"Journeying with Refugees on a Path of Dignity and Shared Humanity” was the title of the event, launching the Jesuit Refugee Service’s (JRS) Annual Report 2024. Associate Executive Secretary of the UISG Sr. Roxanne Schares SSND, one of the panelists, spoke at the event about the UISG engagement with migrants and refugees and shared of her previous experience working with JRS in Africa. 

After a warm welcome, opening remarks by Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, Senior Advisor for Research and Reflection at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and highlights from the 2024 Annual Report, panelists shared their reflections on the present reality and the response needed. Panelists also included Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Br. Michael Schöpf SJ, JRS International Director, and Duclair Ngongang Keumaeu, refugee and human rights activist.

According to the report, JRS reached more than 1,150,000 people in 58 countries in 2024, providing a wide-range of services, particularly education, mental health and psychosocial support, as well as emergency aid, relief and assistance, and more. Br. Michael noted, “it is only by recognizing the centrality of human dignity that we can bring out meaningful change.”

From Sr. Roxanne’s experience with JRS in pastoral ministry in Tanzanian camps and pastoral/social work in Nairobi, and then as education resource person for Africa, she emphasized the importance of accompaniment, of journeying with. “As I journeyed with refugees, they journeyed with me, opening my eyes and heart to their stories and realities. I have learned so much.” They are “true pilgrims of hope.” “They set out desperate, often facing extremely difficult situations on the journey with hope, hoping against hope to survive, to have a life, to provide for their families.” 

The UISG is also involved in responding to migrants and refugees. Since 2015, an inter-congregational community of sisters have been present in Sicily, working with the civil authorities, NGOs, and the local community to welcome refugees. The sisters’ presence is greatly appreciated; they have been told, “When you are here, we are better”. More recently, the UISG established the International Migrants and Refugees Network to support religious congregations engaged in this ministry.  

The Associate Executive Secretary concluded that in “our being together as a ‘wider-we’ on the journey, God’s gift of hope is kept alive.”