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This edition of Faith Alive is filled with inspiration. In the light of recent happenings around the world, there is the tendency to throw our hands up and give in to despair but, as you read through this issue, you will see how ACN is rekindling hope through its projects of charity, prayer and solidarity.
I invite you, as you read, to put a note in your diary of ACN’s one million children campaign for peace and unity on 18th October and discover how you can be a part of it. This campaign is all the more needed today for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world especially in Ukraine, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries where Christians are living through the darkness of an uncertain future.
Thank you so much for your interest and solidarity in our mission of bringing aid to persecuted and discriminated Christians. Your concern and your love give us the strength and the ability to perform our mission, several times against great odds.
If you have any questions about the work of Aid to the Church in Need or would like to reprint any of the articles in this magazine in your parish or group newsletter, please do get in touch.
Director
United in prayer, Stephen Axisa National
PAKISTAN:
SERIOUS ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS
August 16, 2023 was a very sad day for Christians in Pakistan. A mob made up of hundreds of Islamist fanatics in Faisalabad carried out one of the cruelest attacks of anti-Christian persecution that this country has ever witnessed. They threw stones and burned nearly 20 churches and hundreds of homes of Christian families, desecrating tombs, Bibles, images and crosses.
National Marian Shrine in Mariamabad, one of Pakistan’s oldest Catholic settlements
From the loudspeakers of the mosques, they called on the local population to “go out and kill” the Christians. And all because of an accusation of blasphemy against a Christian cleaner who allegedly desecrated the Koran and insulted the prophet of Islam.
The terrified Christians of the city fled en masse for their lives and managed to spend the night in the sugar cane fields. The next morning, the few who returned desperately in search of food saw how everything had been destroyed, down to the last light bulb.
The Church asks for urgent help
“The situation is terrifying. Christians are very scared. Please pray for our people, pray that their lives are protected. They don’t know what to do or where to go,” said Fr. Abid Tanveer, Vicar General of the Diocese of Faisalabad.
“I ask for your prayers and call for action and solidarity with the families affected by this terrible act,” said Bishop Joseph Arshad, president of the Catholic bishops’ conference of Pakistan.
We ask for your collaboration to immediately send emergency aid so that our brothers and sisters in Pakistan can survive and return to their homes. Your donation will help them remain strong in their faith, in the face of hatred and violence of those who are determined to eradicate Christianity from that country.
Christians in Pakistan barely represent 2% of the total population and, just because they are Christians, they are considered second-class citizens, which is why they are forced to take on the most degrading jobs in society in order to support their families.
Discrimination, false accusations of blasphemy, kidnappings of women and girls, and forced conversions to Islam haunt their daily lives. They are seriously threatened by those who are determined to eradicate Christianity from the country.
They feel that their lives are in danger at every moment and they feel ignored and unprotected by authorities. They face this harsh reality every day, heroically and without giving up their beliefs. But they need help to remain firm in their faith and to guarantee the permanence of Christianity in their country.
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
Hundreds of Christian homes and up to 15 church buildings were attacked and destroyed
Archbishop Joseph Arshad visiting and consoling victims
Samuel, a young Catholic from Lahore, was beaten up for refusing to deny Christ
PAKISTAN:
BREAKING DOWN PREJUDICE BY PROMOTING EDUCATION
Samuel, a computer science student, has high hopes for the future. But behind the smile lies huge courage. He has come under enormous pressure to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam. Samuel, who helps as a cameraman for Pakistan’s Catholic TV Station, told ACN: “One time when I refused, a group came over and beat me - but I told them I would not give up my belief in Jesus.”
ACN is helping young Christians across Pakistan with scholarships so they can pay college and university fees. Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and discrimination that keeps Christians poor and disadvantaged.
ACN is determined to help people like Samuel and many others who want to play their part as responsible and diligent citizens in society and lift their community out of misery and penury.
Join us in empowering young Christians like Samuel through education. Together, we can break the cycle of poverty and discrimination.
ACN is speaking up for the voiceless, standing up for the oppressed and breaking down prejudice by promoting education. Discriminated against and under constant pressure to abandon their Christian faith, never are the faithful in Pakistan ashamed to be Christian. Please offer whatever you can to help them. They are being tested in their faith and we are being tested in our love.
