MIRROR
WITNESS TO HOPE WITNESS TO TRUTH
WITNESS TO HOPE - WITNESS TO TRUTH
MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
CONTENTS PAGE Witnessing to Hope.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Universal Mission of the Church.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Martin Barta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Subsistence Aid for Us All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Eucharist: A Gift of Enduring Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Pope John Paul II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Everything Comes Back to the Eucharist.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Fulwiler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 How Can I Remain Catholic?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble. . . . . . . . . 12 Today’s Way of the Cross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cardinal Timothy Dolan. . . . . . . . . . . . 16 President Reagan’s Witness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Rosary – A Worldwide Bond of Love.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ‘Stop this Evil’ – Heroic Witness .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . India.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Priests Stayed On .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Syria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Realising a Diocese’s Dream for Priests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ghana.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Young Missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brazil and Papua New Guinea . . . . 27 The Power of the Holy Eucharist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Heine-Geldern. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ ROM 12:21 Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: ACN International, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acninternational.org
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WITNESSING TO HOPE A chairde,
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he Church has been in crisis for centuries. Written in 1832 but only published in 1848, Blessed Antonio Rosmini wrote deeply and prophetically about ‘The Five Wounds of the Holy Church’. Christ’s Church has been crucified from its very beginnings, it is being crucified today and it will be crucified until the end of time. Salvation comes by Way of the Cross, to be a Christian is to take the Via Crucis, the ‘narrow gate’ not the easy way. And frankly far from getting easier, it is becoming more difficult to be a Christian and live a Christian life. The simple truth is that in today’s world if you and I do not actively take care of our faith we will lose it. Let us be in no doubt the world has become so toxic to the Splendour of Christ’s Truth, that if we don’t treasure it, it will be taken from us. The evidence for this is all around for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. (cf. Matt: 13:15) These are indeed wicked times but they are our times and each of us have been personally chosen by God and put into this time and place to…be a beacon of Light, a beacon of His Light in the world, in our local communities and particularly within our own families. (Eph. 5: 8-21) There is no escaping the Lord’s Call. Yes, dear friends, we are all called to become saints. Some of you are called to become big heroic saints, great blood-red martyrs of the Faith. The rest of us however are called to be little anonymous saints, quiet little witnesses
(‘white martyrs’) whose lives history will not record but will be well-remembered in eternity. When in the Gospel (Matt. 19: 16-19) the rich young man asked Jesus ‘Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?’ Jesus replied ‘Keep the commandments’. And this is the Via Crucis which every ‘little’ and ‘big’ saint must take. The ‘big saints’ however go further. In their desire to be perfect like our heavenly Father they sell all their possessions store up their treasure in heaven and totally commit to following Jesus. So it is that every good priest and good religious brother and sister who has given up their lives to faithfully follow Jesus is a ‘big saint’. By contrast, every bad priest and bad religious brother and sister is a ‘big sinner’ and a big scandal. Every Catholic who keeps the 10 commandments is de minimis a ‘little saint’. Those lay Catholics who do more to imitate Christ in their lives are self-evidently more saintly. Those baptised Catholics who break the commandments are not saints. They are not to be imitated rather like all sinners, big and small, they are to be prayed for. Prayer is the great antidote to wickedness and the greatest of all prayers is the Eucharist. Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Curator
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THE UNIVERSAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH Dear Friends,
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he month of October is dedicated to the Universal Mission of the Church – but it is also the month of the Holy Rosary. At first glance the two might seem largely unrelated, but in reality they are inseparable. Every Catholic mission depends entirely on prayer, and prayer inspires those who pray to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. The world today is increasingly ruled by ideologies. We are engaged in a spiritual battle. At stake is the authority to interpret the nature of this world; the spirit that will govern our lives and that of our countries. That is why we so greatly need prayer and a worldwide mission, so that the true spirit may prevail through them.
Before Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the Gospel, he gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits (Mark 6:7). They were to ‘exorcise’ the world, so to speak, so that people’s hearts could be free to embrace the new spirit. The founder of ACN, Father Werenfried van Straaten, himself saw clearly, right from the beginning, that the task of materially helping the needy and persecuted also spiritually uplifts the giver, perhaps even saving him or her from the sin of pride and moral decay. Our compassion for the world’s poor forces us out of our indifference, impelling us to perform gestures of love and uplifting our Christian spirit. As we have all experienced, the resolve to be faithful to prayer and act in a missionary spirit is always accompanied by a spiritual struggle. The devil wants to deprive us of this inner resolve, this apostolic zeal and courage. As Blessed Pope Paul VI writes in Evangelii Nuntiandi, ‘The lack of fervour is all the more serious because it comes from within. It is manifested in fatigue, disenchantment, compromise, lack of interest and above all lack of joy and hope.’ By contrast, our commitment to God’s will brushes aside all excuses and objections,
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including those that see evangelisation as a violation of our personal freedom. Pope Paul VI rightly asks: ‘Is it then a crime against others’ freedom to proclaim with joy a Good News which one has come to know through the Lord’s mercy? And why should only falsehood and error, debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media, by the tolerance of legislation, the timidity of the good and the impudence of the wicked?’ Let us then be zealous in praying the Rosary, dear friends, so that through Mary, the first missionary, the true spirit that brings peace to the world may prevail within us. Let us help the missionaries on the front line, through our prayers and acts of love, that they may not be influenced by the false spirit or tempted to proclaim their own ideas, but instead preach only the ‘greatest and oldest idea’: namely Christ. My grateful blessing on you all,
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant
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SUBSISTENCE AID FOR US ALL
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Mass stipend, or Mass offering, is a gift of money to a priest, in return for which he agrees to celebrate Holy Mass for a particular intention of the donor. The grace of the Sacrament cannot be ‘bought’ in this way, but the stipend does bind the giver more intimately with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This custom dates back to the second century. The acceptance, administration and application of Mass stipends is governed by canons 945 – 958 of the Code of Canon Law. The diocesan bishop is responsible for overseeing their observance. ACN has been passing on our benefactor’s Mass offerings for more than 50 years now, in almost every country of the world, but particularly in those where Christ, in the person of his priests, once more treads the path to Golgotha.
