Open Door, Open Heart.
Hospitality at the Heart of Our Common Humanity
Open Door, Open Heart
Hospitality at the Heart of Our Common Humanity. Join Fr. Alberto Ares, SJ, Regional Director of Jesuit Refugee Service Europe and author of Hospitality at the Heart of Spirituality, for a series of conversations, liturgies, and public events across the United States. Through stories of refugee accompaniment from around the world, Fr. Alberto invites us to rediscover hospitality as a Gospel value and a path toward encounter, belonging, and hope. Together, we will reflect on migration, faith, and our shared responsibility to welcome the stranger and build communities where no one walks alone.
Alberto Ares, SJ
Regional Director at JRS Europe, Since September 2021, which coordinates work in more than twenty countries with over 8,000 professionals and volunteers. Each year these teams accompany more than 200,000 refugees and migrants, in work that combines political advocacy before European institutions with direct accompaniment on the ground.
Hospitality at the Heart of Spirituality
This new book guides us on a journey that connects the biblical and spiritual roots of welcoming with contemporary challenges. From ancient Greek xenia to Pope Francis’s call to be a Church that goes forth, we discover how hospitality can heal wounds, break down barriers, and weave bonds between strangers.
Speaking Schedule
12:00pm
Hospitality in Action: Building Communities of Welcome
Chicago
Layola University
Chicago, IL
The conversation will then turn to local leaders from Pastoral Migratoria and Loyola University Chicago, who will share how hospitality takes shape in neighborhoods, parishes, classrooms, and campus life. Together, they will reflect on the ways ordinary people can create spaces of belonging, accompaniment, and hope.
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11:00am
Sunday Mass at Old St. Patrick’s
Chicago
Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
700 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60661
Alberto Ares will preside over the 11am Mass and follow it with a presentation.
following Mass
Book Talk at Old St. Patrick’s
Chicago
Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
700 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60661
Alberto Ares’ book, Hospitality at the Heart of Spirituality: Being an Open Door to the Stranger explores hospitality through the lens of Christian and Ignatian spirituality, particularly in relation to migration, accompaniment, and welcoming the stranger.
7:00pm-9:00pm
Book Launch Event – Hospitality at the Heart of Spirituality
St. Louis
Center for Global Citizenship. St. Louis University
3672 W Pine Mall Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63108
Join Alberto Ares Mateos, SJ, author and director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Europe, for a discussion of Hospitality at the Heart of Spirituality: Being an Open Door to the Stranger, newly published in English by Paulist Press.
Drawing on Christian tradition and his experience accompanying refugees and migrants on four continents, Ares explores how hospitality can bridge divisions, foster social reconciliation and inspire us to walk alongside displaced people.
4:15pm
The Refugee Convention from 75 to 100
St. Louis
John K. Pruellage Courtroom
St. Louis University School of Law
100 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63101
In honor of its 75th anniversary, join us to discuss the Refugee Convention as a global promise, national governments’ responsibility to honor that promise, and the local action that gives it meaning in people’s lives.
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7:00pm
You are Not Alone: Candlelight Vigil for Migrants & Refugees
St. Louis
St. Francis Xavier College Church
3628 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108
This is a prayerful public vigil affirming that the treatment of migrants and refugees is neither a new concern for the Catholic Church nor a peripheral issue. The dignity of every person, hospitality to the stranger, solidarity with those who suffer, and protection of people forced to flee are intrinsic to Catholic teaching.
The vigil will connect what is happening to migrants in the United States, including mass deportations, detention, family separation, and the loss of protections such as TPS, with the experiences of refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world.
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2:00-4:00pm
Open Doors, Open Hearts
Silver Spring
St. Camillus Catholic Church
1600 St Camillus Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20903
Hospitality, Hope and Accompaniment in a Time of Division
In a world often shaped by fear, division and uncertainty, the Gospel invites us to something different: to become communities of welcome.
Join us for an afternoon of prayer, reflection and dialogue exploring hospitality as a Christian calling and a response to the realities facing migrant communities today.
Through a keynote reflection by Fr. Alberto Ares, SJ, conversations with parish leaders from across the Archdiocese of Washington, and opportunities for personal discernment, participants will explore how the Church can remain a sign of hope and accompaniment in challenging times.
Whether your parish already accompanies migrants or is just beginning to explore this ministry, this gathering offers an opportunity to learn, connect and discern together.
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12:00pm (ET)
Fordham IIHA webinar series
Virtual
Virtual
A message of hospitality related to our particular welcome of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Romania, and Hungary
Register
