PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE ANNUAL REPORT 2016
PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
Putting Love into Practice ANNUAL REPORT 2016
CONTENTS PAGE The challenges we face
....................................... J F Declan Quinn...............................1
We need the Eucharist............................................. Fr. Martin Barta..................................2 It is God who acts..................................................... Johanness Freiherr Heereman.........4 Where your help went...........................................................................................................5 Aid Allowcated per region....................................................................................................6 You helped in 148 countries................................................................................................7 Annual report 2016 - Project Department......... Regina Lynch.....................................8
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
Aid to the Church in Need
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
THE CHALLENGES WE FACE A chairde,
L
ike the years before and like the years to come 2016 was a year of challenge and a year of grace for the whole Church and therefore also for Aid to the Church in Need. The challenges we face in the world today as individuals, as families, as communities, as humanity at large are many, are varied, are intimidating large. In fact they are overwhelming, as mere human beings, as men and women of goodwill we simply cannot cope. We cannot cope with the evil that is in the world without the grace of God. Indeed the more we try to do so, the more we try to exclude the God of the Gospels from the life of the world, the worse things become.
in our world and in our lives, our future is grim and our present lacking; lacking in real Hope and true Joy. In layman’s terms one can say that the bringing of Hope and of Joy to the world ‘always and everywhere’ is the mission Christ entrusted to His Church. The following annual report outlines how Aid to the Church in Need sought to help advance the Church’s mission in the world throughout 2016. It also indicates hwo we hope to do more in 2017 and beyond.
Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)
Here the simple truth, a truth which far too many deny, is that without the light of Christ
ANNUAL REPORT 2016
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PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
WE NEED THE EUCHARIST Dear Friends,
O
n the commemorative cards for his first Holy Mass a young priest once wrote the single Greek word: ‘Eucharistomen’ – ‘We give thanks’. Thanksgiving is uppermost in our minds as we present this year’s annual report to you in the current issue of the Mirror. ‘Thank you’ is a very human expression; it is one of the shortest phrases for expressing our appreciation for what we have been given. We all depend upon one another – though this fact often becomes blurred by the fact that we can purchase so many forms of help and assistance. Acts of human kindness become paid-for services, what used to be a free suddenly commands a fee. And yet as humans we depend to a considerable extent on things that can
never be paid for – our very existence, freedom, grace – all things beyond price. The things we can purchase, such as pleasure, comfort, education, excitement, insurance – even good health, to some extent – can at best satisfy us, but never make us truly happy. That is why gratitude leads us to the unconditional love of God, which is bestowed on us freely and for nothing. It is given for our good, simply because God wants us to be good. He wants us to experience this love not only through the incarnation of His Son, but also through the Holy Eucharist. Eucharist means thanksgiving. Our Lord gave us His enduring presence in the Eucharist, He transformed the Cross, all suffering and all evil in the world into thanksgiving, and hence also into a blessing. Jesus surrendered His own body to the world to heal our wounds. Our gratitude to God impels us to hasten to the help of others, even though in doing so we may run the risk of being hurt ourselves. We need the Eucharist to enable us to overcome our fears and our selfishness. Dear friends, everything that we are able to achieve, with your help, draws its real strength from the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and is grounded in it.
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
Since our Lord himself wishes to be present among us in the Eucharist, we build churches, help seminarians, priests and religious and help train lay catechists. The Eucharist is the most precious and most necessary gift that can be given. The holy Curé of Ars put it this way: ‘All the treasures of this world are not enough to nourish the soul. God alone must be its nourishment. How noble man must be if only God alone can feed him.’ Let us often spend time before the Blessed Sacrament. He is there! Without price! On our love for our Eucharistic Lord depends whether the world descends into chaos in its poverty and ingratitude, or whether it is saved. That is why Saint Peter Julian Eymard once said, ‘The Blessed Eucharist is not only the life of the individual Christian, it is also the life of the nations. A century advances or goes backwards to the extent that the most Blessed Sacrament is adored.’