In many of the poorest and most anti-Christian countries your Mass offerings are, for many priests, the sole means of survival. Another reason, suggested to us by Bishop Philippe Nkiere Kena of the Diocese of Inongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is that they are a source of spiritual and psychological stability for priests carrying out their mission. As, in a country which is at the mercy of murderous gangs, where corruption undermines the law, where strange sects and ancient superstitions are leading so many Christians astray and where polygamy and moral breakdown have become part of daily life,
Set free to proclaim the truth: Holy Mass celebrated for our benefactors’ intentions. 4
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
it is extremely difficult for Catholic priests to preach against these evils and draw people back to God and the truth. Especially when the priests are dependent on the offerings of these same Catholic faithful. Your Mass offerings allow them a degree of independence and stability, so that they can devote themselves still more single-mindedly to their people. Besides, the economy here, in the second largest diocese of the country, has essentially collapsed to subsistence level, so that, without Mass stipends, most of the 109 priests working in the diocese would have to be constantly seeking work and money, simply to survive. In the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Exarchate of Odessa ACN provides Mass stipends in support of 43 priests. Again, it is not only the priests you are also supporting all their pastoral work and the diocese’s three-year missionary programme.
More time to devote to his parishioners: one fruit of your ‘subsistence aid’.
Already this is beginning to bear fruit, as the parishes become more lively, more active and above all involve the young people more. They have held five summer camps and six missions, and the numerous retreat days are fully booked. Your Mass stipends have enabled priests to engage in these pastoral activities. So you are helping them to bring people to God. As the great Doctor of the Church, Saint John of the Cross said, ‘However much men may seek after God, God seeks Man still more.’ We cannot be closer to God than in the Eucharist. This is the place of true encounter. It is our priests who make this encounter possible and hence, when we speak of these Mass offerings as a form of ‘subsistence aid’, the term has a particular spiritual depth. For in essence it is ‘subsistence aid’ for us all. •
The real encounter with Christ: Holy Mass in Odessa, celebrated for the intentions of an ACN benefactor.
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THE EUCHARIST: A GIFT OF ENDURING LOVE ST. POPE JOHN PAUL II1
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he Church lives by the Eucharist, by the fullness of this sacrament, the stupendous content and meaning of which have often been expressed in the Church from the most distant times down to our own days. And though this teaching is sustained by the acuteness of theologians, by men and women of deep faith and prayer, and by ascetics and mystics, in complete fidelity to the Eucharistic mystery, it remains incapable of grasping and translating into words what the Eucharist is in all its fullness, what is expressed by it and what is actuated by it. Indeed, the Eucharist is the ineffable sacrament, the essential commitment and, above all, the visible grace and source of supernatural strength for the Church. With all the greater reason, then, it is not permis-
sible for us, in thought, life, or action, to take away from this truly most holy sacrament its full magnitude and its essential meaning. It is at one and the same time a Sacrifice-sacrament, a Communion-sacrament, and a Presence-sacrament. And although it is true that the Eucharist always was and must continue to be the most profound revelation of the human brotherhood of Christ’s disciples and confessors, it cannot be treated merely as an occasion for manifesting this brotherhood. When celebrating the sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, the full magnitude of the divine mystery must be respected, as must the full meaning of this sacramental sign in which Christ is really present and is received, the soul is filled with grace, and the pledge of future glory is given. The Kingdom of God becomes present in the celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the Lord’s Sacrifice. In this celebration, the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands—the bread and wine— are transformed mysteriously, but really and substantially, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of the minister, into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the 1 Adapted and edited from Go in Peace: A Gift of Enduring Love by John Paul II, edited by Joseph Durepos available at: https://www. loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/sacraments/eucharist/on-theeucharist-and-the-mass-by-pope-john-paul-ii?p=1
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Son of God and Son of Mary, through whom the Kingdom of the Father has been made present in our midst. The goods of this world and the work of our hands—the bread and wine—serve for the coming of the definitive Kingdom, since the Lord, through His Spirit, takes them up into Himself in order to offer Himself to the Father and to offer us with Himself in the renewal of His one Sacrifice, which anticipates God’s Kingdom and proclaims its final coming. Thus the Lord unites us with Himself through the Eucharist, Sacrament and Sacrifice, and He unites us with Himself and with one another by a bond stronger than any natural union. Thus united, He sends us into the whole world to bear witness, through faith and works, to God’s love, preparing the coming of His Kingdom and anticipating it, though in the obscurity of the present time. Eucharistic worship constitutes the soul of all Christian life. In fact, Christian life is expressed in the fulfilling of the greatest commandment, that is to say, in the love of God and neighbour, and this love finds its source in the Blessed Sacrament, which is commonly called the sacrament of love The Eucharist signifies this charity, and therefore recalls it, makes it present, and, at the same time, brings it about. Every time that we consciously share in it, there opens in our souls a real dimension of that unfathomable love that includes everything that God has done and continues to do for us human beings; as
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Christ says: ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’
from the love and serves the love to which we are all called in Jesus Christ.
