Message from Adolfo Nicolas SJ, Father General
I regret that I cannot be present at tonight’s World Refugee Day celebration with my friends and partners from
the Jesuit Refugee Service. The event, Sanctuary and Sustenance, is a powerful reminder of our need as
individuals and communities to be loved and to love.
In every crisis, be it an individual fleeing persecution, or a group of people forced from their homes, there are
urgent needs – food, housing, security, access to information. But we forget sometimes, the greatest need –
hospitality. Hospitality encompasses all other needs; it is not an idea to be tacked on to humanitarian work, but
the source from which enlivens all our actions.
World Refugee Day highlights the importance of extending hospitality to those who live on the margins of
society, especially the forcibly displaced. In so many communities where refugees live, they do not find a
welcome. But hospitality and welcome must be part of their daily experience. Hospitality is integral to
accompanying refugees as they seek sanctuary from persecution, conflict and disaster. As my predecessor
Father General of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, once said, “friendship, trust and
understanding give refugees hope”.
Refugees and migrants deserve to seen, first of all, as human beings with an inherent right to dignity, rather
than as burdens on their new communities. All refugees have the capacity to positively contribute to the
development of their society.
We Jesuits believe that opening one’s door to the displaced is not only a Christian value, but a human one that
recognises the claim that all of us have to be welcomed, not because we are members of a specific family, race
or faith community, but simply because we are human beings who deserve welcome and respect.
JRS, in its service to refugees, is Gospel hospitality in action. We must continue, however, to ask ourselves how
we can, creatively, effectively and positively influence the closed and unwelcoming values of the cultures in
which we work. When members of host communities discover ways to overcome the unjust boundaries
created by institutions by building relationships they promote this value. Inclusion allows for new dynamics
within society that positively contribute to our collective future.
Our scriptures remind us to “not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have
shown hospitality to angels unaware”. With hospitality, we offer our love. It is a love that fosters mutual
respect between the host and the stranger. It is a love which pushes us to open doors, offering food, shelter
and knowledge. Our hospitality has to be constructive and always on offer, both in good times and in situations
like those in Syria and Congo that stretch us to the limit.
Tonight’s event, Sanctuary and Sustenance, illustrates the importance of hospitality. I hope many people will
be touched by this timely presentation.
Sincerely in the Lord,
Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.
Superior General