Aid to the Church in Need: TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR FOUNDER OF CHURCH IN NEED CHARITY

TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR FOUNDER OF CHURCH IN NEED CHARITY

Posted by Press Release on 4/2/2003, 6:58 am
Board Administrator

TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR FOUNDER OF CHURCH IN NEED CHARITY
THE Church worldwide is mourning the loss of a priest who started a huge relief programme helping Christians suffering for their faith all around the globe.
Dozens of bishops and clergy from all over the world have paid tribute to Father Werenfried van Straaten, the founder of Aid to the Church in Need, who died near Frankfurt on Friday (31 January). He had just turned 90.
Overwhelmed by the plight of people rendered homeless by the Second World War, Father Werenfried began an initiative which soon transformed into a worldwide operation bringing pastoral and spiritual support to millions of Christians in more than 130 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe.
People reflecting on the monk who started the Catholic pastoral charity wonder in awe at the driving force behind an organisation which began as a begging letter in his Belgian abbey’s magazine.
In the Christmas 1947 letter produced at Tongerlo Abbey, Father Werenfried called on people to put aside age-old differences and help fellow Christians literally starving in neighbouring Germany.
A genius fund-raiser, Father Werenfried’s early success emboldened him to expand his charity and in a few years he was supporting Christians suffering for their faith behind the Iron Curtain.
At the specific request of Pope John XXIII, Father Werenfried widened the scope of his work still further when in the early 1960s he led his charity to start helping beleaguered Christians in Latin America. Soon after, his work spread to Africa.
By the time he died, Father Werenfried had devoted more than half a century to his charity which by then had come under the direct authority of the Pope.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a top-ranking prelate responsible for clergy worldwide, said: “During his lifetime, Father Werenfried showed such loving concern for so many. We owe him our thanks for a work of charity where God’s children from every nation can enrich one another in love.”
Cardinal Castrillon will preside at Father Werenfried’s funeral in Limburg Cathedral, Germany, on Friday (7 February).
The service comes just three weeks after huge celebrations in the same cathedral just three weeks ago marking Father Werenfried’s 90th birthday.
Praise for the Norbertine priest and thanksgiving for his life and work were read out from presidents and prelates from across the world.
Reflecting on the celebrations, Father Werenfried spoke in terms that have added poignance coming so soon before his death. “For me it was like a foretaste of my encounter with God, a sign of the love that unites us, both in heaven and on earth.”

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
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