The Jesuit Refugee Service, for Fr Arrupe, was everybody’s challenge. The mandate given to JRS is a grace and responsibility for us all, said Fr Kolvenbach in his letter on the 20th anniversary. Arrupe wanted the JRS to be a switchboard between offers of help and opportunities for service. He was sure that the Society could rely on the cooperation of its own members and communities, not only on the parishes, schools and other institutions under its care, but also on many friends such as religious congregations and lay movements. He has been proved right. Even today, many JRS projects involve the collaboration of hundreds of volunteers, lay, religious and Jesuits.

Everybody’s challenge gathers essential documents of the first 20 years of JRS, recording the work of religious and lay people serving refugees around the world.