Refugees and the JRS Australian Jesuit Fr Mark Raper heads the international Jesuit Refugee Service. Mark explains how his involvement with JRS developed.

UNIYA interviews Mark Raper.

How did you first become involved with refugees?

Twelve years ago our Superior General of that time, Fr Pedro Arrupe, asked us to start the Jesuit Refugee Service. Before that I was involved with Asian Bureau Australia, the forerunner of Uniya.

How many refugees and displaced persons are there today? The underlying issue now is migration, mass forced migration. Policy- makers attempt to distinguish between 'economic migrants' and 'genuine refugees', but that's a tenuous distinction at best. Refugees are the hard edge of around 100 to 150 million people forced to flee their homes. The United Nations recognises 20 to 25 million of these people as refugees, since they remain outside their borders for fear of persecution. Others who have been driven away from home by war but do not qualify as refugees according to the strict definition number another 25 million. Attempts at separating refugees from the world migration problem involve a failure to face what is happening. The current phenomenon demands just legislation and due process, rather than nations erecting walls. The front line now in the battle for refugee rights is the immigration debate. The West is adopting excessively defensive measures that are driven by xenophobia and fear. What are the most critical refugee situations?

Fr Mark Raper SJ

The African continent as a whole is in severe crisis. In Rwanda, we witnessed the fastest genocide and the fastest exodus. What Africa needs from the world is solidarity, and that is simply not happening. The Bosnian situation is alarming too, not just because of what people are doing to one another, but because there is no international leadership or statesmanship capable of intervening to reconcile the disputing parties. We have merchants not statesmen.

Education and pastoral work - are these the heart of the JRS approach?

By preference we undertake pastoral and education work: that's true. But we are always engaged in ad hoc programs as well. That's the nature of refugee work. Certainly our aim is to be pastoral and to accompany the people. We aim to place well-qualified people alongside the refugees, so that they can listen and understand what their life is like.

To experience refugees at close quarters helps one know more accurately the sources of hope.

Primary education is a priority, since it reaches a wide number of people. Education is also a means of organising the parents, and it brings hope that a generation will not be lost. Normally we recruit refugee teachers and assist in training them or upgrading their qualifications. We also give attention to the human rights dimension of refugee situations. You already have many lay people working with JRS. Do you see this trend continuing? The Society of Jesus in general anticipates this trend continuing. JRS was started by the Society in the 1980s, so it's natural that lay people and members of other religious congregations jointly undertake its work. Responsibility for JRS is shared between us. Our challenge is to learn how to cooperate still better.

How has working with refugees changed you?

Not long ago I was in Israel, in Galilee. When you see the Israeli soldiers there it's not hard to imagine Roman soldiers around as an occupation force. As young Jesuits were taught to imagine Christ within the setting of his day, even to feel Jesus' anger at the injustices around him. In his own country there's still enormous injustice. Where the Prince of Peace came to live, there is still no peace!

All of this was immensely encouraging to me. In our work with refugees we fail constantly. What then is our purpose in being present among the people? Jesus' own answer to John the Baptist's disciples was: "Go back and tell John that the lame walk, those in prison are visited and comforted, the blind see." I believe it is still a very valid goal to comfort the refugees. In the process we discover that it is they who give us hope. To experience refugees at close quarters helps one know more accurately the sources of hope.

Above material is from the Uniya Newsletter: used with permission.

The Cardoner, © Copyright 1995 by Jack Otto.