For more than 30 years, many parishes of the Archdiocese of Regina have been diligent in their duty to sponsor refugees. Over the past 4 years, about 75 refugee-sponsorships have arrived in Regina. However, 100 are still to arrive, explained by the fact that the processing time is now between 4 to 5 years.
Over the past number of years, the desire to sponsor refugees has been severely constrained by new policies instituted by the federal government. Because of the large unprocessed backlog, new sponsorships across Canada were held to less than 2,000 sponsorships this year.
In view of the current crisis there now seems to be willingness to bring Syrian refugees to Canada; we will let you know more about opportunities to sponsor Syrian refugees once that information is made available.
In the meantime, there are other ways to respond to the Syrian tragedy. Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher, president of the CCCB gives 5 ways you can offer your help:
- Donate (make your donations to the following organizations; donations will be matched by the Federal Government)
- Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, http://www.devp.org/
- Aid to the Church in Need – Canada, http://www.acn-aed-ca.org/
- CNEWA Canada, http://www.cnewa.ca/home.aspx?ID=26&pagetypeID=12&sitecode=CA
- Canadian Jesuits International, http://www.canadianjesuitsinternational.ca/project- theme/refugees/
Mediate on Scripture, Fast and Pray. Be informed. Excellent sources of information as well as different perspectives on the needs of Syrian refugees and on the conditions affecting refugees in general are available from:
- The Catholic international network Caritas Internationalis, http://www.caritas.org/
- Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, http://www.international.gc.ca/international/index.aspx?lang=eng
- The United Nations Refugee Agency, http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
Combat prejudices and fears. Our Conference’s Commission for Christian Unity, Religious Relations with the Jews, and Interfaith Dialogue released a pastoral resource on how Catholics can better understand Islam. Entitled A Church in Dialogue — Catholics and Muslims in Canada: Believers and Citizens in Society, the English version of this resource is available at http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/CCCB_Muslim_EN_web.pdf.
To explain the purpose of the CCCB resource on Islam and how our relations with Muslims are particularly important, I have written an introductory letter found at http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/Introduction_letter_-_Catholic_and_Muslims_in_Canada_-_EN.PDF.
As well, examine A Church in Dialogue: The Catholic Church and Interreligious Dialogue. The English version is at http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/Nostra_Aetate_-_50th_Anniversary.pdf
