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Riace -
How Welcoming Refugees Made a Huge Impact on this Italian Town
Watch this PBS video about how and why this town welcomed refugees and what a significant impact this decision has made.
Reminder: What Pope Francis Said to the US Congress about Immigration and Refugees
 "In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants...
Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions...
We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Mt 7:12)...
In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us..."
Read more.
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Litany of the Displaced
God of all people, we bring before you all who work for the fullness of justice;
all who long for widening the welcome to which your Gospel calls us, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Displaced God, born in flight to parents anxious and weary,
born anew in those who flee oppression, leaving home and loved ones behind;
and staking their lives on the hope of abundant life, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Journeying God, turned away over and over again by our world's collective fear of the stranger, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Uprooted God, suspended in the endless uncertainty that is the daily life of the migrant, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Waiting God, waiting today with all who suffer separation from home and the familiar;
waiting for safe return, waiting for war's end, waiting for justice to be restored, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
God of all people,
Stir us to holy anger over the wounds of our world.
Move us to action for justice until the fullness of welcome is fulfilled in our midst
and the problems that cause migration - the poverty, the fear, and the suffering -
are confronted by all people of good will and transformed by the power of compassion.
Amen!
Adapted from Chris Koelhoffer, IHM
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