JRS food distribution in the Indonesian island of Nias, supported by Caritas. Credit Nicholson/Cafod
By Patrick Nicholson, Head of Communications at Caritas
Jesuit Refugee Service is celebrating 30 years of work. I’ve had the pleasure to visit many JRS projects over the years as Caritas works very closely with them, and have always been amazed by what they achieve with the resources they have. Although they support hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, they are the antithesis of a ‘big aid’. They live with the communities they work with cheek-by-jowl, carrying out the amazing life changing programmes. So for all the lifts in the back of rickety old vans, the cold concrete floors that have served as beds, the companionship, integrity and example they’ve given to so many of us over the last 30 years, Happy Birthday!
For those of you in Rome, to commemorate 30 years of service to refugees, three Jesuit organisations – JRS, Centro Astalli and Magis – have organised a calendar of events:
• on 9 November at 16:00, a lecture at the Gregorian University, The world mobilised. The Jesuit Response to Refugees,” given by former JRS International Director, Mark Raper SJ; and
• on 14 November, a mass in the Chiesa Gesù, followed by a concert of young musicians Sonidos de la Tierra
The orchestra, comprising a group of 40 young musicians from marginalised communities, some of whom are displaced, will play modern and traditional music from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. The theme, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers, is a testimony to the dream of a world at peace without borders.