My grateful blessing on you all,
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant
ANNUAL REPORT 2016
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PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
IT IS GOD WHO ACTS Dear Friends,
G
od’s loving care is humbling. Once again our income has increased – to the level of €129 million. Of course, we strive in our appeals and campaigns – both in the media and on social networks – to draw attention to the plight of Christians around the world and raise funds to relieve or alleviate their distress. But if God did not touch the hearts of our benefactors – your hearts – all this effort would be no more than ‘sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal’, as we hear in 1 Corinthians (13:1). It is love that moves us. Caritas Christi urget nos – the love of Christ compels us (2 Cor 5:14). It is God Himself who helps His Church, through us. Or rather, who moves your hearts and who, thanks to your generosity, entrusts this pontifical charity with the means to help His priests, His seminarians, His religious sisters and brothers and His
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lay faithful in 148 different countries and in half of the world’s dioceses. We thank you – but we also thank God who has made us all into instruments of His mercy and into a community of love. The figures in this annual report for 2016 show you where Aid to the Church in Need is working and what it is doing. (Further information is also available on our website, see www. acnireland.org) But of course, figures do not tell the whole story – nor can your generosity and heroic sacrifices be reduced to statistics. What the work of our charity needs above all is your prayer – as in all these situations it is God who acts.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
WHERE YOUR HELP WENT In 2016 you funded a total of 5,303 projects. Since 2011, we have sent €60 million to the crisis-hit areas of the Middle East – in 2016 alone we provided 18.2 million. We expect to be paying out similar levels this year. Because the cost of the various projects we supported was, on average, higher in 2016 we supported 900 fewer projects than the previous year. Unfortunately, 2,109 requests had to be declined.
● 30.0 % Construction ● 18.6 % Refugee and emergency aid ● 14.8 % Mass Offerings ● 11.0 % Religious formation of the laity ● 10.9 % Formation of priests and religious
1,222 construction projects
As in previous years, the largest proportion of our aid was for building projects, accounting for 30% of the total. This was followed by emergency aid – including help for refugees. We also helped with subsistence and formation including programmes to help 30,000 catechists and other lay workers.
● 7.3 % ● 3.3 % ● 2.4 %
Pastoral transport Support for religious sisters Religious literature and publications ● 1.7 % Mass media
You helped fund the construction of churches and chapels, cathedrals and seminaries. One third of these construction projects were in Africa.
1,435,888 Mass Offerings of our benefactors.
You helped one priest in every nine with Mass offerings (43,027 altogether), especially in Africa (14,403) and Asia (11,293). Every 22 seconds Holy Mass was celebrated somewhere in the world for the intentions of our benefactors.
10,760 seminarians were supported by you during 2016,
or one in every 11 seminarians worldwide (in 2015 it was one in every 10). Most of them were in Africa (4,667), followed by Latin America (2,900) and Eastern Europe (1,577).
11,080 religious sisters were That is one sister in every 62 (in 2015 it was one in every 67). In most cases it was a matter of basic or ongoing formation. supported by you in their training and/or apostolate. 375 cars, 149 motorcycles, 239 bicycles and two riverboats
were supplied by you for pastoral ministry. Once again in 2016, most of the vehicles went to Africa or Asia.
ANNUAL REPORT 2016
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PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
AID ALLOCATED PER REGION Dear Friends,
T
he growing number of aid requests from Africa, now 34% of all requests received, reflects the growth of the Church on the continent. Particular help is given to the countries of the Sahel region, and likewise to northern Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar – all countries increasingly facing the spread of an aggressive form of Islam. In the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, there is a heavy demand for emergency aid including food and shelter to enable the survival of the embattled Christian communities in the region.
● 27.5 % ● 22.6 % ● 15.2 % ● 15.1 % ● 14.8 %
Africa Middle East Asia Latin America Central and Eastern Europe
● 2.1 % ● 1.1 % ● 0.9 % ● 0.7 %
In Asia the Church needs our support not only in those countries still suffering communist oppression, such as China, Vietnam and Laos, but increasingly also in countries threatened by radical Hindu or Muslim extremism, notably in India and Pakistan and also in parts of the Philippines. In Central and Eastern Europe the focus of our aid is shifting from construction to education and formation. There is also a growing need in the Balkan states, where once again radical forms of Islam are making life difficult for Christians. We must support them in solidarity helping them to stand firm in their faith.
Western Europe International North America Oceania
Their future is entwined with ours: these children in the Central African Republic gave a big thank to our benefactors.
