A prayer for peace by Pope St John Paul II that can be used to pray for an end to way and for peace for those fleeing conflict: http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/Featured/Refugee-Crisis-Open-Your-Hearts/Prayer-for-Peace
As an individual or with a small group
Our JRS UK At Home Prayer Pack includes reflections and prayers written by refugees, volunteers and staff at JRS UK on the theme of hospitality and welcome, sharing our experiences of receiving and sharing hospitality. It also provides an insight into the very real difficulties of destitution faced by many asylum seekers who have already made their journey to safety here in the UK. Contact us for a copy.
A new selection of prayers, reflections and liturgy will be available for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Check back on our homepage and news section soon.
In your church
Why not organise a “Sunday of Solidarity”? Invite a refugee from a local refugee community organisation to come and speak or ask members of the congregation to cook food from their home country. This could be done in partnership with a local refugee community organisation or your Justice & Peace group.
You could invite people to make a collection of toiletries to support our toiletry pack scheme for destitute asylum seekers in London or donate money to help us provide school uniforms or nappies to destitute refugee families. Call us to ask for a briefing pack on how best to do this.
In your school
JRS can offer resources for primary and secondary schools to reflect on “The Journey Towards Hospitality”. Each pdf is free to download from the JRS International website and contains beautiful pictures and ideas for activities:
For primary schools: https://en.jrs.net/assets/Publications/File/pub_2606_2015_hospitalityhandbookprimary_en.pdf
For secondary schools: https://en.jrs.net/assets/Publications/File/pub_2606_2015_hospitalityhandbooksecondary_en1.pdf
We can also come to your school and offer an awareness raising workshop for pupils, parents and teachers sharing the experience of people who come to the UK in search of safe asylum and generating ideas of how to help. Contact uk@jrs.net for more details.
Please call 020 7488 7310 if you have any questions or ideas and we will do our best to respond. Thank you for your support.