Where Hope Finds a Home

Sr Premlata Thakur PSOL

"Even Just One of These Children": Walking Together with Migrants in Hope and Dignity

Every migrant carries a piece of home within them—a memory left behind, a loved one missed, a sacrifice made, and a hope that tomorrow will be kinder. "Even Just One of These Children" – the theme given by the Holy Father this year for the World Day of Migrants - invites us to pause before these stories and ask: Did we notice? Did we listen? Did we care? For the Archdiocesan Migrants Commission (AMC), this is where our mission begins. We encounter migrants not simply as people whom we serve, but as people who enrich our Church and our communities with their faith, courage, resilience and hope. The Gospel calls us to begin with even one. One person seen. One story heard. One burden shared. One life embraced with love. Because when we reach out to one, we are never reaching out to "just one"; we are touching a life created and cherished by God. 

In Mumbai, a city of dreams and opportunities, thousands of migrants build their lives while facing numerous challenges. It is within this reality that the AMC carries out its mission of welcoming, accompanying, empowering, and including migrants in the life of the Church and society. What began as an outreach ministry through faith formation and social-pastoral care has gradually grown into a wider network of 24 units across Mumbai, in collaboration with 31 religious congregations of men and women working under the umbrella of the Archdiocesan Migrants Commission. 

Caring for the World's Children on the move

Christine Nathan

In April of this year, the Holy Father announced 'Even just one of these children' as his chosen theme for the 112th edition of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, celebrated on Sunday, September 27, 2026.

The theme is a reference to Matthew 18:5: "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." The accompanying statement notes the Holy Father's intention to recall the duty to welcome each and every minor directly involved in migration, as the Gospel teaches us. 

We can situate this message in the wider reflections of Pope Leo on the Church and our duty of welcoming migrants and refugees. In Dilexi Te, his Apostolic Exhortation on love for the poor, he reminds us that the Church, "like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ Himself who knocks at the door of the community."

In his message for the 2025 WDMR, the Holy Father reflected on migrants, refugees and displaced persons as "privileged witnesses of hope," whose resilience and trust in God, in the face of great adversity, brings new faith to the communities that welcome them. By selecting 'Even just one of these children' as the theme of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the Holy Father reminds us that welcoming a displaced child is not merely an act of charity. It is instead a profound encounter with Christ Himself; in Pope Leo's words, a "true divine blessing, and an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God."

'Apostle of the Airwaves' to be Beatified 

Fr Joe Eruppakkatt SSP

Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on September 24, 2026

Fulton J. Sheen, the popular American Catholic radio and TV evangelist and former Bishop of Rochester, New York, will be beatified on September 24, 2026 at The Dome at America's Centre in St Louis, Missouri, USA. The Beatification Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Tagle. 

The highly anticipated event follows the formal Vatican approval of a medically inexplicable healing of a stillborn baby in Central Illinois in 2010, whose pulse was restored after prayers to Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The miracle attributed to Fulton Sheen was officially recognised by Pope Francis on July 6, 2019. Earlier, in March 2014, the medical experts in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously concluded that "the miracle attributed to Fulton Sheen was beyond scientific explanation, noting that the child had survived without any cognitive or developmental deficit." On June 17 of the same year, the panel of theologians in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously concluded that "the miracle was attributable to the intercession of Fulton Sheen."

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was born on May 8, 1895 in El Paso, Illinois, as the eldest of four sons of Newton and Delia (Fulton) Sheen. Though he was baptised Peter John, throughout his life he was known by his mother's maiden name (Fulton). After he was baptised, his mother dedicated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a dedication he renewed at his First Holy Communion. He lived with his family for a time on a farm outside of Peoria, Illinois. 

In 1913, after his graduation, Sheen joined St Paul's Seminary in St Paul, Minnesota, and on September 20, 1919, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria. At the time of his ordination, he made his famous promise to make a daily Eucharistic Holy Hour, which he kept faithfully for the rest of his life.

He arrived without a shortlist

Fr Dr John Singarayar SVD

Nobody had Robert Francis Prevost on their shortlist. That may be the most important thing about him; not because surprise is a virtue, but because the fact that he surprised everyone says something worth examining about what we have learned to expect from powerful institutions, and what we have quietly stopped expecting altogether.

