Workshop on child protection

For the 103^rd World Refugee Day message, Pope Francis decided to focus on child migrants, the vulnerable and refugees.

In light of the Archdiocesan for Migrants and Refugee Day and the Pope’s message, various organisations the Department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, Jesuit Refugee Service, Bienvenu Shelter and Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa and the community conducted a workshop on child protection at the Cathedral on 15 June.

Bienvenu Shelter director, Sr Kadia Prigol mscs, in her welcoming remarks said: “I hope we will work together to protect children who are vulnerable and depend on us for them to live their lives with dignity.”

Nicole Breen from the Joburg Child Welfare said rights that are relevant to a child include children who are non-nationals. These are – equality, dignity, name and nationality, access to food, shelter and healthcare, not to be abused, neglected, degraded and having the best interest of the child at heart.

“Statelessness is when a person does not have a claim to any nationality,” said Lusungu Kanyama-Phiri from Lawyers for Human Rights. Registration of birth is one way of avoiding statelessness.

She said all states require proof of where the child was born and to whom. Some of the impacts of statelessness include challenges in enrolling into schools, access to medical care and public services.

Ace Maunatlala, Pastoral Care’s volunteer and also an employee at the Department of Home Affairs said he was impressed that the workshop was mostly attended by women, but wished to encourage them to involve their partners/spouses.

He said it is important to document the birth of a child. “People are given 30 days to register the birth of a child. Failure to do so, on day 31, your child could be registered for a late registration of birth.”

If both parents are non-nationals, they should have their documents in order, otherwise the Department of Home Affairs will not issue a record to prove birth of child in the country.

Sr Maria de Lurdes mscs gave a vote of thanks to all the organisations and participants for honouring the invitation and making the workshop a success. Sr Therese Musao mscs closed the workshop with a prayer.

If you feel that a right of a child you know is being violated, people can contact 011 298 9500.

Lerato Mohone

Pastoral Care workshop

According to Erga Migrantes caritas Christi (28), “Pastoral care of migrants and refugees means welcome, respect, protection, promotion and genuine love of every person in his or her religious and cultural expressions”.

Following the appointment of parish pastoral councils, where different apostolates were elected, many representatives of Department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees indicated the need for formation day.

This took place on 8 October at the Cathedral Hall boardroom. As people came in, head of department, Sr Maria de Lurdes Lodi Rissini mscs welcomed the participants by saying: “Good morning, I am happy to see you. Would you like to have coffee, water?”

This would be an example people could use to break the ice when they meet people for the first time, she said. Read more →

Organisations unite in finding solutions to refugee problems

The Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, Bienvenu Shelter, Jesuit Refugee Service, Justice and Peace Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA), Scalabrini Centre and other migrants and refugee-inclined organisations held a roundtable discussion on policy and legislative changes to the Refugee Act on 19 May at Cathedral Place.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, who is also the SACBC Liaison Bishop of Migrants and Refugees, stated in his address that he hoped we would learn more about experiences, information on unfairness, injustice, exploitation and even hostility. Because, he said, when we know more, we might be able to react more.

The other side of the coin would be positive experiences of welcome, compassion and recognition of people who come from other countries. Read more →

For the Church nobody is stranger – we all belong to God

The Department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees of the Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg, aims to promote dialogue, welcome and to integrate Migrants and Refugees with
the local community. Motivated by our mission, we strongly condemn the ongoing atrocities and violence in our Country, leading to inhuman attitudes towards immigrants.

In the message to the “101st day of Migrants and Refuges”, Pope Francis called us to defend and protect life. We are called to spread the culture of acceptance, respect, communion and
solidarity. In fact, our refugees and Asylum seekers leave their homelands with a suitcase full of fears, and desires, taking a trip in search of better life and living conditions.

We are called to value the positive signs of economical contributions of migrants to South Africa. Migrants are part of the economic and social development of our Country. South Africa,
let’s not forget our history and where we come from. Migrants and Nationals, we cannot live isolated; we are called to co-exist, to be the promoters of peace in the spirit of Christianity and
Ubuntu where unity reigns; where there are no frontiers and no isolations from the globalized world. Read more →

Kwanele Kwanele

Kwanele Kwanele, Enough is Enough!

This was the message from Holy Trinity Parish in Braamfontein as the parish spoke out in a loud voice against abuse, rape and violence particularly against women and children. Following Fr Russell Pollitt SJ and Deacon Billy Davies, parishioners filed out of weekend Masses to voluntarily sign a petition against all forms of abuse and to buy T-shirts identifying them with the initiative. In a powerful homily, which can be listened to on the Holy Trinity website, Fr Russell quoted frightening statistics pertaining to the incidents of rape in South Africa and even more frightening statistics of the conviction rate for these crimes in the South African judicial system. He debunked the commonly-held beliefs that men are superior to women and that the man is the head of the house and therefore women should therefore submit to the men. Backing this up, with sound theology and scripture, Fr Russell called on men everywhere, but especially in the parish, to denounce these beliefs and practices. “These crimes are not happening out there but also right here in our pews”, he said. Challenging cultures that perpetuate these oppressive practices against women and children, he quoted from St Paul telling parishioners that when they have clothed themselves in Christ, their other culture must be surrendered to serving Christ. He stressed, that there are no Jews, Greeks, South Africans, Nigerians, Africans, Zimbabweans, men or women or any of the other labels, but that when we are clothed in Christ we are all one in Christ, we are all equal in Christ.

Parishioners signed the petition and were handed a pamphlet outlining the Kwanele Kwanele initiative of McAuley House School. The parish has partnered with the school. The pamphlet helps readers reflect on what the parish can do to fight this scourge; it defines rape clearly and states what consent is as well as challenges men to ask: “Are you a rapist?”  Sadly the pamphlet has snippets of stories from women who came forward to tell of their experiences when Fr Russell challenged the parish last week “to do something” after Sunday News headlines alleged that WITS staff had abused students. The message from McAuley House partnered with Holy Trinity – and the challenge to all of South Africa – is clear: Kwanele Kwanele, Enough is Enough!

Rev Billy Davies, Permanent Deacon, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Braamfontein.