In this season of new beginnings, new hopes and new joys, we wish you every happiness, prosperity and continued success.

From all of here at Catholic Refugee Sponsors’ Council.

Event sponsored by Diocese of Saskatoon, Rock of Ages Church, Knights of Columbus, and Friends of Pakistan
This is an article by Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Prairie Messenger, published on March 21, 2016. The article describes an evening of awareness and fundraising that was held March 6 with the proceeds going to  a newly-established start-up fund to assist parishes interested in sponsoring refugees. The event was sponsored by the Diocese of Saskatoon, Rock of Ages Church, Knights of Columbus Council #8215, and the Friends of Pakistan.

Please read the article at this link: Prairie town starts fund for Christian refugees

Your comments are welcome: Catholic Refugee Sponsors’ Council

The B.C. Catholic paper published an article by Agnieszka Krawczynski on February 28, 2016 celebrating the arrival of a Syrian family of eleven. They came from the balmy temperature of war-torn Syria to the ice and snow of northern Canada. The Muslim family, with children from 21 to 16 months, were greeted by a welcoming crowd of about 100 people, including local municipal officials. Raquel de Queiroz is head of the interfaith group Yukon Cares who greeted them at the airport. Yukon Cares sponsored the family with the help of the Diocese of Whitehorse and the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Under the sponsorship agreement the Archdiocese of Vancouver holds with the federal government, it can allow the Diocese of Whitehorse to sponsor families, thanks to a memorandum of understanding. The father of the Syrian family said, “The weather here is cold, but the community is very warm.”

Please read the article Yukoners Welcome Syrian Refugee Family of 11

Your comments are welcome: Catholic Refugee Sponsors’ Council

On March 6, 2016 the Catholic Register published an article by Michael Swan which discussed the growth of the Office for Refugees in the Archdiocese of Toronto. In describing this office, he points out that there are five staff and dozens of volunteers who put in crushing hours struggling with the stack of forms and reports that goes into every refugee sponsorship application. Their work days stretch into long nights meeting with volunteers to ensure parishes are fully part of the process of bringing refugee families into their communities. They keep in touch with hundreds of Toronto families who are waiting to be reunited with their refugee relatives. They check back in on the hundreds of refugees who have already arrived and maintain contact with thousands more around the world waiting to exit their camp.

On the same weekend that Canada surpassed its goal of bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees, the Office for Refugees continues to serve a much wider world of refugees in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For seven years the office has averaged between 100 and 200 new cases annually. By Dec. 31 the Office for Refugees had submitted paperwork for 2,300 individual refugees. Those 2,300 new cases are added to an inventory of about 1,500 cases currently on the books.

So the Office for Refugees is hiring new staff and moving into new offices across the street from archdiocesan headquarters on Yonge Street in midtown Toronto. Luciano Moro, the community outreach worker says,  “The work of refugees will not simply end tomorrow with the establishment or the growth of the office,” he said. “The more conflicts or situations where people are uprooted beyond our borders, the more the demand is for us to reach out and to help more people. That requires us to dig deep as a community and to reflect on how we can better be able to assist more people.”

Please read the entire article:  Refugee office growth meets demand

Your comments are welcome: Catholic Refugee Sponsors Counci

Lorne Dueck is the host of a weekly TV program “Context” a weekly independently produced television program. The program explores news and current affairs stories from a Christian world view. The February 21 edition was entitled “Refugee Reality Check”. The guests include a variety of individuals including: Gerry Mills from “Immigrant Settlement and Integration in Nova Scotia; Moy Wong-Tam Immigrant and Community Services; Ming Man a Vietnamese Refugee; Apkar Mirakian Armenian Community Centre.

They explore the various questions and issues surrounding refugee settlement in Canada.

Please watch the entire program – REFUGEE REALITY CHECK

Your comments are welcome. CRSC