From left: Archdiocese of Perth Chief Operations Officer Terry Wilson, Archdiocese of Perth Research and Project Development Manager Tony Giglia, WACMRO Office Manager Grace Kurniawan, and WACMRO Director Dcn Greg Lowe. Photo: Matthew Lau.
By Theresia Titus
Building bridges and growing in empathy for our fellow man is the aim behind WA Catholic Migrant & Refugee Office (WACMRO) Director, Deacon Greg Lowe’s mission in the Church.
He was delighted to speak to The Record about his new office regarding Outreach to Those in Need under the Archdiocesan Plan.
“Having a Catholic Migrant and Refugee office enhances the ‘Catholicity’ of the Archdiocese, as reaching out to migrants and refugees is part of who we are and what we do as a Catholic Church,” Dcn Greg said.
“The other reason is that many of the migrants and refugees in Perth are vulnerable and need extra support in addition to what the other agencies are already offering.
“That’s where we can help – and importantly, that’s where the parishes and schools can help – to provide that extra support which can’t be provided by the bigger migrant and refugee settlement agencies,” he said.
Dcn Greg explained that beyond a certain period of time, many funded agencies are unable to continue their support, which becomes a problem for those who have not settled as expected and need more time and continued support.
“The government is very good at settling most refugees and asylum seekers that have arrived by air; it’s a good process in place.
“However, somewhere along the line, when it comes to those who arrived by boat, different governments have decided to make this social issue a political one,” Dcn Greg said.
WACMRO is working collaboratively with agencies such as the Coalition for Asylum Seekers Refugees and Detainees, Australian Red Cross, MercyCare, Centrecare and St Vincent de Paul regarding migrant and refugee matters in Perth.
From left: WACMRO Director Dcn Greg Lowe, WACMRO Office Manager Grace Kurniawan, Archdiocese of Perth Research and Project Development Manager Tony Giglia, and Archdiocese of Perth Chief Operations Officer Terry Wilson. Photo: Matthew Lau.
He emphasised that mobilising parishes to reach out and help migrant and refugee families living in the parishes when they need help, is necessary.
“We can help train some of the volunteers to be aware of what the issues might be, and to be sensitive to cultural differences; that would be good for the parishes’ identity as people who focus on the dignity of the human person.
Speaking at the Social Justice Statement 2018-2019 Perth Launch in September, Dcn Greg told his audience that WACMRO is drawing up a Welcoming Parish program to assist parishes in “creating an intentional space in its pastoral planning for the inclusion of outreach to persons from vulnerable and marginalised groups”.
“This model for the delivery of pastoral care is person-focussed, parish-supported and agency-assisted,” he said.
Pastoral care is person-focussed, parish-supported and agency-assisted.
“From a migrant and refugee perspective, the program would find practical pastoral expression in the Draw Near (to an Asylum Seeker) Project based on aspects of the Welcome the Asylum Seeker Parish Support program model from Catholic Social Services in Victoria.”
The Draw Near Project will be trialled in a parish in November and fine-tuned, a collaboration between the parish, WACMRO and the asylum seeker.
Dcn Greg explained that WACMRO is hopeful that through the training given at parishes, migrants and refugees feel welcomed, so that one day, they are able to contribute to an intercultural Australian society, having built bridges between cultures.
“As we get many cultures coming, we need to learn to become very skilful at dealing with intercultural communications, taking all the best bits of all the cultures and integrating them within Australian culture.
“When we become more open to other cultures, we become more generous, and it means people are willing to help anyone from anywhere no matter who they are or what the problem is.
Drawing on the story of the Good Samaritan, Dcn Greg passionately stated that empathy and God’s grace are the keys for us to be good Samaritans in the world.
“If we put the dignity of the human person front and centre, we actually become a more prayerful Church. We can’t do any of this without the grace that comes to us in, with and through real prayer and, at the end of the day, doesn’t it all start and end with prayer?” he concluded.
From pages 20 to 19 of Issue 21: ‘Archdiocesan Plan 2016 – 2021: Halfway mark filled with determination to commit to bring Church in Perth closer to Christ’ of The Record Magazine