Aid to the Church in Need: ACN Annual Report - over 5,000 projects funded in 137 countries

ACN Annual Report - over 5,000 projects funded in 137 countries

Posted by ACN News on 27/5/2009, 9:50 am
Message modified by board administrator 28/5/2009, 9:36 am

ACN News: Wednesday, 28th May 2009

Annual Report from Aid to the Church in Need’s reveals over 5,000 projects funded in 137 countries

By Eva-Maria Kolmann

The international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) recorded record donations last year of over €82 million (82 million Euros). Details are published in the charity's annual report. Overall, income from its benefactors in 18 different countries of Europe, North and South America and Australia, was 3% up on the previous year.

During the year 2008 ACN was able to sponsor some 5,020 projects in 137 different countries around the world. The biggest proportion of this aid was allocated to 1,059 projects for the construction or renovation of churches, religious houses, seminaries, parish houses and centres. The charity also supported 14,739 seminarians -- almost 1 in every 8 seminarians around the world. 1.2 million Mass offerings were given for the support of needy priests, while the worldwide family apostolate was also promoted, in the shape of 1.1 million children's Bibles and 365,000 copies of the charity's "little catechism". The charity additionally funded 930 formation projects and 844 pastoral projects of various kinds. Some 930 projects involving vehicles for pastoral work were sponsored for priests, religious and catechists so that they could fulfil their ministry over large distances in regions where the faithful live widely scattered. Help for the media apostolate, the importance of which has been repeatedly emphasised by the Holy Father, accounted for some 8% of the total.

In Central and Eastern Europe aid for Ukraine, Russia and the Balkan region continued to be of great importance. In Pristina, in Kosovo, ACN is currently helping to build a co-cathedral, that is to be dedicated to Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In Africa, in Rwanda and in the neighbouring Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of which were hit last year by a severe earthquake, the charity helped the Catholic Church in her ministry to the suffering local population with a total of over €400,000. Also of major and continuing significance was the aid given by ACN to the Church in Sudan, still suffering the consequences of the devastating civil war, and to Zimbabwe as it sinks further and further into poverty and suffering. In Latin America aid was again given in priority to countries such as Cuba where, after decades under a hostile communist government, the Church is now only slowly showing signs of recovery, Colombia, racked by violence, and Haiti, long since one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and still plagued by violence, political instability and natural disasters.

Brazil too has been a priority, a country where 19% of all the world's Catholics live but where the Church faces massive obstacles in her work – through the aggressive proselytism of the sects, rural emigration and poverty and, especially in the Amazon region, the sheer distances and lack of infrastructure. Here ACN helped with over €4.1 million last year. In Asia, aid for China, Vietnam and Burma – especially following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis last year – remained of primary importance. In the Middle East, support for the suffering Christian minority was again a high priority, especially the aid for Iraqi refugee families and the support for beleaguered Christians in the Holy Land. The Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem wrote in 2008 to ACN: "Without the solidarity of Christians around the world, we in the Holy Land could not survive".

Phillip Collignon, the Director of the Australian branch of the charity said:"The 2008 Annual Report shows that, in spite of the Global Financial Crisis and thanks to our generous benefactors, we have been able to maintain our funding for the Church in need”. The Australian arm of the charity raised more than $3.2 million dollars from its benefactor base of over 10,000 donors. While the generosity of ACN benefactors has grown beyond what was thought possible Mr Collignon stressed that: “the number and the extent of the appeals for help continue to grow and unfortunately we are having to turn down more and more requests for assistance.”

ACN was founded in 1947 by the Dutch Norbertine priest and religious Father Werenfried van Straaten, known to millions as the "Bacon Priest". Today it is a worldwide charity of pontifical right, which supports the work of the Catholic Church wherever she suffers discrimination or oppression or is too poor to fulfil her pastoral ministry.

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: www.aidtochurch.org

Photo: Phillip Collignon (National Director ACN Australia)

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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