Love for the refugees

We’ve all heard the clichés about life, lemons and lemonade. But what if it feels like God has made you responsible for a roomful of refugees who desperately need to learn to speak English and there isn’t a spare chair in any ESL class in the city? The Christian response, according to Sr. Ger Curran of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, is to pray about it—and then start your own lessons.

“Our intention was not to provide professional classes, but we knew these people needed to learn basic words and phrases if they were going to be successful here. We also knew they couldn’t wait, so our classes were based on what they told us they needed to do: get on a bus, see a doctor, go to a store.”
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That combination of prayer and action backstopped the development of the Faith in Action committee based at the FCJ Centre Christian Life Centre in downtown Calgary. Strengthened by their hands-on experience helping several Syrian families settle in Calgary, the committee was formed a couple of years ago “to reach out to people who live in what we call the ‘shadowlands,’” says Sr. Curran. A professional counsellor whose work at FCJ includes individual and family counselling, Curran says the two-year-old committee doesn’t “define shadowlands specifically. It’s really about a willingness to find the people who need the most help.”

Sr. Ger Curran with her Syrian Godchild

Called to action

In the fall of 2015, a committee of St. Mary’s parishioners, the FCJ Christian Life Centre Staff and FCJ sisters answered a global call for help and sponsored one refugee couple and their child from Syria, says Curran. Less than a year into that project, the committee discovered three fundamental truths about the Christian reaction to refugee sponsorship. First, the 12-month commitment mandated under federal sponsorship rules isn’t nearly long enough for the people you’re helping; second, when the people involved open their hearts to the process, 12 months isn’t long enough for the volunteers, either; and third, when you start to help people who need a particular kind of assistance, you’re likely to meet more of the same. 

That last reality demands decisions about whether you step up or look away. “But it’s not really a choice,” admits Sr. Curran. “We do it because Jesus did it.”

The call to help more refugees arose soon after the group connected with the first family. As that family took its first steps towards settlement, Curran’s group found itself helping another Syrian family. Over time, they also helped two more. Since the newcomers all shared the same Melkite Greek Catholic tradition, it wasn’t long before members of the St. Mary’s and FCJ group were attending masses with the new Canadians. Determined to help the refugees develop relationships in their own cultural community, FCJ Centre also started to host an annual Syrian Christmas party with help from three Catholic schools in the downtown area, St. Monica’s, Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Mary’s. In 2018, that event attracted more than 130 people. It’s down from the 180 who came the first year, “but the people who come really enjoy it and the little ones love seeing a Syrian Santa.”

In addition to helping the Syrians connect with other Arabic speakers in the Catholic community, the group reached out to members of the city’s Turkish Muslim community. Called by their mandate “to live out of our abundant resources,” the FCJ Centre now invite their Muslim friends to an annual barbecue on the FCJ Centre grounds, says Curran. 

​Fast forward to 2019 and Sr. Curran, admits her social calendar now includes invitations from the people she knows through her refugee work. In addition to being the godmother of one of the three new babies born since the families moved to Canada, Sr. Curran is invited to several birthday parties, including some for preschoolers. When she wants to see how one of the families is doing, she attends a Melkite mass where she can visit with them over coffee after the Divine Liturgy.
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Strengthened by the experience of working with the Syrian refugees, the Faith in Action committee is now reaching out to help others working with Yazidi immigrants to Calgary. Also refugees of the war in Iraq, these immigrants, mostly women, experienced horrendous abuse.

As Sr. Curran sees it, this particular group inhabits the shadowlands, for now. “We don’t know what they need, but we know they need us. That’s enough to step in and try to help. It’s about love and how do we live our fidelity to our faith.”
People interested in learning more about the Faith in Action committee, or the need for ongoing support to the refugees supported by St. Mary’s and the FCJ sisters can contact Sr. Ger Curran a the FCJ Christian Life Centre. 

​Written by Joy Gregory