The pope’s visit to migrants and asylum seekers in Ħal Far has sparked outrage among many Facebook users who rejected his appeal for charity and overwhelmingly told him to take migrants back with him to the Vatican. During his two-day visit to Malta, the pontiff visited the Peace Lab in Ħal Far where he met Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Migration’
NZ’s border to open for tourists before separated families
Thursday, December 9th, 2021
Immigration lawyers and advocates in New Zealand are echoing similar concerns Pope Francis made during his recent trip to Cypris. In Cypris, Francis warned Europe of its indifference to migrants, saying migration issues are something society is getting used to. He went on to label the indifference “a grave disease for which there is no Read more
Caritas participates in international conference on migration
Thursday, December 5th, 2019This week, Julianne Hickey, the Director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, is attending a conference in Bangkok to discuss issues surrounding child protection, human trafficking and labour migration in Asia and Oceania. The conference focused on “The Future of Work,” is hosted by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), an organisation working in over 40 Read more
Good migration policy is about more than just jobs
Monday, November 25th, 2019
Recent political posturing over partnership visas and arranged marriages is a troubling distraction that derails the real, necessary debates we should be having over the many changes to immigration policy. Let’s take the recent changes aimed at limiting the ability of low-income migrant spouses to work here as an example. While these changes are aimed Read more
Contributing to social change
Thursday, May 16th, 2019
Churches in New Zealand have a long history of taking strong positions in the public square on social justice. In a well known example, William Rutherford Waddell found great inequalities and deprivation in the St. Andrew’s parish of Dunedin during an economic downturn in the 1880s. He was determined the church should make a difference Read more
Cardinal says defending migration misinterprets the Gospels
Thursday, April 4th, 2019
At about the same time as Pope Francis was defending migration during his visit to Morocco, Cardinal Robert Sarah was saying promoting migration is a misinterpretation of Gospels. Where Francis said politicians who build walls to keep migrants out would become prisoners of those barriers, Sarah said priests and bishops who defend migration are “bewitched” Read more
Highly pressured family life on the Border
Thursday, May 17th, 2018
Family pressures are familiar to us all, they are so much more acute here on the border. Jason is 17 years old, a Hispanic, born on the US side of the river, a spina bifida kid who lives in a wheel chair. His mum left him at birth. Magda his grandmother, adopted him as her Read more
Migration is in our D.N.A.
Monday, May 7th, 2018
Three generations of Kiwis ‘down the road’, it dawned on me that not only am I from a migrant family but I too am also a migrant. 27 years in Peru; 5 years in Venezuela; a stint in Australia: 5 years here in the Rio Grande Valley on the border the USA with Mexico. Now Read more
How forced migration defined Francis’ papacy
Monday, October 2nd, 2017
From the very first moments of his pontificate, Jorge Bergoglio signalled a departure in style from that of his immediate predecessors. His taking of the name Francis, his eschewing the full papal vestments, and his appeal to the masses gathered in Saint Peter’s Square below to pray for him, before imparting his own blessing, all Read more
Global migration? Actually, the world is staying home
Tuesday, May 24th, 2016
Take a tape measure. Unroll the tape to about two meters (six feet) and place one end against a wall. The distance between you and the wall corresponds to the world population of about 7.3 billion people. The number of people worldwide who left their native countries in the last five years — in other Read more