Together with this unfathomable and free gift, which is charity revealed in its fullest degree in the saving sacrifice of the Son of God, the sacrifice of which the Eucharist is the indelible sign, there also springs up within us a lively response of love. We not only know love; we ourselves begin to love. We enter upon the path of love, and along this path make progress.
A living fruit of this worship is the perfecting of the image of God that we bear within us, an image that corresponds to the one that Christ has revealed in us. As we thus become adorers of the Father ‘in spirit and truth’, who then mature to an ever-fuller union with Christ, we are ever more united to Him, ever more in harmony with Him.
Thanks to the Eucharist, the love that springs up within us becomes deeper and grows stronger. Eucharistic worship is therefore precisely the expression of that love which is the authentic and deepest characteristic of the Christian vocation. This worship springs
The authentic sense of the Eucharist becomes the school of active love for our neighbour. We know that this is the true and full order of love that the Lord has taught us: ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’
‘Behold, the Lamb of God’ – the Holy Sacrifice: Archbishop Kaigama, Nigeria. 8
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
The Eucharist educates us to this love in a deeper way: it shows us, in fact, what value each person, our brother or sister, has in God’s eyes, if Christ offers Himself equally to each one, under the species of bread and wine. If our Eucharistic worship is authentic, it must make us grow in awareness of the dignity of each person. The awareness of that dignity becomes the deepest motive of our relationship with our neighbour. We must also become particularly sensitive to all human suffering and misery, to all injustice and wrong, and seek the way to redress them effectively. Let us learn to discover with respect the truth about the inner self that becomes the dwelling place of God in the Eucharist. Christ comes into the hearts of our brothers and sisters and visits their consciences. How the image of each and every one changes when we become aware of this reality. This
sense of the Eucharistic mystery leads us to a love for our neighbour, to a love for every human being. Our community has the duty to make the Eucharist the place where fraternity becomes practical solidarity, where the last are the first in the minds and attentions of the brethren, where Christ Himself, through the generous gifts from the rich to the very poor, may somehow prolong in time the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The Eucharist is the full realization of the worship that humanity owes to God, and it cannot be compared to any other religious experience. The Risen Lord calls the faithful together to give them the light of His Word and the nourishment of His Body as the perennial sacramental wellspring of redemption. The grace flowing from this wellspring renews humanity, life, and history. •
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EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO THE EUCHARIST A PERSONAL TESTIMONY BY JENNIFER FULWILER2
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ow could a reasonable person living in the 21st century actually believe that at the Catholic Mass, bread and wine are truly changed into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ?
It is surprising, then, that when I consider how much my life has changed since my husband and I both became Catholic at Easter Vigil in 2007, I find that there is really only one thing to talk about: the Eucharist.
This was one of my biggest stumbling blocks when considering Catholicism. When I first heard that the Church still believes that the Mass makes Christ’s one sacrifice at Calvary present here and now, that on Holy Thursday the Lord made it possible that bread and wine could be turned into the flesh and blood of God himself, I prayerfully thought: ‘Are you kidding me?’ I’d never heard a bolder, more audacious claim made by a modern religion.
I could try to pen a great ode proclaiming my joy at having come to know God on a level I never imagined possible for someone like me. I could write about the challenges we’ve faced, and the oasis that our newfound faith provided for us when we felt cast out into the desert. I could talk about the freeing power of Confession. I could say something about how my life is unrecognisable from what it was a decade ago.
There was a part of me that kept hoping I’d find that it was all a misunderstanding, that Catholics were only required to believe that the consecration of the Eucharist was a really, really, really important symbolic event. I was a lifelong atheist, after all. It was enough of a feat that I even came to believe in God in the first place. It was enough of a leap of faith for me to believe that some miracles might have happened a few times throughout history. But to ask a former militant atheist to believe that a miracle happens at every single Catholic Mass, that bread and wine are actually changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ despite the fact that they look exactly the same… it seemed too much to ask.
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But when I started to write on each of those topics, I realised that each one of them, everything, really, comes back to the Eucharist. By the time I received my first Communion I had come to accept that the teaching on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is true. Or, perhaps more accurately, I was willing to accept on faith that it was not false. I was undoubtedly being led to the 2 Adapted and edited from Jennifer Fulwiler ‘The Impossible Truth of the Eucharist’. The full version of Jennifer’s testimony is accessible at https://steubenvillefuel.com/2015/04/02/the-impossible-truthof-the-eucharist
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Catholic Church, and found its defence of this teaching to be compelling, so I trusted that it was true in some mysterious way, even though I didn’t really get it. That was the best I could do, and I never expected to understand it any more than that.
Yet, despite the lack of immediate emotions, despite the fact that I can’t tell you exactly how it all works, I now believe with all my heart that it is true. I know that I eat the flesh and drink the blood of God at the Mass, and that it is the source of my strength.
