Posted by Press release on 30/7/2012, 9:55 am
Board Administrator

ACN News: Monday, 30th July 2012 – SYRIA Food for Damascus’s desperate faithful “It is a situation of siege – people are not being allowed to leave – and the situation is getting more and more tense.” By John Newton BREAD is being smuggled into Damascus as part of an emergency aid package from a leading Catholic charity. In response to an urgent request, Aid to the Church in Need is giving more than $23,000 in help for families who have fled their homes and priests ministering to them in Damascus. Fr Andrzej Halemba, ACN’s Middle East expert, said that the grant will provide basic foods stuffs such as bread, vegetables and baby milk. According to the priest, who is in contact with Church sources in the country, fighting means that these foods are in short supply. He said: “Bread is not available now in Damascus – it has to be smuggled into the city from over the border which is half an hour away by taxi.” Damascus is close to the Lebanon border where fighting has spread. Fr Halemba said: “Church leaders report that it is a very difficult situation for all those in the city. “It is a situation of siege – people are not being allowed to leave – and the situation is getting more and more tense.” ACN’s emergency grant will provide food and housing for 107 displaced families in one parish. The charity is also giving Mass offerings to 12 priests. (Fr Andrzej Halemba © ACN) The families being helped have come from areas of Damascus which are no longer safe because of the fighting and from outlying villages caught up in the conflict. Fr Halemba said: “They are in a desperate situation, they have had to leave their homes and run away from the danger zone. “But they are being welcomed by Catholics, who have previously opened their doors to Christian refugees from other countries, but are now helping their own.” Christians in the unaffected parts of Damascus have provided lodging for the displaced families – but they themselves have very little. The latest ACN grant will provide both hosts and guests with the means to survive. Fr Halemba also stressed that basic items for children are not available – which is why milk is being provided for them as part of the emergency package. He also described how the money from Mass offerings for priests would benefit the wider community. He said: “Christians come to priests for protection, prayers and bread – the priests will be using these stipends to provide what they can for those who have come to them seeking help.” So far this year, the charity has provided over $300,000 in aid for Syria of which more than $150,000 is emergency help. This is includes just under $60,000 for those trapped in the old city of Homs. 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. 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, Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bible – God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world. While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charity’s press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material. For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, 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 7246 Baulkham Hills NSW 2153. On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org