September 30, 2015

Bishop Terry R. LaValley received a communication from Archbishop Paul Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City and Chairman of the Catholic Relief Services Board of Directors, outlining the work being done by CRS to assist refugees in Europe and the Middle East.

“It is important for all of to pray for the refugees throughout the world who face much hardship and suffering,” said Bishop LaValley.  “I am delighted to hear of the generous support of Catholic Relief Services to our suffering brothers and sisters living in exile in Europe and the Middle East.”

Response in Europe
In response to Pope Francis’ call to support refugees arriving in western Europe and Syria, CRS is helping Caritas Germany (Catholic Charities of Germany) resettle the refugees by providing accommodations, job assistance, early integration activities, and volunteer training.

Archbishop Coakley writes, “The effort in Germany is a holistic approach that includes responding to migrants going through the transit countries of Macedonia, Greece, Servia, and Albania where local resources who are responding are extremely limited. 

“CRS is providing temporary shelter, food, water, hygiene materials, medical care, and translation and legal services to the refugees,” he said.

The needs of the migrants are constantly changing and CRS is adapting their response in the Balkans based on the changing situations on a day to day basis.

Response in the Middle East
In Iraq, CRS has been working with local church partners to help displaced Christians and other groups who have been targeted by ISIS. 

CRS has worked for more than the past four years to assist more than 600,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, including Christians and people of other faiths.

“In addition to providing basic living supplies,” writes Archbishop Coakley, “CRS has particularly focused on helping children who have been traumatized by the violence and displacements.  One Muslim girl told our staff that she had never heard the word “Catholic” before, but when she came to the CRS children’s tent and saw children playing, she assumed the word “Catholic” meant “help.” 

‘Catholic: ‘ people who help
“We all should be proud to have ‘Catholic’ understood as the people who help,” said Bishop LaValley.  “Let us all pray for these refugees who are facing such terrible situations.  Let us also pray for the people who are assisting them.

“You can support CRS in their work on behalf of refugees by visiting the CRS website at www.crs.org,” Bishop LaValley said. “Let us pray that we will be generous in responding to the needs of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.”