Sisters praying outside Villawood detention centre.

Throughout this week many of us have been actively praying, either outside detention centres or within community, for people seeking asylum.

We take hope in the recent plea by the The Australian Catholic Bishops, to the Australian Government, to make their policies around asylum seekers more humane. Recently the bishops issued a statement that calls on all Australians to respect the rights of asylum seekers.

‘The Australian Catholic Bishops call on parliamentarians of all parties to turn away from these policies which shame Australia and to take the path of a realistic compassion that deals with both human need and electoral pressure. We call on the nation as a whole to say no to the dark forces, which make these policies possible. The time has come to examine our conscience and then to act differently.’

We are a society that has forgotten how to weep, how to experience compassion, how to suffer with others.
Pope Francis

Immigrants dying at sea, in boats which were vehicles of hope and became vehicles of death. That is how the headlines put it. When I first heard of this tragedy a few weeks ago, and realized that it happens all too frequently, it has constantly come back to me like a painful thorn in my heart.    
Pope Francis

Let us unite our prayers with people throughout Australian to seek to change the hearts and the policies that cause so much harm to people seeking asylum.

For more information go to:
www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06.../pope...asylum-seekers.../5494828