SANCTUARY: WAYS OF TELLING, WAYS OF DWELLING BY MARINA WARNER (2025)
A Heart-warming and encouraging read for our time
A few years ago a paper version of the Leeds Diocesan Justice and Peace newsletter was returned to the office with the words "Jesus was not a refugee!" scrawled across the front page. Apparently, a reference to the Holy Family's flight into Egypt at a time of political turmoil and fear of King Herod's cruel infanticide had not gone down well. More recently Cambridge Professor of Philosophy of religion James Orr, "British sherpa" to Vice President JD Vance and adviser to Nigel Farage described asylum seekers as "invaders". ‘Asylum seeker’ is increasingly used as a term of abuse.
The language surrounding "refugee" and "asylum" is increasingly provoking negative reactions. While it is tempting to stress that historically, as an "island" geographically, it is difficult for anyone to claim they are "natives" and not "incomers". Celts crossed the Doggerland before the North Sea covered it over. Anglo Saxon was a later holdall term for a range of western European incomers. Romans, Vikings from Scandinavia and Normans all moved as the early years moved into the medieval. Migrations have continued ever since, not least as a consequence of the great British Empire period. Moreover, as palaeontologists Dr Cat Jarman spells out, contrary to popular opinion DNA cannot tell you where your relatives come from.
"What it really tells you is where in the world people matching your genetics are living right now and this does not represent an ancient population. We are a species that has been on the move since day one".
In other words, DNA can identify specific family relationships but cannot trace local chains of ancestry. In essence we, on this group of islands, are all incomers through time.
So, how have we treated arriving "strangers" ?
The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales have a strong record of encouraging welcoming the stranger and supporting asylum seekers and refugees as their recent pastoral exhortation "Love the Stranger" demonstrates - in strong theological language and practical proposals for pastoral action in our communities. But the presence of "arrivers" is increasingly contested , whether "legal" or "illegal" and asylum has shifted in meaning from a positive term for a traditional place of refuge to a language of rejectionism ; "asylum seekers are not welcome here".
But is this true to our island stories and history?
Novelist Marina Warner has published a comprehensively researched account of "sanctuary" in which she explores the history of the principles and practice of "sanctuary" noting in particular the Churches’ contribution symbolised by the medieval door knocker on Durham Cathedral. She seeks out the principles on which the ancient classical and medieval practices of sanctuary were founded in what we strangely still dismiss as the "dark ages"!
She records the ancient traditions of sanctuary from the stories of the classical world offering brief immunity to fugitives from justice through the medieval literature recording sanctuary in churches as places of "sacred reprieve" right up to the present day challenges facing refugees in a political world turning its back on United Nations' internationally agreed principles of protection, welcome and support.
Nor is Warner's "Sanctuary" a work of bare legal principles and treaties. Rather it is a heart-warming and encouraging reading journey through literature, poems and personal stories rooted in human experiences of real people, through time, forced to move for survival often because of circumstances beyond their control.
Her "ways of telling" insists on a strong story-shaped world rooted in the particulars of local experiences. Her "ways of dwelling" challenges us to rethink what we mean by "home", "freedom of movement", "nations" and developing international relations.
This is a rhizome book taking us through the deep roots of asylum concepts and language and reminding us that in fact we are, as Pope Francis always insisted, "all in it together "and therefore we need to work harder at living together inspired by her "stories in transition".
It's again peak channel crossing time for small boats carrying desperate asylum seekers from the coast of France. This week violence broke out just offshore between rival groups of Kurdish, Afghani and African smugglers in attempts to take over leaving boats. Reports of "overwhelming numbers" dominate media coverage.
Internationally, here nationally and locally the Catholic Church has a long, highly respected and valued contribution to supporting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. In 2004 The Vatican published "The Love of Christ Towards Migrants" stressing the "ministry of welcome". In 2006 our Catholic Bishops issued "Mission of the Church to Migrants" opening with the words
"Across the country in all our Dioceses we have migrants from nearly every continent in the world adding people and vibrancy to our parishes. We the Bishops are calling for a more visible culture of welcome hospitality and solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers".