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
PAKISTAN: PLEASE HELP PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS IN PAKISTAN
ACN’s current urgent and critical projects include:
01
FAISALABAD: Food and clothes for the poorest families
02 LAHORE: Eight Sunday Schools for children living in slums
03
FAISALABAD: Homes for sick and elderly former catechists
04
QUETTA: Reconstruction of 42 homes and repairs to 54 others after 2022 floods
05
FAISALABAD: Legal support for vulnerable Christian young women and girls
06
LAHORE: Mass Stipends for 54 diocesan priests
07
ISLAMABAD: Construction of church in new town outside Chakri
08
LAHORE: School fees, books, school bags, and uniforms for children in nine schools
09
NATIONWIDE: Formation and training for 88 Dominican Sisters schools
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
300 Christian families and over 1,000 people are in need of daily food and other emergency provisions
PAKISTAN: GIVING FAMILIES A FRESH START
Keeping a beady eye on the family goat and the family cow tethered to a post, Roxanna sits in the cool of the evening. Her supper is cooking on an open fire outside her simple two-bedroom home.
She may not have much but Roxanna holds in her arms something - or rather someone - who is as precious as life itself; her darling baby girl, Angel - just three days old.
Roxanna and Angel are from Bonnieabad, a new village in the Punjab countryside which ACN is helping to develop for families wanting to make a fresh start away from places where there is constant threat of persecution, incidents of false accusations, kidnapping and even lynching.
It was one such incident of alleged blasphemy that resulted in a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, ending up on death row for 10 years before, at the last moment, the Supreme Court ruled in her favour.
ACN needs your help so homes, churches and community centres and other structures can be built in safe villages like Bonnieabad.
Bonnieabad project leader, Fr. Simon Khurshid told ACN that 40 families have already moved in and that the plan is to erect more than 200 homes across a five-acre site, the centre point of which will be their parish church.
Roxanna and her friends told us of their excitement, as a solar-powered water pump had just been installed. One said, “This place is wonderful - we feel safe and secure. Thanks so much to ACN and its benefactors, for giving us a fresh start.”
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
Religious sisters of the daughters of St Paul congregation, visiting and praying with victims of the attacks
PAKISTAN: YOU ARE THEIR HOPE
When a suicide bomber struck in Lahore one Sunday, 21-yearold Akash Bashir lost his life. Akash was on security duty outside his parish church during a very well-attended Holy Mass. His bravery saved the lives of more than 1,000 parishioners. He is now a servant of God, one step towards sainthood.
Days later, more than 40 Christian men from the same parish were arrested following protests demanding justice for Akash.
Dixon, a devout Christian, was among those arrested following the bombing. Four days later, frail and suffering, he was released when Sunil offered himself in his father’s place and so it was he and others that were jailed.
These innocent men would be imprisoned for nearly five years, tortured and threatened daily for refusing to renounce their Christian faith.
Denied family visits for the first year, Sunil was abused and fed animal food. He relied on the power of prayer to get through each day. His prison guards regularly offered him immediate release in return for conversion to Islam. Sunil said he would rather die than deny his Catholic faith.
ACN benefactors funded legal support for Sunil and his fellow prisoners. Despite great joy at his release, Sunil was refused work at local factories.
Once again, ACN responded by funding a taxi so Sunil could start his own business which to this day, enables him to support his family.
Mariam Lal, 54 and Newosh Arooj aged 21, were nurses on a psychiatric ward in a hospital in Faisalabad, when a patient handed them a torn sticker containing verses from the Quran.
The word spread and a mob descended, accusing the nurses of blasphemy. They were imprisoned but their lawyers eventually got them bail. Two years on, the case rumbles and the nurses remain in hiding.
“If we show our faces in public, we could easily be targeted and lynched. We have to keep on the move for our own security. The person who succeeds in killing us knows he would be hailed as a hero.”
ACN is helping to fund the lawyers fighting for justice. We need your help to continue this legal struggle, not just for Mariam and Newosh but for so many others whose only crime is their Christian faith.
She said, “you are our hope. Thank you so much for your care and concern. Who could we turn to if it weren’t for you?”
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
Komash and Ramish Bashir, sister and brother of Akash Bashir.
HELPING THE CHURCH’S MISSION OF MERCY
“We do not know how we would have survived without help from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)”
Sister Faustina, of the Congregation of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters, consoles a neighbour about the destruction of a house by Russian troops in Kyselivka, Mikolaiv region (Ukraine)
In Lviv, Fr Gregory has been supporting refugee families since the very beginning of the war, providing food parcels for starving families and providing shelter in his parish for those fleeing the war. Fr. Gregory said: “Here in St John Paul II parish, we have welcomed refugees since the beginning of the war - in the first 100 days of the war about 2,000 passed through the parish. Today we have 100 people here from destroyed cities in eastern Ukraine - the great majority are women and children.”
