Newsletter

  Professor Suresh Sundram is Chair and Head, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Director of Research, Mental Health Program Monash Health and Director of Research, Cabrini Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub, Cabrini Outreach in Melbourne, Australia. He has been involved for seventeen years in asylum seeker mental health. He is an expert consultant on asylum seeker and refugee mental health to the UNHCR and has provided similar expert advice to the: UN; UN Commission on Human Rights; Australian Human Rights Commission; Australian Department of Home Affairs; US State Department; the Governments of Papua New Guinea, Republic of Nauru, [...]

    Valdicer Civa Fachi, FMS. Originally from Arvorezinha, RS, Brazil. Marist Province, Brazil, Southern Amazon. Formation: bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre; Bachelors and Bachelor in Literature, Portuguese/English, from the UNISC (Santa Cruz do Sul), Brazil; Post-graduate degree in University Pastoral Ministry (Theology) at Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá (Colombia); Masters in Mariology (Theology) at Pontifical Faculty Marianum, Rome (not completed). Missionary experience: Teacher; School Director; Popular and parish ministry; Marist Youth Ministry; Coordinator of School, University and Provincial Pastoral; Executive Secretary of UMBRASIL- Marist Union of Brazil; Coordinator of the Inter-American [...]

  Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ, is president of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar. He is the author of Theology Brewed in an African Pot (Orbis Books 2008); Religion and Faith in Africa: Religion and Faith in Africa: Confessions of an Animist  (Orbis Books 2018); and The Pope and the Pandemic: Lessons in Leadership in a Time of Crisis (Orbis 2021). Publications: Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, The Pope and the Pandemic: Lessons in Leadership in a Time of Crisis, Maryknoll NY, Orbis, 2021.  

  Cheryl Lee is currently a consultant with the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei.  Her passion for migrant advocacy comes from her deep solidarity with the poor and an extensive involvement with numerous religious congregations immersed in migrant ministry. She holds an MA degree, majoring in Pastoral Studies, from the Ateneo de Manila University and has undergone the Scalabrini Migration Center “EXODUS” Training Program, in Manila. She has actively worked with vulnerable migrants/refugees through the Malaysian Office of Human Development and in her short mission stints [...]

  I am Yvonne Clémence Bambara from the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. I am originally from Burkina Faso. I have a Master's degree in Social Work from Laval University in Quebec City, Canada. I worked in Senegal for 12 years mainly with women in prostitution, accompanying them and helping them with different trainings such as sewing, micro gardening, soap making and micro credit for income generating activities. In Burkina Faso since 2011, I have been working with survivors of sex trafficking, young girls who are victims of forced marriages or unwanted pregnancies [...]

  David Holdcroft currently works as the Professional and Post-Secondary Education Specialist at the international Office of JRS in Rome, Italy. Previously he was Regional Director for JRS in Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg, and directed works for refugees in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malawi and South Africa. A Jesuit priest, David has degrees in Education, Theology (Masters) and Arts (Music and Geography). His work is to develop organizational strategy in this area, develop technical resources and advise and oversee implementation of the Pathfinder Program. David oversees the pilot programs in Malawi and Kenya and, in 2020, in Jordan. His work extends to [...]

  Rev. Daniel G. Groody is the vice president and associate provost for the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as a university Fellow and Trustee, and associate professor of theology and global affairs. He is a Catholic priest, a Holy Cross religious, and an award-winning professor, author, and film producer. Groody has authored numerous books and articles, translated into seven languages, which include Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace (Orbis, 2007) and Border of Death, Valley of Life: An Immigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), as well as four edited or co-edited books. He is also the [...]

  Assoc.-Prof. Dr. MMag. Regina Polak, MAS (*1967) is the head of the Institute for Practical Theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna. Her research focuses on “religion in the context of migration”, “religion, values, and politics”, “socio-religious transformation processes in Europe”, “Christian-Jewish and Christian-Islamic dialogue”. Currently she is also OSCE-Personal Representative for combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination. List of Most Relevant Publications: Regina Polak: Migration, Flucht und Religion. Praktisch-Theologische Beiträge. 2 Bände. Ostfildern 2017. Regina Polak: Hope for Europe: Catastrophes as Learning Spaces for a Spiritual Virtue? A Practical-Theological Approach, in: Milos Lechner (ed): Where does our Hope [...]

The biblical quote that lends the title to this significant conference features human mobility as a constant of human life since its origins: migration is the past, the present and the future of humanity. Even if this passage does not speak specifically about the future, Holy Scriptures  reminds us that we are journeying toward a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1) and that the finish line of the human voyage is the future that God has prepared. The message should be clear: the movements of persons and peoples are not an occasional and fleeting aspect of human life, but [...]