In 2016 our Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission produced "Welcome the Stranger", a handbook of what that means in practice. Bishop Marcus contributed an encouraging spiritual introduction.
With Catholic Care, the Commission set up what has become the St Monica's Housing Trust - two houses providing support and refuge for single asylum-seeking women "with no access to public funds".
More recently the Catholic bishops Conference has issued "Love the Stranger" setting out Catholic social teaching on migration and refugees and underlining Pope Francis's constant emphasis that "every migrant has a name, a face and a story" that we cannot reduce to numbers.
Moreover, we are reminded of Leviticus 19 that we should "love the stranger as ourselves as we too were strangers in Egypt", a message with the loudest echo in our islands in which we historically are all migrants as modern DNA illustrates. A visit to the Kent Hugenot museum reveals the small boat refugees from religious persecution in France which included the family Farage!
In Practice our parishes are places of welcome. The contribution of Catholics to supporting migrants and refugees in our Diocese is quietly understated. Asylum seekers put in hotels are visited and helped to resettle as refugees in our neighbourhoods with visits and practical material support not least by members of the SVP parish conferences.
The St Vincent's Centre in Leeds is a major support base providing practical assistance, regular teams of volunteer hotel visitors and led by the education and refugee coordinator, Julie, delivering the city's free educational (including ESOL) support and asylum and refugee advice and referral.
Recently a well-attended open "briefing session" on asylum and refugees was organised to challenge the myths and misinformation starting again to dominate a media approach addicted to alarming rather than informing. Notably, around the city graffiti is appearing "Illegals are criminals" echoing the Trump tropes.
Clarifying the difference between migrants (immigrants and emigrants who come and go worldwide and mostly in the global South) and those forced out of their homes to seek refuge is crucial. Notably most fleeing conflicts violence or persecution become "internally displaced persons" within their own country. (Over half of the 118 million forcibly moved in 2024).
Recently, those fleeing are from Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Sudan. The main historical countries have been Iran, Turkey, Germany, Russia, Pakistan and Uganda, who each took in between 2 and 4 million asylum seekers.
In 2023 the UK received 500,000 legal immigrants (in a total population of 69.1 million), the post Brexit "Boris-bounce". Last year immigration added 350,000.
But too often the language of legal legitimate migration slips into the loose term "illegal" migrants.
The UNCHR opposes this damaging description recommending the term "Irregular " migration pointing out (as does Catholic social teaching) that defining people as "illegal " denies their basic humanity. What's more people can become irregular in numerous ways (and through no fault of their own) that are not "criminal", such as overstaying work permits or educational visas, not possessing proper or updated documentation, historical lack of paperwork (cf Windrush generation).
"Irregulars" contrary to the Trump language, are not all criminals, terrorists or disease carriers. Moreover, the recent Trump ban on migrants from primarily 12 African countries blocks any refugees among others from Afghanistan, Eritrea or Sudan applying to enter America and totally undermining the UN 1951 Refugee Charter.
Closer to home, harsher migrant entry and refugee application rules (not to mention a bureaucratic backlog) are compounded by an arbitrary system of a very few "safe routes". There have only been secure access routes for refugees applying recently from Syria, Hong Kong and Ukraine who make up the majority of refugees coming into the UK and are the only legal routes.
All other irregular migrants including asylum seekers who apply to become refugees and those granted asylum and "leave to remain", in total only adds up to 0.6% of the UK population.
In other words, the UK takes far less refugees than other European countries and far less than neighbouring poor countries in Africa. Our contribution of welcoming the desperate stranger is presently far exaggerated.
Changing the perceptions generated by negative exclusionary language to one of welcome, hospitality, solidarity and celebration to be practiced in our parishes is now a priority challenge and judging by the positive response at St Vincent's, encouragingly, our Church is prepared to continue to lead.