Even as the years have rolled by, after receiving Communion week after week, I still don’t know how it works. I don’t often have a visceral reaction when I first see the consecrated host held above the altar, and don’t think I ever felt the Holy Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks the moment the consecrated host was placed on my tongue.
As I reflect back on my journey from atheism to Catholicism, the whole story of my life comes together in a very simple way: I realise now that my entire conversion process, really, my entire life, was one long search for the Eucharist. •
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HOW CAN I REMAIN CATHOLIC? SR. THERESA ALETHEIA NOBLE3
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ardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, once wrote, ‘How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him!’ These heartrending words sum up these times of scandal. People inside and outside the Church have been shocked and outraged by the horrific details of clergy sexual abuse of children, teenagers, and adults. Also truly unconscionable is the behaviour of some Church leaders who seemingly have put other priorities before the safety of the faithful, or even worse have engaged in abuse themselves. In the face of such evil, no words are adequate. Indeed, how much filth there is in the Church!
Two thousand years ago, while He hung on the Cross, Jesus saw the filth that would threaten to obscure the holiness of His Church. He saw each egregious sin now detailed in grand jury reports and victims’ testimonies. He knew that some of His clergy would abandon Him like Judas. He knew that some people—right in the heart of the Church would commit evil, abhorrent acts and others would work to cover them up. He knew that people would leave the Church, offended and wounded by these sins against God.
3 Adapted and edited from Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble ‘How Can I Remain Catholic In Times of Scandal’ – A Nun’s Response’ accessible at https://aleteia.org/2018/09/05/how-can-i-remain-catholic-in-times-of-scandal-a-nuns-response/
Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble 12
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Jesus wept tears of blood as these heartrending scenes flashed before His eyes. These sins and their effects were so burdensome, so unimaginably painful that the Son of God cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt 27:46). The Church began in a moment when it seemed like death had won. St. Ambrose wrote, ‘As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.’ Throughout the centuries in the Church, there have continued to be many periods in which death and evil seemed to have won. In fact, the Church seems continually on the brink of death, either through persecution from the outside or from its own members’ terrible sins. Yet, the Church endures. How? Because God remains with us—even in the midst of great sin. The Church is a visible sign of God’s plan of union with all of humanity. The image of the Church as Christ’s bride reveals the kind of intimate union God has with his Church. This union is so close that St. Paul tells the people of Corinth, ‘You are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it’ (Cor 1 12:27). St. Cyprian of Carthage encouragingly described the strength of the Church’s bonds of unity: ‘God is one, and Christ is one, and his Church is one, and the faith is one … Unity cannot be severed; nor can one body be separated by a division of its structure, nor torn into
pieces, with its entrails wrenched asunder by laceration.’ In other words, no matter what happens, Christ remains in union with the Church. However, one might ask, ‘If the Church is truly one with Christ, how can some members do such evil?’ The answer to this question is at the heart of the mystery of the Church itself. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes this mystery well: ‘Christ, holy, innocent, and undefiled, knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time’ (827). Therefore, no sinner, not even the worst of sinners, can bring ruin to the Church. Not because the humans that make up the Church are trustworthy—we are not. But God is trustworthy. Nevertheless, born in a moment when it seemed like death and sin had prevailed, the Church continues to engage in a raging battle against evil. Hell will try its best to engulf the Church. Jesus’ words to Peter
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on this matter are just as chilling as they are encouraging, ‘Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it’ (Mt 16:18). Hell is always at the gates of the Church. Jesus has been victorious over sin and God will remain united to His Church but demonic forces of evil will try to tear souls away from the Church. For this reason, the Church on earth is called ‘the Church militant’ because we are engaged in a battle against sin. But we can only fight this battle effectively when, as a Church, we recognise that the fight against evil begins in our hearts. We are all sinners in needs of God’s grace. Understandably, however, we also become discouraged and outraged when some of our clergy and bishops fall into serious sin.
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We might wonder, ‘How can I remain Catholic in the midst of such evil?’ We want to distance ourselves from the crimes of some of the Church’s members by distancing ourselves from the Church. But God is united to the Church and He would never will that we abandon his Church. Instead, now, more than ever, God calls us to unite ourselves with His holiness. He calls us to be bold and prophetic men and women who advocate for the truth, seek justice for victims, and tenaciously pursue holiness. Each member of the Body of Christ has a part in God’s plan for the renewal of his Church. In fact, right now, the Holy Spirit is at work in each one of us to bring about new life in the Church. Make no mistake, God will prevail.
Aid to the Church in Need
Therefore, in the words of Benedict XVI, we plead to God for help in these times of distress, knowing that our prayers will be answered:
Lord, Your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. In Your field we see more weeds than wheat. The soiled garments and face of Your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray You time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on Your Church; within her too, Adam continues to fall. When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your Church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered. But You will rise again. You stood up, You arose and You can also raise us up. Save and sanctify Your Church. Save and sanctify us all. •
‘It is better that scandals arise than the truth be suppressed.’ SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT.
