Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Community Herne Bay, Kent
Clarence Road, Herne Bay, Kent - 01227 375095 - Parish Priest: Fr Mark White CP (mwhite8684@aol.com); Assistant Priest: Fr Patrick CP (743727); Deacons James Foley (366841) & Barry Walker (368685) - website: www.ourladyhernebay.co.uk
tWenty-third sunday in ordinary tiMe (Year B) 5/6 SEPTEMBER 2015 Entrance Antiphon You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love. Watch Your Language!! Migrants…Asylum Seekers…Refugees… We have to be so aware of the power of words and how easily we can be influenced by them. I have been listening carefully to BBC radio as it reports on the present turmoil in Greece, Italy and Calais. So often it refers to all the people involved as being “migrants”, a word which has come to have a more negative feel… and so they can be referred to as “swarms” which has the effect of de-personalising them. Certain sections of the press are only too happy to speak wildly about all the people who are “on the move” as “migrants” and build up fear in their readers. But the majority of people seeking to come to northern Europe are much more accurately and honestly to be called “refugees”, fleeing from situations of unbelievable horror in the Middle East. It is helpful just to consider the two words “migrants” and “refugees” and realise the different weight they carry. At last the tide of public opinion is turning in favour of our human duty to have compassion for those who suffer; and government is showing signs of listening. The UK government is already being very generous in helping Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey where so many displaced people are living in camps. Let us hope that they will play full part in the EU efforts to help the refugees knocking at our doors. A final thought: let’s refuse to accept the negative connotations of the word “migrant” too: how many of us have migrant blood in our veins from generations back!!