On the morning of the 16 October 2017, in the grounds of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, there was a smell of burning. It was not the smell you get from an active fire, but the
smell of burnt ash. October 16th was the day ex hurricane Ophelia reached Ireland. It carried with it ash, from the forest fires in Portugal, and sand, possibly from Africa. We live in one world.
There are other storms, the storms of life, armed conflicts, wars, genocides, ethnic cleansings, natural disasters, environmental degradation, famine, poverty, economic crises and the absence of
opportunity. All these generate movements of people across the world, driven by desperation, by hopelessness. The storms of life carry migrants and refugees.