FOR TIMES LIKE THESE
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n 1796 French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Rome and took Pope Pius VI as prisoner to France where he died in 1799. The following year, Pope Pius VII appointed the able lay Catholic diplomat, Ercole Consalvi as the Holy See’s Secretary of State and dispatched him to Paris in the summer of 1801 to negotiate a Concordat with Napoleon which would guarantee religious freedom for Catholics living in France. It was during these negotiations at the beginning of the 19th Century that Napoleon threatened that he would annihilate the Church if She opposed his will, to which Cardinal Consalvi replied, with both wit and faith, ‘If in 1,800 years we clergy have failed to destroy the Church, do you really think that you’ll be able to do it?’ Faced with continuous threats to the Church’s existence Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th Century promoted the prayer to St Michael. SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and you, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast down to hell Satan and the other evil spirits, who prowl through the world for the ruin of souls. AMEN
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TODAY’S WAY OF THE CROSS CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN4
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es, I know that the classical, popular devotion, the Via Crucis—reverently accompanying Jesus on His tortured journey from unjust condemnation by Pontius Pilate, to His repose in the arms of His sorrowful mother at the foot of the cross, to His burial in a donated sepulcher—is in fourteen steps. But, let me offer an abbreviated one, in only three steps, that has come to me during my listening to and observing of the deep hurt in the Body of Christ, the Church, caused by the news of clergy sexual abuse and gross negligence by bishops. Many of my brother bishops and priests, as well as our lay faithful, have spoken and written about this horror, some thoughtfully, some less so. As for myself I’ve done more listening, remembering, and reflecting, than talking and three episodes haunt me to such a degree that I now consider them three steps on the Way of the Cross for today.
STATION #1:
While I vividly and painfully remember the dozens and dozens of meetings I’ve had with victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families over the last sixteen years, one particularly haunts me still. It was around 2003 when I met with victim who was abused by a priest in the early to mid-1980’s. With him were his parents who were extraordinarily sincere Catholics. ‘When he told me, when he was sixteen, that Father X, the popular priest in our parish, a good friend of our family, had abused him, you know what I did?’ Asked the dad as he looked at me. ‘I slapped him!’ Dad began to cry, his whole body shivering. ‘I slapped my own son! I screamed at him, “Don’t you dare say that about a priest!”’ Can you imagine the remorse, the agony of that father? Can we even fathom the crushing sadness of the son?... The helpless sorrow of the mom? Can you imagine my shame and sorrow? Our victims and their families are suffering. They are cherished members of the Church as much as any priest, bishop, or cardinal. How we have wounded them! How much we owe them contrition and solidarity.
4 Adapted and edited from Cardinal Dolan’s posting dated 29 August 2018 as available at https://archny.org/news/todays-way-of-thecross.
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The First station: Victims and their families grievously hurt.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
STATION #2:
STATION #3:
But not on the day last week I talked to her on the phone. ‘Tim,’ she said to me, ‘I skipped lunch today. I’m ashamed to go to the dining room. I’m so embarrassed to be a Catholic. I don’t know what to say to anybody!’ She’s my mom. Only one of the millions of faithful Catholics who today are ashamed of their clergy and bishops, of their Church.
Or the innocent priest in the southwest, beaten in the sacristy after offering Mass, the crazed man yelling, ‘This is for what you priests did to young people.’ They’re but two of the overwhelming majority of our priests (and bishops) who live virtuous, faithful lives, who now are tarred by the vicious perversion of a tiny minority of their brethren.
The Second station: Our faithful people mourn for their Church.
The Third Station: Our Faithful Priests mourn their vocation.
She’s in assisted living now, almost ninety, still, thank God, in decent shape. She loves her Catholic faith. She has a son a priest, four other children living their faith, handing it on to their kids, her grandkids. She is always eager to talk about the Church to her friends, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
He’s one of the best priests I know, grateful for his vocation, proud to be known as a parish priest. As he prepared to take the train home after an enjoyable visit with me, he remarked, ‘I’m not wearing my clerical collar. I’m too ashamed. I’m afraid that people will sneer at me or shout at me.’
I’ve listened; I’ve seen; I’ve heard; I’ve read as have we all. I really don’t know what to say... except, as we pray at the Stations of the Cross, ‘We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee! Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!’ Or, with St. Peter, ‘Lord, to whom else shall we go? You alone have the words of everlasting life.’ •
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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PRESIDENT REAGAN’S WITNESS TO HIS DYING FATHER-IN-LAW J F DECLAN QUINN 5
E
vangelisation begins in the home and President Reagan in the following letter provides us with a succinct textbook example of how to be a Beacon of Light / a Witness to Hope to a dying man, whom he clearly loved. President Reagan’s heartfelt apologia for the Hope-he-has-within-him speaks also to these crisis times. It speaks of the mysterious power of Prayer and gives simple but profound reasons why the ‘most powerful man in the world’, at that time, believed in the God-Man Jesus, Christ the Redeemer. Reading this letter it is not surprising that President Reagan and St Pope John Paul II should have become firm friends and together achieved great things.
5 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/14/ ronald-reagans-letter-to-his-dying-father-in-law-annotated/?utm_ term=.5ffe0aeb1d01 6 Cf Veritatis Splendor, www.acnireland.org/Veritatis Splendor
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They both had deep Faith in the redemptive power of Christ. They both believed in the existence of ‘intrinsic Evil’ and the presence of an ‘Evil empire’ and They both fought it. Evil must be fought but first it must be recognised. And today evil can be found everywhere. It resides, inside ourselves, within our families, within our faith communities and in the world beyond. As Christians we are all called to live the Beauty of Truth6 and transmit the salvific Light of Christ to everyone we meet on our life’s great adventure. Whether we be Pope, President or Pauper, all of us all called to be Holy, all of us are called to Light up the World and Christ through His Church provides us with the graces we need.
