Aid to the Church in Need: East Timor independence - Aid to the Church in Need continues to help

East Timor independence - Aid to the Church in Need continues to help

Posted by Press Release on 22/5/2002, 8:41 am

PRESS RELEASE... from Aid to the Church in Need
22nd May 2002
East Timor independence - Aid to the Church in Need will continue to help

On Monday 20th May, East Timor officially became independent. The day has
finally arrived, almost three years after the population had voted
overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, in a referendum in August
1999. The referendum was followed by bloody and destructive aggression by
pro-Indonesian militia against the almost entirely Catholic civilian
population of the country. The result was the almost complete destruction of
the infrastructure of the country. Likewise many churches and Church
properties were destroyed or damaged.
Aid to the Church in Need was already helping in East Timor even before the
referendum and we have continued this aid, giving over $380,000 in the year
2000 alone. Last year again, we helped the parishes of Dare and Ermera, in
the archdiocese of Dili, to build new chapels. And we funded a motorcycle
for the parish priest of Zumalia parish, in the Suai district, while the
seminary of Our Lady of Fatima in Dili was able to purchase a generator, and
the Centre for Peace and Development in Dili a secondhand car. Just a few of
the 40 or so projects which ACN supported in East Timor during the year
2001.
ACN has also translated its highly popular Childs Bible God Speaks to His
Children into the national language, Tetum, and sent 39,000 copies to the
country, after pro-Indonesian activists had burned a first consignment of
10,000 copies. Sadly, though, this newly-won independence will not make any
immediate difference to the poverty in the country. Outside help will
continue to be vital. Aid to the Church in Need will continue to help.
Photo: Fr Cyrus Banque of Bobanaro parish with his motor bike funded by ACN. That is a 'pothole' on one of the roads that Fr Banque has to negotiate in his area. The local villagers gathered to help carry Fr Banque and his motorbike out of the pothole!

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