The program now offers Portuguese language classes, legal assistance, rent support, and emergency medical funding for refugees while continuing the work with their Portuguese neighbors.
The Bernanos Centre was originally a student dorm on the campus of the Université de Strasbourg but, since 2016, has been transformed into a center for URM. “It’s really a place of hope, a way of being in solidarity with those in difficult circumstances.” That’s how Fr. Mark Barwick describes “Welcoming the Stranger,” a collaborative program to house and help unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) in Strasbourg, France.
Building a holistic, community-based support system for vulnerable individuals in ways that encourage belonging and dignity is the overarching focus of projects at the Anglican/Episcopal Church of Christ the King (Frankfurt) that are being funded through their second grant from the Convocation Refugee Grant Program (CRGP).
Five Convocation Refugee Grant Programs (CRGP) in Germany, France and Italy received visits and support from the combined leadership team from Episcopal Relief & Development and CRGP.
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe represented at the UN Global Refugee Forum Progress Review in Geneva, Switzerland, by the Right Reverend Mark Edington and Giulia Bonoldi, Chief Welcoming Officer.
Socorro Heepe was the Convocation’s Racial Justice Ministry representative to the conference – “Hope Makers: From Hostility to Hospitality – which brought together representatives from the Church of England (Diocese in Europe and the Racial Justice Unit), the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the World Council of Churches (WCC), United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG), academic institutions, interfaith organizations, and civil society partners.