Tim is a member of the Leeds Diocese pax Christi group and has recently stood down as chair of MAW (The Movement for the Abolition of War).
It was Bruce Kent who first got me involved in the war/climate breakdown issue. I had been a member of CND and Pax Christi since the 70s, and Bruce recruited me to the Movement for the Abolition of War committee. One of MAW’s campaigns is Climate Change and Military Emissions – we’ve made a DVD about it!
I assume everyone knows the basic mechanism of climate breakdown – if you need a refresher, view Climate Change 101 by the masterly Bill Nye, Science Guy, made in 2015. He explains it in just four minutes!
"The Earth's temperature it is estimated to have gotten 1.2 to 1.4o Fahrenheit warmer in just the last Century. Ten out of the last thirteen years were the warmest on record."
In November 2015, a group of MAW members went to Paris for COP21. This was where the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was hammered out. As we stood under the Eiffel Tower, we wanted to make sure our banner was seen by delegates and the public alike.
How does war contributes to climate change?
“The elephant in the kitchen when it comes to Climate Change is clearly the world’s military. The world spends something like 2 trillion US dollars a year on its military. At least half of that vast sum goes on military production with a massive CO2 output. The military are both a major cause of climate change and hence, of the conflicts which result from the movement of peoples as deserts spread.” Bruce Kent
The trouble is, much of this is not reported - US negotiators managed to exclude military greenhouse gas emissions at the 1997 Kyoto climate conference. In Paris 2015, it was agreed that countries no longer have automatic exemption but neither are they obliged to declare military emissions.
As Mark Carney remarked, “What gets measured gets managed” Disclosure is only the first step towards the real goal: reduction of these emissions.
How does climate change cause war?
The example of Syria illustrates this all too forcefully.
“Before the [Syrian Civil] war began, an extraordinary drought caused 75% of Syria's farms to fail and 85% of livestock to die between 2006 and 2011, according to the United Nations. That drought also triggered a wave of migrants searching for jobs in urban areas, spreading instability throughout the country… The war has killed around half a million people, and displaced around 11 million others. It has utterly destroyed the country’s infrastructure”
“Over the past 10 years, weather-related disasters have caused 220 million internal displacements – approximately 60,000 displacements per day. By 2040, the number of countries facing extreme climate-related hazards is expected to rise from three to 65, the majority of which are hosting displaced populations.”
Sometimes, we can't see the way to our destination and are beset by difficulties, but if we can just keep going, we'll get there!!
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In Practice our parishes are places of welcome. The contribution of Catholics to supporting migrants and refugees in our Diocese is quietly understated. Asylum seekers put in hotels are visited and helped to resettle as refugees in our neighbourhoods with visits and practical material support not least by members of the SVP parish conferences. 
Recently a well-attended open "briefing session" on asylum and refugees was organised to challenge the myths and misinformation starting again to dominate a media approach addicted to alarming rather than informing. Notably, around the city graffiti is appearing "Illegals are criminals" echoing the Trump tropes. 
Clarifying the difference between migrants (immigrants and emigrants who come and go worldwide and mostly in the global South) and those forced out of their homes to seek refuge is crucial. Notably most fleeing conflicts violence or persecution become "internally displaced persons" within their own country. (Over half of the 118 million forcibly moved in 2024). 
The UNCHR opposes this damaging description recommending the term "Irregular " migration pointing out (as does Catholic social teaching) that defining people as "illegal " denies their basic humanity. What's more people can become irregular in numerous ways (and through no fault of their own) that are not "criminal", such as overstaying work permits or educational visas, not possessing proper or updated documentation, historical lack of paperwork (cf Windrush generation). 
In other words, the UK takes far less refugees than other European countries and far less than neighbouring poor countries in Africa. Our contribution of welcoming the desperate stranger is presently far exaggerated. 
How does climate change cause war?