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
YOU HELPED IN 148 COUNTRIES. THE MAJORITY OF YOUR AID WENT TO THE FOLLOWING 10 (IN EUROS) 1 2 3 4 5
Iraq Syria India Ukraine DR Congo
€ 9,764,908 € 5,903,252 € 5,547,265 € 4,426,907 € 3,372,225
Country Currency 2016
2015
Australia Austria Belgium & Luxembourg Brazil Canada Chile Colombia France Germany/ Fr. Werenfried Foundation Ireland Italy Malta Mexico Netherlands Poland Portugal Spain Switzerland South Korea UK USA International Secretariat
AUD €
5,339,639 3,063,200
3,728,957 2,973,358
€ BRL CAD CLP COP €
4,537,734 14,076,097 2,916,682 865,319,891 573,847,671 29,490,022
3,590,825 13,541,790 2,982,720 885,461,783 296,187,402 36,590,066
€ € € € MXN € PLZ € € CHF KRW GBP USD
12,393,616 4,533,380 3,390,293 212,155 5,503,766 3,888,878 9,544,449 3,178,816 13,170,152 9,966,333 717,215,891 14,925,049 7,554,497
10,513,008 3,686,081 2,489,666 124,653 3,697,369 3,588,677 8,724,492 2,589,808 13,219,164 10,984,475 107,222,789 10,048,881 7,699,865
€
2,936,796
1,313,515
Total worldwide income in €
128,553,835 123,735,178
6 7 8 9 10
Brazil € 3,221,132 Tanzania € 1,695,398 Ethiopia € 1,540,842 Madagascar € 1,393,297 Cuba € 1,392,676
2016 REPORT INCOME Individual donations Mass Offerings Legacies Sales and tax relief Other donations/income
€
%
84,039,955 65.0% 11,998,851 9.3 % 28,206,238 21.8 % 3,986,917 3.1 % 321,874 0.2 %
Subtotal Net financial income
128,553,835 99.4 % 717,372 0.6 %
Total income
129,271,207
100 %
€
%
EXPENSES
Expenses in fulfilment of the Church’s mission - Projects 81,059,416 62.7 % - Project follow-up 2,664,147 2.1 % - Information, media and pastoral support 16,646,664 12.8 % Total mission related exp 100,370,227 77.6 % Fundraising Administration
12,778,363 8,284,572
Total expenses
21,062,935 16.3 %
Donations carried over
7,838,045
9.9 % 6.4 % 6.1 %
These international financial statements have been audited and certified by KPMG. They are based on the individual financial statements of each national office, and aggregated to show the worldwide position. We will gladly supply these on request.
ANNUAL REPORT 2016
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PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
ANNUAL REPORT 2016 - PROJECT DEPARTMENT REGINA LYNCH - DIRECTOR OF PROJECT DEPARTMENT
A
id to the Church in Need received almost 8,000 funding applications during 2016 and thanks to the generosity of our benefactors managed to support 5,303 projects in 148 countries with over € 81 million in project aid. In all of this ACN’s foremost duty is to provide spiritual and material support through the local Church to those who suffer persecution or. repression for the sake of their Christian faith. No viable request from a persecuted Church should ever go unanswered for lack of financial means. We should help here before we help elsewhere. But thankfully thanks to the generosity of our benefactors and all our colleagues, who are involved in raising funds and awareness for this suffering Church, we also have the means to support the Church in those parts of the world, where
The Citadel of Aleppo.
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extreme poverty, wars or aggression from other faiths, are a hindrance to her mission of proclaiming the Word of God. The projects we support are primarily pastoral in nature, i.e. Faith-related. On average 30% of expenditure goes on constructions, whereas formation (training future priests and sisters, ongoing formation of priests and religious, faith formation for laity), which is a priority, makes up some 21%. Clearly it costs more to build a seminary than to train its seminarians. In 2016 we spent over €11,9 million on mass stipends or 15% of the budget. This means a constant increase in the last few years, e.g. in 2011 we only spent €9,8 M resulting in an overall increase of 18% by 2016. Normally, we have only a small budget for humanitarian projects but the situation of the Christians in the Middle East -in particular in Syria and Iraq -in most recent years, has meant that we have been more active in providing significant emergency aid in order that the Christians there can continue to exist in what is the cradle of Christianity. We also support by exception schools in countries such as Sudan, where the Christians are a minority in a Muslim society and the Catholic Church can only ensure that a Christian education is provided by running her own schools.
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
In all our project work, what is important for us is the dialogue with the local Church. The bishops and the religious superiors are our partners and we have to be attentive to what they have to say, to know where their priorities and needs lie. Very often we can help them meet the challenges that they face with the financial means at our disposal but sometimes the solution does not lie in funding and it is our prayers and the prayers of our benefactors that help them through a situation that might seem unsurmountable in human terms.
MIDDLE EAST
As a Foundation that has as its priority both the material and spiritual support for persecuted Christians, it is no surprise that in the Middle East, we have seen a dramatic increase in our aid since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011 followed by the exodus of the Christians from the Nineveh Plain in summer 2014.
Destruction of Christian villages in Nineveh Plains. The decapitated by ISIS statue of our Lady in the side chapel of a church in Batnaya.
