‘Christian Response to Refugees’ – Sarah Teather
On the 2nd of November 2016 a record number attended the lecture titled ‘Christian Response to Refugees’ kindly given by Sarah Teather former MP and Director of the JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) at the University of Notre Dame, Suffolk Street. In what was an insightful talk, Sarah gave anecdotal evidence as to why the JRS’ work is so important and how it needs to continue and there was a clear feeling in the room of empathy as the audience listened to the hard truths and painful stories that were told.
However, it was not all bad, Sarah spoke at length about how the JRS has many success stories. Topics such as refugees finding work in this country and giving back wages to the JRS to support others were incredibly humbling and showed how great the work of the JRS is. Sarah also touched on biblical references to refugees or migrants throughout scripture. Abraham travelling in search of hope to escape famine and Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt in the wake of oppression can be duly linked to matters today as 13 million Syrians were forced to leave their homes under these almost similar circumstances. This reinforces the Church’s stance to act on behalf of these refugees and the others around the world that make up the devastating number of 65 million.
The plight of refugees all around the world was made unequivocally clear by Sarah who used concepts like the ‘collapse in hope,’ to describe the current situation and how ‘limbo becomes intolerable’ for these refugees as a different hardships rears its head at every turn. This really allowed the audience to connect with the message and through her own tales of walking across borders with these people, Sarah was able to deliver a clear and concise account of how the Church helps these refugees and how vital it is that their work continue.