Aid to the Church in Need: Pakistan: Inspiring faith in times of fear

Pakistan: Inspiring faith in times of fear

Posted by Press release on 20/10/2008, 11:49 am
Board Administrator

ACN News: Monday, 20th October 2008 –

PAKISTAN: Inspiring faith in times of fear

By John Newton and John Pontifex

THE CHURCH in Pakistan has launched a drive to deepen the faith of the people – in defiance of increasing Islamic extremism and growing concerns that the country is on the verge of collapse.

Coinciding with the Year of St Paul, which started in June as declared by Pope Benedict XVI, Catholics across Pakistan are being invited to take part in classes on the Bible and ancient Scriptural languages.

The programme comes just months after Church leaders including Pakistan Catholic bishops’ conference president Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha told the Pope in their five-yearly Ad Limina meeting that intolerance towards Christians in the majority Muslim country was at an all-time high.

Discussing the Bible Year initiative in an interview with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, organiser Fr Emanuel Asi explained that he had high hopes for the scheme’s success in spite of the growing problems for Christians in Pakistan.

Stressing the ecumenical nature of the initiative, Fr Asi said: “We are quite joyful about it – the Word of God unites and the Word of God sanctifies.”

The Bible Year scheme coincides with a synod of bishops taking place in Rome this month (October) examining the ‘Word of God in the life and mission of the Church’.

Scheduled as part of Bible Year are simple courses in Biblical languages including Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. In addition, most major cities in Pakistan will be hosting on-going Bible studies.

Key texts for the Bible Year scheme include the latest edition of the Bible in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language.

Thanks to a large subsidy, the price of the book for Pakistani Christians has been slashed from 600 rupees to 95 rupees.

Another text is the ‘Heroes of Faith’ series – a set of comics looking at key Biblical personalities and Fr Asi explained that youngsters had been dramatising the literature by putting on re-enactments of Scripture stories.

For elderly and adult-literacy learners, there is a large-size font New Testament.

‘Heroes of Faith’ and the new Urdu Bible are among the many Scriptural texts which have received key support from ACN as well as the charity’s Child’s Bible, which is also playing a key role in the scheme.

Fr Asi described how he was initially apprehensive as to how ‘Heroes of Faith’ would be received in a Muslim country.

He said that not only have there been no problems, but that it has been a great success with Christian children.

The priest said he hoped the interest generated by the Bible Year scheme would continue long after it comes to an end.

(Fr Emanuel Asi with ACN Childs Bible in the language of Urdu)

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world. The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: http://www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org