure those whom we celebrated were actually heard, Catholic Relief Services released a video, featuring the question “What will you be doing in 17 years?” 17 years is the average amount of time a refugee will wait to be permanently resettled. Watch the video here!
How does your campus support refugees? Let us know!
June 20 is World Refugee Day
The world is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Around the world there are over 50 million refugees and displaced individuals, 12 million of whom were forced from their homes by the war in Syria. These circumstances demand our attention and action.
In commemoration of World Refugee Day on June 20, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS), a division of USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services (MRS), will host two unique events:
- Film screening of Refugee Kids, a documentary that tells the story of refugee children participating in a summer program in New York City. The screening will take place on June 17 at 2:00 p.m. at Catholic University of America Gowan Auditorium. Brief discussion of the film will follow.
- Locally resettled refugees will share their stories over food and drinks at Busboys & Poets Brookland on June 20 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
More details on the events are available here. For those who cannot make the events, we hope you will join us in prayer for the world’s refugees on June 20.
Jesuit Law Schools using Skills to help Asylum Seekers
Law students from thirteen different Jesuit law schools are using their knowledge and expertise to assist those who have immigrated to the United States from Central America and are seeking asylum. In recognition of World Refugee Day, these schools collaborated to create a report both detailing the work they are doing as well as the challenges they face in delivering these services.
Participating law schools are: Boston College, Creighton University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, Loyola University Chicago (in close collaboration with the Center for the Human Rights of Children housed at Loyola University Chicago), Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Loyola University New Orleans, Saint Louis University (in close collaboration with the Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry housed at Saint Louis University), Santa Clara University, Seattle University, University of Detroit Mercy, and University of San Francisco.
Click here to read an article by the Jesuit Refugee Service about the work these schools are doing, and click here to read the report that the schools published.
ACCU Peace and Justice 