Aid to the Church in Need
T HE W HIT E HOUSE Dear Loyal,
August 7 1982
I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I’ve been wanting to write you ever since we talked on the phone. I am aware of the strain you are under and believe with all my heart there is help for that. First I want to tell you of a personal experience I’ve kept to myself for a long time. During my first year as Governor you’ll recall the situation I found in Calif. was almost as bad as the one in Wash. today. It seemed as if the problems were endless and insolvable. Then I found myself with an ulcer. In all those years at Warner Bros., no one had been able to give me an ulcer and I felt ashamed as if it were a sign of weakness on my part. John Sharpe had me on Malox and I lived with a constant pain that ranged from discomfort to extremely sharp attacks. This went on for months. I had a bottle of Maalox in my desk, my briefcase and of course at home. Then one morning I got up, went into the bathroom, reached for the bottle as always and some thing happened. I knew I didn’t need it. I had gone to bed with the usual pain the night before but I knew that morning I was healed. The Malox went back on the shelf. That morning when I arrived at the office Helene brought me my mail. The first letter I opened was from a lady — a stranger — in the Southern part of the state. She had written to tell me she was one of a group who met every day to pray for me. Believe it or not, the second letter was from a man, again a stranger, in the other end of the state telling me he was part of a group that met weekly to pray for me. Within the hour a young fellow from the legal staff came into my office on some routine matter. On the way out he paused in the door and said: ‘Gov. I think maybe you’d like to know — some of us on the staff come in early every morning and get together to pray for you.’ Coincidence? I don’t think so. A couple of weeks later Nancy and I went down to L.A. and had our annual check-up. John Sharpe, a little puzzled, told me I no longer had an ulcer but added there was no indication I’d ever had one. Word of honour — I never told him about that particular day in Sacramento. GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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WITNESS TO HOPE - WITNESS TO TRUTH
There is a line in the bible — ‘Where ever two or more are gathered in my name there will I be also.’ Loyal I know of your feeling — your doubt but could I just impose on you a little longer? Some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ the ancient Jewish prophets predicted the coming of a Messiah. They said He would be born in a lowly place, would proclaim Himself the Son of God and would be put to death for saying that. All in all there were a total of one hundred and twenty three specific prophesies about His life all of which came true. Crucifixion was unknown in those times, yet it was foretold that He would be nailed to a cross of wood. And one of the predictions was that He would be born of a Virgin. Now I know that is probably the hardest for you as a Doctor to accept. The only answer that can be given is — a miracle. But Loyal I don’t find that as great a miracle as the actual history of His life. Either He was who He said He was or He was the greatest faker & charlatan who ever lived. But would a liar & faker suffer the death He did when all He had to do to save Himself was admit He’d been lying? The miracle is that a young man of 30 yrs. without credentials as a scholar or priest began preaching on street corners. He owned nothing but the clothes on His back and He didn’t travel beyond a circle less than one hundred miles across. He did this for only 3 years and then was executed as a common criminal. But for two thousand years He has had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together. The apostle John said, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that who so ever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.’ We have been promised that all we have to do is ask God in Jesus name to help when we have done all we can — when we’ve come to the end of our strength and abilities and we’ll have that help. We only have to trust and have faith in His infinite goodness and mercy. Loyal, you and Edith have known a great love — more than many have been permitted to know. That love will not end with the end of this life. We’ve been promised this is only a part of life and that a greater life, a greater glory awaits us. It awaits you together one day and all that is required is that you believe and tell God you put yourself in His hands. Love
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
THE ROSARY
A WORLDWIDE BOND OF LOVE
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t began 12 years ago. A small group of children gathered beneath a tree in Venezuela and prayed. The children, not quite 10 years old, were praying the Rosary – for peace, for their families, for the world. But they didn’t want to pray alone. Other children joined them. They wanted one million children to pray the Rosary together at the same time – all around the world. Now it happens every year. On 18 October hundreds of thousands of children pray the Rosary, in a campaign that unites the world with God. For the Rosary, as Saint John Paul II wrote,
‘brings us through the heart of his Mother into a living bond with Jesus’. Once again this year ACN is calling on children all over the world to pray, through the intercession of the Mother of God, for peace – above all in Iraq and Syria. The prayer of children is powerful. But organising the campaign in so many different languages costs money. So we are also turning to the grown-ups for their help – so that still more children may come to hear of this bond of love that binds the world together, and join in. • One Million Children praying the rosary
For unity and peace On the 18th October
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‘STOP THIS EVIL’
THE HEROIC WITNESS OF FR. HERMAN RASSCHAERT SJ
