'Obligation based on faith' to help refugees, says Archbishop Martin Currie

A Christian community leader in St. John's is putting the challenge out for people to act quickly to help refugees come to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Archbishop Martin Currie says since Pope Francis called on every European parish to take in a family of refugees, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has put out its own challenge to get involved.

• N.L. looking to boost number of refugees by 60%, says Clyde Jackman
• ​St. John's woman witnesses refugee rescue in Aegean Sea

Currie said he's written letters to priests in the St. John's archdiocese to get their parishes involved in a refugee sponsorship program.

"The challenge comes because it's a question of people who are losing hope, people who have lost everything in their lives and they're risking their lives for something better," he said.

"As a Christian community … we have an obligation based on faith to do what we can to help the situation that has arisen in our world."

Currie said a meeting has been planned for next week to gauge the amount of interest in the parishes.

He says things are already looking positive.

"Some of the priests have already mentioned to me that people in their parishes are interested and we're just going to see how much interest we can generate to sponsor families."

For Currie, the current refugee situation shows how desperate people are to get to a safe haven.

"That people have become so desperate in their lives that they risk everything for freedom, for hope — and we don't want them to lose hope," said Currie.

"We want them to know that there is a world out there that cares for them and we're going to try to do what we can to give them another life, to give them another chance at a better life."

Currie said it's important that there's a quick response from individuals and organizations to help avoid desperate circumstances for refugees.

"I think it's essential that we sponsor as quickly as we can because many of them are being pushed from here to there and beside the present crisis in Syria, we know we have millions of refugees in other parts of the world," he said.