Soon we will mark the birth of the world's most famous refugee.
Two thousand years after Jesus, Mary and Joseph were forced to flee from King Herod into Egypt, the UN Refugee Agency reports that 65.3 million people have been forced from their homes by modern oppressors, disasters and war. It's a figure larger than the entire population of the UK (though less than a quarter of one percent lives in Britain).
Christmas is one of the most holy moments of the Christian calendar. This year, we wanted to mark the birth of Jesus in a different way. And so we've decided to give the gift of a home to a handful of those people who have had to leave family and friends behind and who have found themselves homeless on our streets.
We currently live in a Christian community in Birmingham and felt that the money we have saved over a number of years would be best spent offering a home for people in the greatest need. We've provided the house to refugee homelessness charity Hope Projects as a home where people can live while they seek sanctuary. Our friends and family have helped us to raise money to support the people living in the house – who will not be able to work or claim social security benefits – and to make sure the bills are covered.
This decision is a means of practicing our faith this Christmas. The call to 'welcome the stranger' is deeply embedded in Christianity, weaving through the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus. Pope Francis has also called for European Christians to show mercy to refugees, setting an example himself by welcoming a number of families into his home.
When we decided to follow this example, it was because we considered that the home would be a practical means of support. But it's also a demonstration of solidarity – a word that is so critical at these moments. Our basic humanity, as well as the call to "do unto others what you would have them do unto you", demand that we stand side by side with people who have been forced to leave their own communities.
These are people who have suffered colossal losses, of family members, homes, livelihoods, ways of life: all the securities we take for granted. Like the Holy Family, they've fled in fear for their lives, escaping by foot across foreign soil, or entrusting their lives to the waves when the sea offered greater 'security' than the land. Upon reaching the shore, they've been greeted with bureaucracy and barbed wire. Surely, we retain the capacity to afford these human beings with their God-given dignity?
Most people agree. That's why there has been such a groundswell of compassion from those of us geography has blessed with greater fortune.
We've seen this in our own working lives. On a tangible level, Catholics across the country have donated millions of pounds to CAFOD – which Matthew works for – helping people in the Middle East and beyond who have fled from their homes in Syria and elsewhere in the region. Here at home, volunteers at St Chad's Sanctuary – where Steph works – have given the gift of time to provide practical support and English classes to people seeking asylum.
People have shown solidarity in other ways, too. More than 25,000 parishioners and pupils have written moving messages of hope which are being shared with refugees in the UK, in Europe and further afield. Thousands of pilgrims have prayed on 'walks of witness', carrying a 'Lampedusa cross' – made from the driftwood of refugee boats on the Italian island.
We consider ourselves lucky. Other people, through no fault of their own, have not enjoyed the same fortune. A house for refugees is our particular way of marking Christmas. As we celebrate Jesus's birth, let us pray that in the year ahead we can all support people following in the Holy Family's footsteps.
Donate to CAFOD's Refugee Crisis Appeal at cafod.org.uk/refugees and Hope Projects' Christmas Appeal at hope-projects.org.uk