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hey called him Bhalu, the bear. It was their affectionate nickname in the Hindi language for the powerful figure of Father Herman Rasschaert SJ, who died a martyr. Whenever Father Herman appeared, people tended to fall silent. The same thing happened to a mob of enraged Hindus, when this imposing Jesuit priest in his white habit and black beard stepped forward and stood on the low wall surrounding the mosque in Gerda, in which hundreds of Muslims had taken shelter. Father Herman knew that a fanatical mob was not going to be appeased by a sermon. So he merely shouted out: ‘Killing people is a grave sin. Stop this evil! Stop! Stop!’ These were his last words. For a moment the crowd fell silent,
then suddenly someone shouted, ‘He is one of them!’ A stone the size of a fist flew through the air and struck Father Herman in the face. He fell to the ground, tried to rise, but then the bloodthirsty horde was upon him, stabbing him repeatedly, trampling over him and rushing into the mosque. It was 24 March 1964, on Tuesday of Holy Week. Over 1,000 people died in the massacre that day. Father Herman was just 42. But he did not die in vain. News spread rapidly of the heroic sacrifice of this Jesuit priest from Flanders in defending the Muslim minority in the southern Jharkhand region of northeast India. The central government sent troops and brought the unrest in the province under control. In a radio message which was
The site of the new church. The small chapel in the background has long since become too small for the growing number of pilgrims.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
broadcast throughout the country, the interior minister paid tribute to ‘the highest sacrifice a man can make for the sake of brotherly peace and friendship for all’. Prime Minister Nehru and Indira Gandhi both paid public tribute to Father Herman. The blood of the martyrs can also be the seed of peace. Mission is not just about preaching and teaching, but also about the example of our lives. Father Herman taught people, by his example of work and prayer, how the Christian life can lighten the burden of our everyday cares, how kindness, faithfulness and perseverance can bring happiness to others, how selfless love brings peace. ‘Bhalu’ gave of himself unstintingly – for his pupils, his parish, for all his people – even giving his own life. Near the place of his Golgotha a new church will be built. The existing small chapel has long since become too small to accommodate the
Local Bishop Vincent Barwa of Simdega at Father Herman’s tomb in Gerda.
pilgrims who, in recent decades, have come to Gerda in growing numbers to pray at the tomb of this martyr. At present they are ministered to by two priests and three Ursuline nuns. Although the people of the parish are poor, and modern services and facilities rare (e.g. electricity and properly surfaced roads), they are willing to put up one fifth of the cost of the new church. They hope that the remaining four fifths will come from ACN and we have promised to help. The Christians of Gerda live from the fruit of the soil. Father Herman, who once wanted to be a farmer, especially loved the phrase from St John’s Gospel: ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth… but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ (Jn 12:24). He was that grain and his heroic witness will surely yield a rich harvest. •
An example for the young: Father Herman’s sacrifice still inspires them today.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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THE PRIESTS STAYED ON
T
his is my body, which will be given up for you.’ There are few places on earth today where they are living the Passion of Our Lord more than in Syria. Those who could escape, did so. Over half the Syrian people were made exiles, or refugees in their own land. Those who remained now live in hunger among the ruins. The priests stayed on – in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and the other ruined cities.
Their presence gives courage to the Christians, for now, more than ever the Church embodies their hopes. The priests convey this hope by both word and deed. Living on just 110 dollars a month, priests still manage
SYRIA
to give to the poor and sick. Their witness strengthens others. But where does their strength come from? From their encounter with Christ. ‘It is from the midst of suffering that the message of salvation springs’, says Archbishop Samir Nassar, of the Maronite Diocese of Damascus. Yet the temptation to leave is always there, ever present, he adds. Baptisms and weddings are down by 75%, whereas funerals are an everyday occurrence. ‘But the future of the Church in Syria rests, as it does everywhere, on the priesthood. What would happen to the Church without priests?’ And in this difficult situation the Archbishop Christ, Light of the nations and light of these Syrian Christians at the Easter Vigil.
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
welcomes ACN’s Mass stipends as a revitalising breath of fresh air. We have promised him with Mass offerings for his 9 priests, and to Melkite Catholic Archbishop Jean Abdo Arbach of Homs, Hama and Yabroud we are assisting his 18 priests. ‘Peace be with you’ says Archbishop Arbach, adding, ‘Your help nourishes our hope’. And Maronite Bishop Antoine Chbeir of Latakia, quotes Saint Paul in asking for Masses for his 30 priests. ‘We preach Christ crucified’, Bishop Chbeir says adding ‘the weakness of God is stronger than men’ (1 Corinthians 1:23ff). He is referring to the sufferings of the Syrian Christians today – and to the bond of love that unites us to them. • “For on the night when he was betrayed...”: Holy Mass in Hama, Syria, for ACN’s benefactors.
Children in Syria receiving Holy Communion from Melkite Patriarch Emeritus Gregorios III.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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WITNESS TO HOPE - WITNESS TO TRUTH
REALISING A DIOCESE’S DREAM FOR PRIESTS GHANA
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n the diocese of Yendi in Ghana four seminarians are preparing for ordination. All four have their own dreams about their future life with the Lord.
