On Palm Sunday this year, I was privileged to have been part of a walk for justice and freedom for refugees, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD. The event was organised by Amnesty International-Townsville in collaboration with the Townsville Multicultural Support Group(TMSG) and a number of people from different faith backgrounds.

I then used my talk to appeal to all to open their hearts and doors especially the doors of our country to refugees. Opening our hearts and doors means we are giving people hope and the chance to live a dignified life. May we all stand up for the justice and freedom of refugees, especially those who remain in limbo at detention centres.

As winter sweeps over Europe, as the landscape is covered by vast drifts of white snow, an idyllic picture of romantic, post-card proportions presents itself. However, the picture remains short lived, when a greater reality becomes apparent: not everyone is enjoying the snowy scene, reflects Fr Michael Hardie SVD.

Especially not the migrants and refugees crowded into makeshift camps, without adequate clothing and footwear, without enough food to last from one day to another, with no help and no hope in sight. These are the refugees who have trudged the Long Walk from their homes and countries of origin in Syria and Iraq to find a better future in Europe, but as the biting cold eats into their meagre reserves of strength, those dreams are fast fading.

I’d like to borrow a very good story from Miguel de Umanumo, a Spanish philosopher and novelist from the 20^th century about the origin of hell.

The recent deaths of 39 Vietnamese citizens in the back of a freezing, airless container truck in the British county of Essex in October this year, after a long and dangerous journey from their departure point at Zeebrugge, Belgium, highlights what has become an all-too-common way for economic migrants to enter Europe in search of Nirvana.

Discovered dead in the back of the container when the truck stopped at its destination in the northeast of London, the 39 were originally mistaken for Chinese. Further investigation, however, and the existence of a solitary, despairing text message from one of the young stowaways as she breathed her last, revealed that they were Vietnamese. Most were young, many of them from the northern Vietnamese provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An.  All had left their homeland with the help of the people smuggling networks which are so pervasive in today’s world of labour export and people trafficking.

You may have seen in the news recently that the Catholic Church in Australia was the first non-government institution to sign up nationally to the National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, which was a key recommendation of the recent Royal Commission.

I am pleased to confirm that the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province has joined the National Redress Scheme as a firm sign of our deep commitment to treating the victims of child sexual abuse with the compassion and justice they deserve.