ACN NEWS: Thursday, 21st December 2017

Terror before Christmas cannot stop peace work
• In several countries, people look forward to Christmas Eve with trepidation

By Karla Sponar


In several countries, people look forward to Christmas Eve with trepidation

Attacks against Christians have mounted over the last week in Nigeria, India and on the 3rd Sunday in Advent, in southwest Pakistan. In Pakistan, two suicide bombers of the terrorist militia IS attacked around 400 Christians in Bethel Memorial Church in the city of Quetta – at least eight people died, more than a dozen were injured, including several children.

In response, the president of the Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expressed his concern, “This is a further cowardly attack on defenceless people who only came to attend Mass.” Baron Johannes Heereman condemned the brutal attack and emphasised, “We are mourning together with the victims. However, our prayers will continue. They cannot be shot down. Which is why we ask you to pray for peace now …. before Christmas Eve, with even greater urgency. The God that makes himself small in the manger is a God of life and not one of killing.”


(Baron Heereman speaking at a recent ACN conference in Europe © Aid to the Church in Need)

Christmas carolling leads to temporary incarceration of Christians in India

Last weekend started off on Friday with bad news in India as well: in Madhaya Pradesh province, Hindu activists in the city of Satna assaulted eight Christian priests and set their vehicle on fire. Thirty seminarians and two priests had been detained the day before and the priests were coming to their aid when they were assaulted. Turmoil had broken out when the seminarians visited a nearby village to sing Christmas carols. As the priest George Mangalappally reported to the Indian portal ucanews.com, an enraged mob accused them of actively converting people to the faith and called in the police. According to this online news source, more than 650 attacks against Christians have been reported this year.

Bomb attack in northeastern Nigeria kills three catechists in the diocese of Maidiguri

Little attention was paid to another piece of news last week: church media agencies reported that two women approached a catechist to embrace him in front of the church in the Nigerian town of Pulka in the diocese of Maidiguri. Since this was an unusual occurrence, helpers rushed to his aid, at which point the two suicide bombers detonated the explosive. Three catechists were killed, including a father of ten children. Others sustained injuries. Several church sources reported that Islamists had carried out further deadly attacks only the month before. Aid to the Church in Need representatives visited the diocese of Maiduguri this year and met with traumatised victims of violence and persecution there. Several of them were from Pulka.

“The danger is that we get used to such incidents and that this news will not be reported outside of church media. However, the events need to be considered in their respective contexts,” stressed Baron Heerman. “At the moment, Christians all over the world are under pressure as never before.” This is also documented by the world’s only comprehensive and regularly published “Religious Freedom in the World Report”, which is compiled by ACN every two years. Another report pertaining specifically to Christian persecution is printed every two years alternating with the Religious Freedom report. This report is called “Persecuted & Forgotten?” and it tenaciously points out the extraordinary extent and systematic nature of the discrimination and persecution of Christians. The next issue of the Religious Freedom in the World Report will be published by ACN in 2018. “With this, our pastoral charity is making a statement: the right to religious freedom is non-negotiable. It is a fundamental human right.” Baron Heereman emphasised.


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 172 languages and 50 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 BC NSW 2153.

On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org