Aid to the Church in Need: ACN General Council in “dialogue with the signs of the times"

ACN General Council in “dialogue with the signs of the times"

Posted by ACN News on 8/12/2008, 7:48 am
Board Administrator

ACN News, Monday, 8th December 2008 – ROME

Catholic charity ACN General Council in “dialogue with the signs of the times”

By Eva Maria Kolmann

Rome - The General Council of the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need met in Rome on December 2 and 3, in order to discuss various topical issues and issues of principle and thereby enable "the enduring charism of the charity to engage in dialogue with the signs of the times", as the international President of ACN, Father Joaquín Alliende put it in his opening address. Practical and organisational matters were discussed, as well as issues of principle. Thus, for example, the position to be adopted by the charity towards an expanding Islam was discussed, as was the importance for the future of the charity of the spiritual legacy of the organisation's founder, Father Werenfried van Straaten, who died in 2003.

On 3 December the General Council elected Benedikt Steinschulte (Rome) as chairman of the projects committee. He takes over from Professor Frans Alting von Geusau (Netherlands), who stood down on reaching the retirement age. Prior to this Mr Steinschulte had chaired the information committee, and he will continue as an ordinary member of this body. The new chairman of the information committee is the journalist Peter Sefton-Williams (London), who is also a member of the projects committee.

On December 3, to mark the occasion of the General Council meeting, a performance was given in the Pantheon in Rome of the musical Pelican – into Thy Hands, which was written by the international president of ACN, Father Joaquín Alliende and deals with the subject of the martyrs of the 20th century. Among the invited guests were numerous Church figures, as well as representatives from the world of culture and the media. President Alliende gave a special welcome to the surviving sister of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, who was accompanied by two other relatives of this saint, a doctor, who was canonised in 2004. Gianna Beretta Molla died of cancer in 1962, after refusing treatment in order to save the life of her unborn child. She died one week after the birth of her daughter. Her story is included in the musical as a special form of martyrdom, alongside the story of numerous other martyrs of modern times.

(A scene from the Pelican performance)

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 Sydney 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: 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