Compassion: The Refugee Crisis

Catholic Stand ^ | September 29, 2015 | Julie Machado

[NYer]

Just received an announcement today that our parish priest, along with several others, are being reassigned. Our new pastor ...

... Born and raised in a small Christian village in Syria, Reverend Alaa Issa grew up in the Catholic minority and felt called to the priesthood. He entered seminary in Lebanon, but war broke out and disrupted his studies. Assisted by his local bishop, Fr. Alaa completed his education in Washington, D.C. and served in the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, an Eastern Rite church. In December 2012, he returned to Syria for his ordination, giving light and hope to locals. Shortly thereafter, he traveled back to the U.S. to better his English, continue his training and serve parishes. He is currently a pastoral administrator in Tequesta, Fla., where he has increased his parish community from 30 to nearly 80 families and recently dedicated a new church.

---

May our Lord bless him on his journey. Welcome, Fr. Issa!

Catholic ping.

[NYer]

Ping to the good news!

[Travis McGee]

[nickcarraway]

Actually, there are tons of immigrants in there, according to a friend who visited recently.

[OddLane]

"...merciless stereotypes."

Stereotypes exist for a reason.

Also, I don't think Christianity, Roman Catholicism or otherwise, enjoins someone to welcome an invasion of that person's country or continent or community.

Send Them To Saudi Arabia

[Dr. Ursus]

Argentina is 97% white!

[Travis McGee]

I guess they need about ten million Muslim men, aged 17-40, then.

[Travis McGee]

Really? “Tons?” Exactly how many? Permanent residents, not temporary.

Wiki: “Vatican City (is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. With an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of 842, it is the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population.”

I will take Pope Vladimir seriously when the Vatican lets in a couple hundred random, unscreened Muslim men, aged 18-30, like they are asking the rest of Europe to accept.

Permanent residents, no screening.

[nickcarraway]

I don’t know what their status is, but apparently quite a lot of Muslims.

[Dr. Ursus]

So is Vermont,they could use a little coloring themselves.

[Carbonsteel]

This so called refugee crisis is little more than a Trojan horse for Muslin invaders.

We shouldn’t be allowing Muslims to immigrate to any Western nation, much less the United States.

[Travis McGee]

Five? Fifty? Five hundred?

[Georgia Girl 2]

The first mistake is believing these people are refugees. The second is that they are from Syria. Its an invasion. Europe is committing suicide.

[GreyFriar]

Amen!

[Kolokotronis]

God will bless him and your community!

[FourtySeven]

I wonder after reading this: how can one be involved in hosting a refugee family? Is it a bad question to ask?

There seem to be many on FR (and elsewhere to be fair I guess) who say these “refugees” are Muslims not Christians, and are really part of a planned invasion.

I honestly don’t know how to process that claim. Aren’t most of the refugees from Syria? If so, why would they leave their homes if not for fear of ISIS persecution? If they are fleeing persecution how are they an invasion?

I don’t know if any of these questions make sense to anybody. The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me really. I’m left wondering how so many thousands of people could be convinced to leave their homes to be part of an “invasion”. It just doesn’t make sense; it dehumanizes people making them into robots with no lives of consequence (in Syria) before ISIS invaded. Robots willing to just uproot and leave, for what? Money? 72 virgins? It’s all too simplistic IMO, and usually my experience has been simplistic ideas tend to be disasters.

[bgill]

Depends on the definition of “refugee”.

[lulu16]

There are some refugees who are carrying their pet dogs and cats. Since muslims hate dogs, I wonder what is going on. If these are folks are Christian, then they should be helped.

ww.care2.com/causes/syrian-refugees-carry-beloved-pets-hundreds-of-miles.html

[NYer]

God will bless him and your community!

This announcement came as quite a surprise. We lost Fr. Georges in January. He was called back to his monastic community to serve as assistant to the Superior General. He was a deeply spiritual man and we enjoyed many wonderful conversations on faith. His replacement was ordained only 2 years ago. He beautifully celebrated the liturgy and delivered marvelous sermons. Like us, he too is quite surprised. I am looking forward to Fr. Issa. Coming to us from a christian minority in Syria, he knows persecution and suffering. May our Lord bless him on this journey.

Thank you for your kind words. Please remember him and our community in your prayers as I do you and yours.