In 2016 we spent some â‚Ź18,2 million on projects in the region meaning that the Middle East makes up around 22,5% of our project budget. For the moment it is difficult to imagine that this will change greatly in the next few years. Even if some of the Christians in northern Iraq return to the Nineveh Plain in the course of this year, we might not have to provide as much help for Iraq in the long run but the needs of the Christians in Syria will continue to require much support.
ANNUAL REPORT 2016
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PUTTING LOVE INTO PRACTICE
AFRICA
In 2016 around 27,5% of the budget went to this large and still young Church in Africa. It is for us the largest-growing region in terms of number of applications. They make up some 34% of projects received. This reflects the growth and development of the Church in Africa. We pay particular attention to those countries or regions in Africa, where we see a growth in an aggressive form of Islam that was not evident before such as in the Sahel countries, Northern Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania even Madagascar or those beset by violence and conflicts e.g. Dem. Rep. of Congo, Central African Republic. The bishops in Africa stress the importance of having better formation for their priests and religious and of strengthening the faith of their people so that they can withstand the many threats from both within
and outside the continent. Because of the increase in applications and in budget, we now have four project sections for Africa and have increased our staff.
ASIA AND OCEANIA ASIA AND OCEANIA
Received around 16% of the project budget in 2016. Many countries or regions remain a priority for ACN: the countries that have suffered -and still suffer to varying degrees -under Communism for decades such as China, Vietnam or Laos. Or the increasingly radical Hinduism that affects the Christians in India. There are countries like the Islamic State of Pakistan or parts of the Philippines, especially the Muslim dominated region of Mindanao. But there is also good news in parts of the vast region, e.g. in 2014 we spent over €1.0 million helping to rebuild churches destroyed by the typhoon Yolanda in December 2013 (the earmarked donations for the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 amounted to € 1, 419.105 -the total spent for the Philippines at the end of two years were € 2, 505.899). So it was that last year we were able to visit the ten churches successfully rebuilt with this aid.
Construction of St Joseph Cathedral in Sangmelima, Cameroon
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We are currently supporting the reconstruction of the major seminary in Palo that was also badly damaged by the same typhoon.
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YEARS OF AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
With the collapse of Communism, in the early nineties we were able to dedicate around 50 % of our project budget to helping the Church in Eastern and Central Europe. In the last 25 years we have invested heavily in constructions, especially in seminaries but also in churches, convents, priests’ houses etc. An important aspect of our work has been support for training future priests and sisters. While we continue with the formation programmes, a lot of infrastructure has been put in place and so in the last few years there has been a natural reduction of requests and of our support for some of the countries of the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2016 around 14,6% of the budget went to this region. Priority countries are still: Ukraine, Russia, Belorussia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Albania, Bulgaria and the countries of Central Asia. In the Balkan region we see a worrying development of a radicalised Islam and so we need to show this small Church in these countries that they are not alone and to provide the support needed to keep them strong in their Faith. Elsewhere in those countries that now belong to the European Union, our focus will be more on initiatives for new or re-evangelisation, especially in those countries where secularism is encroaching on the Faith. In the field of ecumenism in Russia, we are enabling exchanges between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in Russia on common areas of concern, e.g. persecuted Christians, protection of the faith in families or in cultural activities, in pilgrimages etc.
Prayer for the Coptic Martyrs during the Evening of Martyrs, organised by ACN Netherlands in the Basilica of St. Nicholas, Amsterdam.
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LATIN AMERICA
Latin America has seen a decrease in our support over the last few years (2016: 15%). Nonetheless, certain countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay and the countries of Central America remain a priority , because of the challenges to the Church ensuing from the political or economic situation. We also continue to give priority to the Church in Haiti, because of the extreme poverty and the rebuilding process after the earthquake that is still continuing. In Latin America, following the continental mission announced at Aparecida, Brazil in 2007, our focus is on formation programmes for seminarians but also for the laity (catechetical, biblical apostolate), media projects and when we fund new churches, then often these are in the marginal areas of large cities, where there is a huge influx of people from the rural areas.
A small part of our budget goes to projects in the so-called developed countries. If we include the international projects for the World Youth Day in Cracow, we arrive at some 4,4% of the total budget. Following the exodus of Catholics fleeing Communism in the Iron Curtain countries in the 1950s, we started helping refugees in Western Europe and today we either have projects for the pastoral care of new refugees from the Middle East or for migrant workers from the Ukraine, for example. We also include the Church in the diaspora of Scandinavia in this budget as well as some initiatives for New Evangelisation. In 2016 one significant project was the launching of the DOCAT -the youth catechism on the social teachings of the Church -at the World Youth Day in Cracow.
Argentina: Prayer to Our Lady outside in rural area.
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Aid to the Church in Need
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