will each need a moped for their pastoral work. That is the diocese’s dream. A dream that will cost €6,000. A dream that we hope to fulfil. •
‘My first dream is ordination itself’, says Elijah Nakobah. ‘Nothing is going to stop me now.’ After that, he wants to be among his people, bringing them the Sacraments. He also wants to help them with their livestock rearing, to speak to them in their own language, bring communion to the sick and elderly and ‘if possible, also go into the prisons. For they are God’s children too’. Justice Gmabagnan dreams of keeping bees, alongside his pastoral duties. Then there will be a little honey also for the people of God. Joseph Nweyada is filled with the desire ‘to discern the will of God and follow this as the guiding star of my life’. And he wants to convey this desire to other young people as well, through good catechesis and good example. For as he says, ‘a good and healthy piety strengthens the whole Church’. As for Joseph Megbenya, his modest dream, after the years of study and learning, is ‘to go out to the people and open their hearts to Christ’. For Joseph this will start with a year of pastoral work. This poor, rural diocese, with its dry, semiarid landscape, is setting great hopes in its four seminarians. Given the large distances, they
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Soon it will be out of the seminary and into the bush, or wherever God leads. This is Joseph, one of the four seminarians.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
YOUNG MISSIONARIES
BRAZIL AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA
T
he Church is young, as Pope Saint John Paul II said, when he first launched the World Youth Days. His successors are continuing this new tradition, and in October the first ever Synod on Youth will be held. The Youth are our future. There are some 150,000 young people in the diocese of Santissima Conceição do Araguaia in the Amazon region of Brazil, but very few priests to minister to their spiritual needs. And still fewer who can also speak to them in their own language and understand their particular needs and problems. That is why, for over 10 years now, the diocese has been training up lay youth missionaries who can convey Christian teachings and values to their contemporaries. After a six week intensive training course, these young missionaries promise to serve the diocese for a full year. They visit the villages, schools, and parishes and go out to the margins. The main theme this year is education for peace and overcoming violence. But
Taking their faith seriously: youth missionaries in Brazil preparing for their mission.
this mission costs money – for food, transport, lodging and teaching materials. For the eight youth missionaries it comes to less than €10,000. A small price to pay, given that the witness of these young people will continue afterwards in their daily lives. ‘For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’ (Matthew 12:34). Similarly, in Papua New Guinea, young people in the Diocese of Alotau-Sideia are taking on leadership roles in parish youth outreach. In special workshops they are, for example, learning about inculturation and about the Theology of the Body – and how our bodies are gifts from God – and how to use social networking for evangelisation. The youngsters pay for their training in kind – in fish and fruit – for they have nothing else. We are supplying the remaining amount. •
The joy of faith in Papua New Guinea: the colourful face of inculturation.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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NEED, LOVE AND THANKS − YOUR LETTERS A LITTLE TASK FOR THE LORD This is the first time that I have written to you – as until recently I knew practically nothing about your organisation. But yesterday I was in Fatima, and after Holy Mass I found a copy of the Mirror left lying on a bench. It seemed to be waiting just for me. Being somewhat curious about such things, I felt the Lord was calling me and giving me a little task to do: take a little flour from your store and give it for this good cause. So this is what I have done! A benefactress in Portugal HOW CAN ANYONE SAY ‘NO’? Your letters and Mirror are so compassionate and compelling, so poignant and bracing, that one wonders how anyone can say ‘no’ to your urgent pleas. The love of Christ urges us, does it not?
Thank you for allowing us to be a small part in your extraordinary work on behalf of our Brothers and Sisters of the Household of Faith! ... Finally, as for the issues of the Mirror, I save each of them. They are a wonderful compendium of Faith and Truth and Love! Thank you, again! A benefactor in the United States AN OFFERING GIVEN IN GRATITUDE Please find enclosed a donation towards religious Sisters and wherever you feel it is needed. I give thanks to God that I am finally permanent in my job as an Aged Care Worker and have the security to support my family. In gratitude I offer you this donation and pray that you continue this good work. I am sure that Fr Werenfried would be so proud of all you have achieved. Please keep up the good work. And I enjoy receiving the Mirror regularly. A benefactress in Australia One Million Children praying the rosary
For unity and peace On the 18th October
One Million children praying the Rosary: Children in Cameroon joining the Campaign.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
THE POWER OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST Dear Friends,
W
henever I have the opportunity to talk about Mass stipends, I feel a sense of joy and wonder at being able to report that every 21 seconds Holy Mass is celebrated somewhere in the world for the intentions of one of our benefactors. Not only does this confidence in the power of the Holy Eucharist strengthen the faith of the giver, but it is also an important pillar supporting the bridge of love that unites us to our suffering brothers and sisters. At the same time it enables many priests not only to carry out their own pastoral ministry, but also to materially support their communities – which are often extremely poor.
I would like to thank you all for persevering with your prayers and generosity, because these Mass offerings enable us to light many torches of faith and hope which can be passed on to future generations. It is this coming generation that particularly concerns us as we grow older, filling us with both joy and concern for the future. Let us therefore join together in praying with courage and with the help of the Holy Spirit that ways may be found to inspire young people with love for Jesus Christ.
Thomas Heine-Geldern, Executive President of ACN International
WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope.
IBAN BIC
Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.
(01) 837 7516
info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org
IE32 BOFI 9005 7890 6993 28 BOFI IE2D
If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This MIRROR is for your interest and information. Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
WE ARE CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES OF
‘ We greatly need prayer and a worldwide mission, so that the true spirit may prevail through them.’ ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant
‘For this spiritual combat, we can count on the powerful weapons the Lord has given us: • Faith-filled Prayer, • The Celebration of Mass, • Eucharistic Adoration, • Sacramental Reconciliation, • Works of Charity, • Missionary Outreach.’
9,000 copies of the The Rosary for children of the Diocese of Doumé, Cameroon.
THE MIRROR IS AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG/MIRROR 18 - 7
Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate