Hudson Catholic parish considers taking in 21 Syrian refugees

Church leaders and members of St. Patrick Parish in Hudson have been praying overtime in the past couple of weeks as they decide whether to welcome five Syrian refugee families into their community next summer.

The Rev. John Gerritts promised to learn more about the refugee crisis and reach out to parish leadership after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called earlier this fall to ask if his congregation would host the refugees, who are living in a camp in Turkey.

“This is something we’ve never done before,” said Gerritts, who is the church’s pastor. “It’s nothing we were looking to do. It’s not a part of our immediate mission.”

Parish trustee Claire Zajac said some churchgoers perceive the refugees as possibly dangerous to the community.

continue at TwinCities.com

This is a commendable undertaking to take in these displaced Christian families.... oh wait:

Church members are overwhelmingly supportive of the refugee work the Council of Churches does, Walen said. He receives a few letters a year from individuals who say they’re worried about new Muslim settlers in their communities, but most welcome the newcomers.

Ok... well if anyone is interested in also helping Syrian Christians as well, there are organizations out there to enable your charity.  I'm not necessarily against humanitarian efforts, but I hope Wisconsin Catholics can also support Christians in the process as well.

Stream readers know that Christians in the Middle East are the victims of the worst religious persecution on earth. As Jonathan Witt documented here, the UN’s failure to make refugee camps safe is allowing intolerant Sunni Muslims — who share a creed with ISIS — to violently “cleanse” such camps of Christians. These helpless, unarmed survivors of ISIS’s murder squads cannot even reach the “first safe” countries that could welcome them, and instead live in windblown tents and unheated metal storage containers in places like Mt. Sinjar, just miles away from ISIS-controlled territory. More than a million Christians were driven at gunpoint from Iraq during the U.S. occupation of that country, and now the Obama administration is banning Iraqi Christians from even visiting America, and explicitly excluding Christians as victims of ISIS’s genocide.

Pope proclaims worldwide Day of Fasting and Prayer for peace in Syria this Saturday

Syriac Catholic liturgy in St Mary Major 2009

In case you missed it:

Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to make add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.

I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence.

continue at Rorate

Cowboy up!