![]() ![]() Other countries, like Bulgaria, are also building walls. Hungary is building a wall along its 110-mile border with Serbia. “This is an invasion.”īorder nations respond with hostile walls to keep these “undesirables” out of the EU’s passport-free Schengen Zone. ![]() ![]() “They’re not refugees,” the bishop says, referring to Muslims. Pope Francis calls upon European Catholics to open their churches, monasteries and homes, but Hungarian Bishop Laszlo Kiss-Rigo dismisses the pope’s plea. And Poland’s president wants only Ukrainian refugees. Hungary’s prime minister wants “to keep Europe Christian.” Slovakia’s Interior Ministry says Slovakia will only accept Christian Syrians. The president of the European Union wants a plan for the EU to accept 160,000 refugees. In Iceland, more than 11,000 families have offered to open their homes to refugees. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite opposition, has committed Germany to accept 800,000 refugees. “An unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before.”Īs millions flee Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East - 4 million from Syria alone - the world’s nations are challenged to respond to this suffering with mercy. “We are witnessing a paradigm change,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. Since 2011, war-torn Syria is the largest driver in this displacement. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, there are nearly 60 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, the highest level ever recorded, over half of them children. The world faces a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Horrific images confront us: drowning refugees in sinking boats suffocated bodies, including women and children, stuffed like cattle in a cargo container homeless asylum seekers beaten, pepper-sprayed, herded into camps neo-Nazi attacks a dead toddler washed up on a Turkish beach. And in the sounding shofar, in remembrance of Creation, we hear a destructive dissonance that shatters our sense of shared humanity and shared responsibility for stewardship of our planet. Separation barriers sprout up as forbidding obstacles against those seeking refuge. But what we see juxtaposed against these open spiritual gates are earthly gates slamming shut, disconnected from the divine Source. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |