Choosing to Welcome Refugees
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1 child in every 5 around the world is living in or fleeing from conflict zones today. (UNICEF)
What is life is like for the 43.3 million children around the world who are displaced?
"Migration enriches our culture - we must welcome migrants and refugees so that they can live fulfilled lives in their new country."
Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, "Love the Stranger" (2023)
https://www.cbcew.org.uk/love-the-stranger/
https://www.csan.org.uk/news/launch-of-love-the-stranger-youth-version/
"To understand a person you have to know them. Knowledge of others is a necessary step towards understanding them. Often when migrants and displaced persons are spoken of what rises to the surface is statistics. Statistics reveal the extent and depth of affliction suffered by so many, but we must never forget that migration is about real people. When we encounter them, we know them as they really are and come to understand them."
Bishop Paul McAleenan, lead bishop on migrants for England and Wales, speaking at the monthly Home Office vigil in London for refugees on 23 June 2025
Imam Sajid Zafar, Dr Ali and Columban co-worker Mauricio Silva during a visit to Ireland by interfaith leaders and practitioners in Birmingham
In 2024, the Irish Bishops issued 'A Hundred Thousand Welcomes?', a letter to guide Catholics in welcoming and integrating immigrants, drawing parallels to the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the letter the bishop call for increased state resources to support migrants and refugees, particularly to address the lack of affordable housing and services.
"The Irish Bishops have consistently spoken on the importance of going beyond simply welcoming newcomers to our land to cultivating a culture of encounter: 'As a society we need to equip newcomers and thereby support them to contribute positively to our country in a way that promotes participation, encounter and integration.'"
Encounter: Moving from Welcome to Belonging from 'A Hundred Thousand Welcomes?'
The Council for Migrants, Refugees and Justice and Peace supports the Irish Bishops' Conference in promoting the social teaching of the Church and to advise on issues of social concern, both nationally and internationally. Statements by the Council and publications.
Challenging Hostility to Migrants
In August 2025, more than 200 refugee groups, charities and unions signed a letter calling for action after protests outside asylum hotels. UK party leaders were urged to end 'pernicious currents' of hatred fuelling anti-migrant protests. The letter was coordinated by the campaign coalition Together With Refugees, the largest pro-refugee coalition in UK history, with more than 600 member organisations.
In June 2025, more than 350 organisations - including religious groups, migrant and refugee groups - have signed a pledge to work together to combat "the politics of division".
The statement, 'This is an island of solidarity, not strangers,' was organised by Asylum Matters and signatories include the Columban missionaries.
In Britain, Portsmouth's two bishops issued a statement on immigration and asylum in September 2025 in the wake of protests outside a Southsea hotel. The Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan and Jonathan Frost, the Church of England Bishop of Portsmouth, said that children were among those intimidated in the Royal Beach Hotel. The bishops said: "We have been truly ashamed by recent events in our city that involve the intimidation, blaming and scapegoating of asylum seekers and refugees."
End Indefinite Immigration Detention
"It is extraordinarily difficult for people in immigration detention to access legal advice."
JRS Report, July 2025
Daniel is a victim of trafficking who was criminally exploited and then faced deportation. He has a partner and young child in the UK. He desperately needed a lawyer to fight his deportation. He explains: "After I signed up to the Detained Duty Advice Team, I spoke to a guy once, he said he was going to take my case. I kept calling and never got through. I called 3 times a day. I was sometimes on hold for an hour plus. I never got through to him".
Archbishop William Nolan of Glasgow supports a vigil outside Dungavel detention centre in Scotland
Call For Safe Routes
The Catholic Church, through organizations like the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) advocates for "safe and legal routes" as a humane alternative to dangerous, irregular journeys for refugees and asylum seekers. This means establishing authorized, organized, and regulated channels for people fleeing persecution, conflict, or extreme poverty to reach safety and seek asylum without being forced into deadly situations or penalized for their means of arrival, as defined by international agreements like the UN Refugee Convention.
Report from Dunkirk in France 'In Broad Daylight'
A crowded black inflatable boat is off the shore, its tubes struggling to rise above the water. Perched on this fragile float, around 50 migrants are huddled together, clinging to the handles as it drifts away. This is the scene witnessed by holiday makers on the beach.
"I've never seen anything like it," a Dunkirk resident told the daily newspaper. She had noted children, including two babies, on board the boat, and, above all, the insufficient number of life jackets. A few minutes later, the rigid inflatable boat was rocking heavily in the waves and seven people had already fallen into the water. The Dunkirk lady added. "We're sometimes collecting migrants' clothes at the moment, with the numerous departures." A seasonal worker who wished to remain anonymous commented that, "It's a catastrophic situation".
Source: Seeking Sanctuary
Call to End Destitution of Asylum Seekers
A winning entry in the 2025 Columban 'End Racism' competition
Britain
Some asylum seekers fight to survive on less than £7 a day, and nearly all go hungry, said an August 2025 report by the Daughters' of Charity of St Vincent de Paul Services. 'Designed into the System: Poverty Among Asylum Seekers in the UK,' stated that 91% of asylum seekers questioned could not afford enough food. 81% regularly experienced hunger. "Many adults reported having to skip meals themselves to prioritise feeding their children," according to the report by. Many families cannot pay "for the basics such as clothing, powdered milk and nappies", said the Refugee Council, one of 45 sources cited in the report. The Council added: "Most people seeking asylum are living in poverty and experience poor health and hunger." In some cases, benefits received work out at "£6.43 per day." Changing the law in Britain to let asylum seekers work is one of several recommended changes to government policy. Others included a "one-off grant", for clothes for dispersed asylum seekers, which might be extended to cover travel and hygiene costs and other essentials.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) works with people held in immigration detention and with destitute people seeking asylum. JRS UK runs detention outreach services to Immigration Removal Centres, providing practical, casework and pastoral support to more than 400 people; and giving more than 200 refugee friends regular access to food, clothing, toiletries and sanitary products; also, expert advice and legal assistance given to destitute asylum seekers, most of whom are pursuing fresh asylum claims. JRS UK conducts research and policy-work to amplify the voices of people with experience of detention and the asylum system, and to advocate for change.
Ireland
The Economic & Social Research Institute released a report in June 2024 which showed that a large number of refugees who were the beneficiaries of international protection are struggling to move out of government-provided accommodation into autonomous housing. Refugees face significant challenges accessing housing. This has implications for individuals and for the capacity of government-provided accommodation for asylum applicants.
Mainstream barriers to refugees moving into autonomous housing include shortages in the supply of social and affordable housing and inadequacies in mainstream support services. Additional barriers faced by this group include the ad hoc nature of the dispersal system, language barriers and a lack of information, and discrimination. Good practices identified included the introduction of permanent, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY)-funded integration teams in every local authority.
Columban connections
A Columban lay missionary writes about her engagement with asylum seeker women in Birmingham.
