By Sean Gilligan, Refugee Services Manager
GREEN BAY - Each year on June 20, the world comes together to celebrate the United Nations-sponsored World Refugee Day. People gather in parks and markets, gardens and government buildings, community centers and art galleries to celebrate the light of refugees and all that they bring to the places they now call home.
This year, Catholic Charities invites you to join us Saturday June 21, at the IgNight Market in Green Bay’s Broadway District to show support for our refugee community.
In partnership with the Green Bay Area Public School District, we will be offering you, your family and friends the opportunity to enjoy all the market has to offer, while also learning more about our refugee neighbors and their journeys, ambitions and hopes.
Be sure, as well, to swing by Perkins Park, 600 N. Fisk St., earlier in the day, from 12 noon to 4 p.m., when our colleagues at COMSA will also be celebrating World Refugee Day with soccer, food, storytelling and other family fun. COMSA was founded by refugees for immigrants and refugees and is committed to providing the support and resources refugees and immigrants need to resettle in Brown County.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which established World Refugee Day in 2001, there are currently 40 million refugees worldwide and nearly 126 million people forcibly displaced because of persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations. On World Refugee Day, we stand in solidarity with all of those who are forced to live without rights, without education or health care and without a nation to call their own, living on the knife’s edge of starvation and survival.
Since 2021, when Catholic Charities Green Bay first answered the call as our country watched, in terror, the fall of Kabul, we have successfully welcomed over 450 refugees to Northeast Wisconsin. What began as a debt owed to our Afghan allies has continued to grow and thrive as we play our own small part in addressing many of the most dire humanitarian crises of our time. From Congo to Myanmar, Syria to Venezuela, Nicaragua to Somalia, Catholic Charities and all of our community partners have welcomed and given all the opportunity and the hope for a life of peace and flourishing.
We also remember and acknowledge our Catholic brothers and sisters who have found their way to this country, especially from Haiti and Venezuela, fleeing war, violence and persecution, only to find themselves, now, without a pathway to a future in this country, which was their last best hope. A recent report published by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops found that roughly 1 in 5 Catholics in the United States face either the risk of deportation or live in a household with someone who does.
And while it is true that these past few months have marked the end of a nearly 50-year refugee resettlement partnership between the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops and the federal government, here at Catholic Charities we remain committed to walking with all refugees and displaced peoples on their journey of hope and strength in our community.
Are you inspired to support our work connected to Refugee and Immigration Services? Here are just a few ways you can show your solidarity:
- Pray for immigrants and refugees.
- Learn about cultures other than your own.
- Celebrate World Refugee Day on Friday, June 20, and join us at the events in Green Bay on June 21 at Perkins Park and the IgNight Market.
- Volunteer at Catholic Charities.
- Donate towards our Wish List or make a financial donation to support newcomers.
We remember this prayer, shared by the late Pope Francis on World Immigrant and Refugee Day last September:
God, Almighty Father,
we are Your pilgrim Church
journeying towards the Kingdom of heaven.
but as if we were foreigners.
Every foreign place is our home,
yet every native land is foreign to us.
Though we live on earth,
our true citizenship is in heaven.
Do not let us become possessive
of the portion of the world
You have given us as a temporary home,
together with our migrant brothers and sisters,
toward the eternal dwelling you have prepared for us.
Open our eyes and our hearts
so that every encounter with those in need
becomes an encounter with Jesus, Your Son and our Lord.
Amen.