Toronto Archdiocese to house 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugee families

Sep 17, 2015

TORONTO, Canada: The Archdiocese of Toronto will look after 100 refugee families from Syria and Iraq.

This is in line with Pope Francis’ Sept 6 urgent call to every single Catholic parish and community across Europe to house at least one of the tens of thousands of refugee families risking death to migrate to that continent from the Middle East.

The Archdiocese of Toronto is asking parishioners and 225 Catholic churches to help raise $3 million (£1.5 million) as part of the Project Hope campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to bring in 100 refugee families to Canada within the next year. Canada’s Office for Refugees has resettled 2,519 refugees. According to archdiocesan statistics, in 2015 the Office for Refugees submitted resettlement requests for 72 Syrians.

Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, said: “When a family feels their only hope is to flee their homeland to join hundreds on small, drifting boats; sliding a child beneath razor wire or packing into cargo trucks, we should not only be disturbed but also ashamed.”

Pope Francis” extraordinary appeal to Catholics across Europe comes after a week that saw worldwide attention drawn to the refugee crisis, with news of migrants struggling to cross the border from Hungary to Austria and the global spread of the image of a boy who drowned while trying to make the journey.

The scale and continuing nature of the crisis has shocked nations across the continent, which have struggled in their response to the sheer numbers of people risking death on journeys in makeshift boats, or even by foot, from countries throughout the Middle East. -- Catholic Herald