The Responsibility of the Church in a world of migrations

The refugee crisis in Europe started in the year 2015 as a result of a complex political situation in the
Middle East. A wave of people fleeing away from the war zones is flooding the European territory in
search of stability and peace. We are talking about a large amount of people, for which the European
Union wasn't prepared, nor did it have developed methods of their integration in the existing social
structures or adequate sensitization of the public concerning the slippery nature of the topic. The
topic of refugees is reported on a daily basis (mentioned day to day) via media, whether it be reports
of solidarity in individuals and volunteers, aftermaths of war, dangerous routes, terroristic attacks,
problematic behaviours of asylum seekers they are intertwined with our wrong perception of
reality in our media overall. Citizens are exposed to a vast nubmer of information on a daily basis,
some of which is misjudging while the others bear truth. Most people form their opinion on the
refugee crisis only from this information. The Croatian country is very divided when it comes to
accepting people of other nationality, culture and religion into their society. Some sympathize, help
and volunteer, while others deprecate the policy of acceptance and disperse the policy of hate. It is
indeed a terribly sad thing that a lot of church and religious related circles are actually the ones
spreading this negativity. As a believer and a theologin I feel deeply hurt by this situation in my
country and Church. The once holy altars have now become a main instrument of marginalization of
something that is foreign and different, they have effectively become a medium that propagates
xenophobic policy which has become a symbol of a made-up interfaith and interpersonal war. A good
chunk of the churchian elite in Croatia is leading a xenophobic policy with emphasization on the
dangers of Islamization of Europe which they percieve as a attack on christian identity. This is the
same hierarchical program and propaganda that raises the faithful who very often only repeat the
hateful mantras learned by heart and forget that they once were refugees too. Nothing like the
Church in which the head is Christ, is it?

The appearance of migrations by default is nothing new, since it was always embedded within the
human psyche, but the reasons and different forms of migrations in the globalized world make them,
in a completely new modus - a tangled and chaotic task to understand, which our society faces on all
levels. Besides the socio-cultural or the economic component migrations also have a theolo-pastoral
label and are threfore an omen of time for the christian Church which must respectably weigh and
act righteously in a pastoral manner. The refugee crisis in Europe is a wake up call to all believers for
a repeated initiation and return to the basic teachings of Jesus of equality, justice, freedom and
love for everyone, especially the smallest. Believers of the world are once again challenged to be the
Light in the darnkess and the water of Life modeled after the Saviour. In this i do not only see the
responsibility of the Church, but the duty of every believer individually. We musn't and we can't
ignore the hardships to which we are all witnesses in the last couple of years since the beginning of
the refugee crisis. Jesus said: Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for me. This commandment is given to us for safekeeping and practicing, guiding us
through life and as a timeless reminder of Christ. So how exactly do the hungry stay hungrier and the
poor even poorer? How come foreigners live on the edge of society when Jesus himself was a
stranger? Jesus was a refugee. He ran away as a child with his parents, so he could return many years
later to a new home as a stranger. Starting his mission, he took on a life of an evicted person who
has no place to lay his head (Luke 9:58). When he sent the apostoles to spread the Gospel, he
asked of them to go without a bag or clothes, to walk the ways like refugees and to completely
surrender to the hands of kindheartedness and hospitality of ordinary people.