Because
of the changing nature of war and the increased sophistication of
weapons available readily on open markets around the world, the
age-old phenomenon of refugees has become epidemic in the past fifty
years. A few young boys with automatic weapons can force the
population of a town to take refuge in the countryside, taking with
them only what they can carry. Modern wars are mostly civil wars
which pit people of different ethnic backgrounds against each other.
Their aim is not primarily to kill the soldiers of the opposing army,
it is to ethnically cleanse conquered areas. Whereas many innocent
civilians, especially women and children, will be killed in the
process, the purpose of local wars is to drive the displaced
inhabitants into the area controlled by the enemy, which will now
have an extra burden on its hands. The litany of horror in recent
years is recited on our ratio broadcasts and television news. Sierra
Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, have
suffered this torture. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iran, Iraq, East
Tinior, Afghanistan, have borne this cross. Albania, Kosovo,
Chechnya, along with Chili, El Salvador, Haiti have become familiar
places to us. Refugee camps have replaced the killing fields.
Most
refugees are displaced internally or into neighbouring countries.
Spiritans, who work in so many of these suffering countries, have
been engrossed in refugee work since the phenomenon began. Frans
Timmermans served as coordinator of the Church's aid programs in all
of sub-Equatorial Africa. The efforts of the Irish Spiritans to save
the refugees of the Nigerian civil war, drew widespread coverage and
admiration. Spiritans from four different countries worked in the
camps around the Rwandan borders. Canadian Spiritan Conor Kennedy had
thirty-five thousand refugees from Mozambique in his parish in
Malawi. Spiritans stayed with their people in Zaire and Haiti, Sierra
Leone and Angola, through their agonies, trying to provide food and
shelter and medical care for the throngs of displaced victims of the wars.
And
for the beleaguered refugees who arrived in first world countries,
many found welcome and support at the hands of the Spiritans. Refugee
claimants found help in Spiritan houses from our central headquarters
in Rome, to our residences and parishes in European and North
American countries. No longer had a Spiritan to serve overseas to be
part of the vision which Libermann had for the Congregation.
The
individual ways in which Spiritans got involved are too diverse and
numerous to quantify but Brottier House in Toronto may serve
as a typical example. The former student residence on Hambly Avenue
in the Beaches area of Toronto was converted into a residential
refugee centre in 1991. Financed by the Spiritans and operated by
dedicated volunteers, the residence and staff have served five
hundred refugees from thirty-nine countries since it opened.
A
drop in the ocean of displaced humanity! Yes indeed, but nonetheless
a candle shining in the dark world of war, torture, famine,
displacement... the world of the refugee.
Gerald
Fitzgerald, CSSp
Welcome
to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a
Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members,
founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be
found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated
ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the
Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your
visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your
prayers. May God bless you.