Loyola Jesuit Alum Directs Emergency Migrant Shelters Following Israeli Ground Incursion in Lebanon 

Across the globe in Beirut, Lebanon, Loyola alumnus and Jesuit in formation Michael Petro S.J. is using his talent for language and passion for ministry to direct the Jesuit Refugee Services’ emergency efforts to mitigate the displacement caused by Israel’s ground incursion of Lebanon.

The fighting in Lebanon escalated early Sept. 24 when Israeli ground forces crossed into southern parts of the country following weeks of intense Israeli airstrikes, including one which resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, The Associated Press reported. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel shortly after the start of the war in Gaza last October.

Previously, the JRS program based in Beirut operated as a parish and a migrant center serving displaced people and minority refugees from all over the world. When the bombing in the south intensified, migrants and refugees started showing up, Petro said. 

“Every week right at mass, the pastor says, ‘Welcome home, right?’” Petro said. “Tells people that this church, this migrant center, is their home. And when the trouble started, people went to their home.” 

Originally, JRS planned to help the people who arrived at the church find other shelter, but when a JRS social worker began calling shelters, Petro said they quickly realized many of them were already full and many more wouldn’t accept migrants.

Petro said it became clear there was no other option but to accept the individuals and families and become a shelter themselves. Luckily, a Jesuit community nearby had about 100 mattresses which could be used for the influx of people, and Petro became the project director of the JRS Lebanon Emergency Migrant Shelters. 

Since their transition into a migrant shelter, Petro said they’ve welcomed approximately 150 people as of Oct. 14 with about 75 in one location and 30 in another. 

When violence in Lebanon escalated in September, Petro said their mission completely changed. Usually Jesuits stationed in the country focus on education, mental health, psychosocial support and reconciliation. They’ve now transitioned to providing material, mental health and psychosocial support for affected civilians in government shelters while running their own shelters.

Three weeks after the ground incursion, 1.2 million people had fled from their homes, heading mostly to Beirut and other places in the north, AP reported. 

Petro said JRS will continue to help and provide shelter as long as they’re needed, but he believes the broader government response should be to help the migrants and refugees rather than excluding them from the resources they need.

Among other places, the branch of JRS in Beirut works with displaced people from Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Ethiopia, according to Petro. 

“They should be welcomed and should be able to get shelter in the organizations and government groups that are specialists in this,” Petro said. “But because of the exclusion that there is in the current system, that has not been possible.”

Petro’s work in Beirut is part of his regency, or active ministry, which is a two to three year stage of Jesuit training where Jesuits work in the community, according to Jesuit Superior of First Studies the Rev. Mark Scalese.

Though what each Jesuit chooses to do during their regency varies, Scalese said Petro’s work in Beirut isn’t typical, noting the most popular regency is teaching at a Jesuit high school. 

Petro completed his first studies, a different stage of Jesuit training, at Loyola in 2022 when he graduated with a master’s in social philosophy. Petro received his undergraduate degree in anthropology and Latin American studies from Brown University. 

Before arriving in Beirut, much of Petro’s work and research surrounded issues of migration and forced displacement. He said he often worked with Spanish-speaking refugees, but after he started interacting more with Iraqi refugees, he decided to start learning Arabic. 

Aware of his Arabic studies, the Academic Director of Loyola’s First Studies program at the time Tom Kretteck suggested Petro participate in an initiative where Jesuits spend six months in another country, usually Mexico, for language proficiency. Kretteck said while the default countries for the program were Spanish-speaking, he wanted to pilot programs in other countries too. 

“Michael’s facility with languages and interest in Arabic got me to thinking that there were a number of scholastics who had competence in other languages and might profitably spend the six months in a country other than Mexico,” Kretteck wrote in an email to The Phoenix. 

In the six months Petro spent in Beirut, he said he got involved with the migrant workers and the parish, leading him to choose Beirut and JRS for his next stage of Jesuit training — his regency.

“Michael’s placement over in Beirut was the result of him expressing his own desires to do work with migrants, and especially migrants in the Middle East,” Scalese said. 

Petro said JRS echoes the Catholic Church’s and Pope Francis’s calls for a ceasefire. 

“This conflict has displaced well over a million people in Lebanon and has done incalculable damage, both in Lebanon and in Israel and in Gaza and other places,” Petro said. “Any response to those who have been displaced must be cross population, must be inclusive, must be respectful.”

Back home in Chicago, Petro said Loyola students should continue to educate themselves and commit to understanding the truth, especially regarding complicated issues. He said students should also make space for migrants and refugees in their own communities, considering the mass amount of people the war has displaced.

JRS accepts donations either to the organization as a whole or to its efforts in Lebanon specifically on their website.

Scales said the first thing students can do to help Petro and his colleagues in Beirut is to pray for them as well as the people of Lebanon who have experienced violence and displacement. Like Petro, Scalese also said students should consider donating to JRS and educate themselves on the conflict.