He spent years in Trujillo, Peru. Not passing through. Not visiting. Living there, working there, and becoming, over time, the kind of figure that communities in genuine difficulty produce people for and around—someone whose authority is derived not from his title, but from the fact that he had stayed. When he returned to Rome in a more senior capacity, he brought something with him that Curial life does not easily generate: the knowledge of what it looks like when a system fails a person, and the person has nowhere else to go.

He chose the name Leo. The last Leo of consequence was the 13th, who wrote Rerum Novarum in 1891 — a document that had the audacity to tell the industrialised world that workers were human beings with rights, not inputs with costs. The choice in 2025 was not nostalgia. It was a signal, directed at anyone paying attention, that this pontificate intended to ask the same uncomfortable question in a new century: what are people for?

The Temptation He Has So Far Resisted

The papacy is, among other things, an invitation to become something you did not intend. Global visibility does that. Every statement is immediately sorted into political categories, every gesture read as alliance or rebuke, and every silence interpreted as consent or cowardice. Over time, a leader who began with genuine convictions can find themselves managing perceptions, rather than telling truths — not through any single dishonest choice, but through the accumulated weight of a thousand small adjustments.

Drink Water Plentifully and Healthily  Enjoy the Gift of Life-Giving Water

“Lord of Life, You have given us the gift of water, source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope. It quenches thirst,  nourishes the earth, and heals wounds.” — Pope Leo, For the Care of Water, September 2026

Pope Leo invites us this month to pray that water be protected. He asks us to thank God for this sacred gift, explaining that water is a symbol of God's grace and love that renews us through Baptism. We must be sensitive to the plight of millions of people across our planet who do not have access to clean drinking water. While caring for this divine gift of water, let us ensure that we use water responsibly to care for our body which is the "temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). 

How should we make water an intrinsic part of our daily routine?

Just the Facts:

• Water intake from food is about 20% of our daily total.

• Water comprises roughly 60% of our body's weight. Our body loses 2-3 litres of water a day through elimination, urination, perspiration, and respiration — more during illness, intense exercise, or pregnancy.

• An adequate intake of water for men is roughly 3 litres (about 13 cups) and for women 2.2 litres of water (about 9 cups). Pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers need additional fluids. 

Water intake should vary with weight, activity, and geographic location.

• Water does not need digestive enzymes to be processed.

Water Helps to:

• Thin the blood naturally, so it flows more easily through the arteries and lungs, carrying nutrients throughout the body.

• Promote weight loss and raise metabolism – all with zero calories.

• Improve skin: it moisturises, keeping it fresh, soft, and glowing. Try washing your face with rainwater; it helps improve your complexion.

• Aid digestion and prevent constipation.

• Flush out toxins through sweat and urination, lowering the risk of kidney stones and urinary tract infections.

• Prevent cramps and sprains; proper hydration keeps joints lubricated and muscles elastic, making joint pain less likely.

• Relieve and prevent headaches, which are often caused by dehydration.

Marital Infidelity - A Universal Wound

Raymond Machado 

Influenced by the relentless publicity of international media, which daily parades the separations and divorces of the rich and famous, society at large has grown accustomed to marital crises. What was once scandalous, whispered in secrecy or traded as gossip, is now received with indifference, almost as routine.

Yet, it is profoundly disheartening to witness that when discord arises and couples can no longer dwell under the same roof, even God-fearing souls, faithful church-goers and respected members of our parish communities, are surrendering to the modern-day 'easy solution' of divorce.

This phenomenon, often mistaken as a private fracture between husband and wife, is in truth a tremor that reverberates through families, workplaces, parish life and the wider social fabric. At the heart of this crisis lies a forgotten truth: marriage is not a contract to be dissolved at convenience; it is a covenant, sacred and enduring, meant to withstand the storms of life.

A contract is a commercial arrangement, conditional and transactional. It protects interests, outlines duties, and dissolves when terms are broken. A covenant, however, is sacred. It is a binding of souls before God and community, rooted not in convenience, but in fidelity, sacrifice and love. A contract may end when conditions fail; a covenant endures through trial, upheld by divine witness. To reduce marriage to a contract is to strip it of its sanctity; to honour it as covenant is to preserve its mystery and eternal promise: "for better or worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

Ironically, in an age blessed with technology – swift transport, instant communication, household gadgets designed to ease burdens – the marital bond in this era should have been easier to preserve than in the past. In earlier times, daily life was more laborious, yet couples endured with patience. Today, despite weekly spiritual nourishment, couples are becoming increasingly intolerant of each other, irritable with their children, and less willing to endure the ordinary strains of family life.