In both Rome and Washington, DC, Wednesdays are the busiest days in the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) offices. With a hybrid work-from-home option, nearly all staff work at the office on Wednesdays, helping build camaraderie while also making it a bit challenging to find a quiet corner for a call. Nevertheless, Fr. Eric Goeh-Akue, S.J., and I both managed to find rooms in Rome and Washington, respectively.

Fr. Eric, the global director of mission and identity for JRS, joined the call from the Jesuit residence’s library. Surrounded by hundreds of books, he reflected on JRS’s global mission and his own experience of displacement, as the organization celebrates its 45^th anniversary since its founding in November 1980. He also discussed the Church’s responsibility to accompany those who are forcibly displaced as a direct expression of faith, particularly in response to recent rhetoric surrounding Catholicism and the duty to support migrants.

His calling to the priesthood began in primary school, where he was deeply moved by the Franciscan religious order’s commitment to serving the poor and marginalized in his parish. But being so young, Eric was encouraged by his father to wait before making such a big decision about his future.

As he continued his discernment, Eric remained involved in the church, serving as an altar boy and regularly meeting with the Franciscans. Eventually, his Franciscan mentors suggested that his motivations and goals aligned more closely with the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits.

With JRS, Fr. Eric first served as the country director in Chad and then as regional director for the West Africa region. After eight years, he assumed his current role at the JRS international office in Rome.

His work with displaced populations is deeply personal. As a young person, he fled his country and lived for two years as a refugee with a host family. For years, he carried shame about that experience and hid that part of his life from others. He said, “As a refugee, you lose friends and family. The worst part is losing [your sense of] dignity and self-esteem. Working with JRS and embracing its mission has helped me reconcile this part of my past.”

“I feel deeply connected to refugees, and I tell my colleagues that refugees are just like us,” he said. “One day something happens, and survival becomes your only goal.”

JRS was founded in November 1980 by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., in response to the crisis of the “boat people” fleeing Southeast Asia in the wake of the Vietnam War. Moved by their suffering, Fr. Arrupe discerned the need for a Jesuit-led initiative that extended beyond material aid. JRS was established to provide human, pedagogical, and spiritual services to forcibly displaced people.

This commitment to “cura personalis,” or the care of the whole person, remains central to JRS’s mission. Over the years, JRS has expanded and adapted to changes in migration trends based on regional conflicts and other forces that cause displacement.  Today, JRS operates in 58 countries and serves more than 1.2 million people.

A core tenet of JRS’s work is accompaniment. The word originates from the Latin “companionem,” meaning “one who shares bread.” The term conveys the idea of being alongside someone, sharing their journey, and offering emotional and spiritual support. While the services JRS provides are in many places life-saving, we have always been more than a service-provider.  We prioritize being with refugees, sharing bread and burdens, fostering mutual understanding, respect, and trust.

“We deeply believe that love of God must be shown through acts of love and justice,” Fr. Eric said.

Reflecting on the impact of the US funding freeze, Fr. Eric shared a story about his collaboration with JRS/USA. While serving as regional director in West Africa and the Great Lakes, he worked with JRS/USA to develop education programs in eastern Chad and Cameroon. As the programs took shape, it became clear that including girls and integrating mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) was critical, a strategy that would later become a global priority for JRS.

“From my experience… I know the JRS/USA [supporters] as a genuine network of individuals and communities, deeply rooted in faith and committed to the vision of JRS and its mission,” Fr. Eric said.

Looking toward the future, I asked Fr. Eric what he sees for JRS.

JRS has recently finalized a Strategic Framework to guide our work between 2025 and 2029, shaped by the complexity of today’s global humanitarian crises. Fr. Eric explained that this framework emerged from listening to the voices of the people JRS serves and engaging with various stakeholders, discerning both urgent needs and where JRS in particular can do the most good.

The Strategic Framework prioritizes economic inclusion, education, mental health and psychosocial support, reconciliation or creating “right relationships” between host communities and refugees, advocacy, and addressing the effects of climate change on displacement.

“My hope is that, together – JRS collaborators, partners, and our committed audience – we fully embrace this… rooted in a culture of accompaniment, reconciliation, accountability, and shared responsibility,” he said. “The more we remain faithful to who we are – to our identity as a Jesuit, faith-based organization, to our core values, walking alongside refugees and actively listening to them – the better we can serve.”