Aid to the Church in Need: Catholic Charity Founder’s birthday Tribute

Catholic Charity Founder’s birthday Tribute

Posted by Press release on 22/1/2003, 8:05 am
Message modified by board administrator 22/1/2003, 12:01 am

Catholic Charity Founder’s birthday Tribute
Celebrating 90 years of the man who brought home the bacon for the Church in Need
By John Pontifex, Press and Information officer for Aid to the Church in Need
NOTHING could take away their moment of pride and joy as hundreds of charity supporters celebrated their founder’s 90th birthday.
Aid to the Church in Need pioneer Father Werenfried van Straaten received countless tributes during a Mass of thanksgiving which drew crowds from far and wide.
Germany’s Limburg Cathedral was standing room only as people listened to the story of how the Dutch priest started from scratch gathering support for his mission to provide spiritual and pastoral support to Christians in Need.
The ceremony, on Friday (January 17), recalled the Norbertine priest’s heroism more than half a century ago when he stepped outside his monastery to tell the world of the plight of Christians suffering for their faith behind the Iron Curtain.
In his address, Dr Franz Kamphaus, the Bishop of Limburg, stressed Fr Werenfried’s rare combination of sheer guts and eloquence as a public speaker as he moved generation after generation to give to the Church in Need.
Bishop Kamphaus said Fr Werenfried continued to challenge and stimulate the faith of ACN supporters just as he had done half a century before when he urged late 1940s Belgium and Holland to set aside their differences and help a ravaged and penniless German people.
Tributes to the ACN leader were read out from religious and political leaders from around the globe.
Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, called him an “Apostle for Peace” and German president highlighted his work in the charity’s early years as an agent for peace and understanding between the Netherlands and Germany.
As the founder of a charity directly accountable to the Pope, Fr Werenfried received a tribute from Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy.
He said: “Along with his thousands of willing helpers around the world, Fr Werenfried has performed a very precious service for the Church – as a bridge builder and an apostle of reconciliation, as a preacher and a prophet.”
Incapacitated by a series of strokes, the emotion was nonetheless clearly visible as Fr Werenfried acknowledged the crowds with a wave and a smile as he sat centre-stage close to the lectern.
The service ended in the way so many had done in the past with Father Werenfried taking donations for the Church in Need in his famous “Hat of Millions” worn thread-bear by constant use for fund-raising purposes.
Later, in a reception held in Limburg’s City Hall, Fr Werenfried received dozens of presents from supporters, gifts which included a pig – a reminder of his nickname, “the Bacon Priest”, earned after he collected huge hunks of meat for those in need just after the Second World War.
Photo: Fr Werenfried leaves the Mass to celebrate his 90th birthday with his "Hat of Millions" in which he collected vast sums for the Church in Need.

This message is locked.

Responses are not allowed!

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