Through the support of our benefactors, Aid to the Church in Need has been able to help Priests like Fr. Gregory carry out their mission of mercy. He was one of 222 priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv to receive subsistence aid and his parish in Lviv received one of 111 generators funded by ACN. The Charity is also providing emergency aid for internally displaced persons (IDPs) being cared for in his parish.
To help the Church continue to respond to the crisis, ACN provides subsistence grants and Mass stipends to support priests and religious’ vital ministries - as well as providing emergency aid for displaced families.
It may be 18 months since invading soldiers first set foot on Ukrainian soil, but the needs are as great as ever. Our Church partners in Ukraine are relying on your love so they can help those crushed by war. Please don’t abandon them now.
Sister Faustina looks out from the windows of the Catholic church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary which was completely destroyed during the war
UKRAINE: SISTERS ARE STAYING WITH THE PEOPLE
When Mykolaiv Oblast was liberated in November 2022, the residents started returning to their homes - and so did the Benedictine Missionary Sisters.
Sister Faustina has been there alongside those who returned, comforting and counselling those who have lost loved ones, homes and possessions.
The Benedictine Missionary Sisters have remained with the people. Sister Jana told ACN: “Despite the ongoing war we have not suspended our pastoral work in parishes and all the Sisters are staying and working in Ukraine.
“We serve the Catholic Church by running orphanages, caring for young people, organising days of recollection, retreats, catechesis, preparing adults for the sacraments, helping with pilgrimages, holding other meetings, as well as helping people affected by war - especially refugees.”
Over the last two years ACN has helped the Benedictine Missionary Sisters across Ukraine with subsistence aid and heating for their convents which now house displaced persons - basic things, but without them they could not carry out their ministry of love.
Sister Jana wrote: “We assure you that our friends and benefactors have a special place in our hearts and daily prayers.”
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
YOUR DONATION IS SAVING LIVES
Sister Faustina with a Ukrainian flag in the ruined interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) invites all parishes, nurseries, schools, Catholic centres and families to take part in another yearly edition of “One million children praying the Rosary”, on 18th October 2023.
“The Rosary is highly valued
by God, and
praying it is more necessary
today than ever, for two reasons: firstly, because the Mother of God asked for it specifically in her apparitions that have been recognised by the Church.
Secondly, because it is part of the experience of the Church, and of many of its saints, as confirmed by the Magisterium and in keeping with the sensitivity of our Christian faith,” says Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, president of ACN.
In this year’s campaign ACN invites the children to meditate on the Biblical passage in which St Joseph is warned by an angel to leave immediately for Egypt. Thanks to the help of God’s messenger, Joseph was able to protect the life of the infant Jesus.
“It is imperative that our world recovers the concept of guardian angels, to whom we can turn for help, so that we may clearly recognise and distinguish the many different challenges of our time. Shouldn’t we start teaching our children the prayer to the guardian angel, which was such a staple of the Church’s life for many centuries?”, asks the Cardinal, in his invitation to join the initiative.
With situations of war, violence and extreme poverty in countries such as Ukraine, Nigeria, Myanmar and Pakistan, as well as in regions of the Middle East and the Sahel, in Africa, ACN wishes to entrust to God, in a special way through the powerful intercession of His Mother, all the places and people who cannot live in peace.
In previous campaigns, groups from different countries, including Malta, have responded very positively to ACN’s invitation to join in this initiative. Last year, Pope Francis, after the Angelus prayer, encouraged the faithful to take part: “I thank all the children who are participating. Let us join them and entrust to Our Lady’s intercession the martyred people of Ukraine and other people who are suffering due to war and any form of violence and poverty.”
Free resources and information materials to help with prayers in parishes, schools, groups or families can be found on ACN’s website (https://acninternational. org/millionchildrenpraying/). The package contains instructions on how to pray the Rosary, reflections for children about the Mysteries of the Rosary and a prayer of consecration of children to the Mother of God. The package is available in eleven languages and includes colouring pictures.
The origins of the prayer initiative “A million children praying the Rosary” date back to the year 2005 when a group of children were seen praying the Rosary at a local shrine in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, and some of the adults who witnessed the scene were reminded of the words of Padre Pio, who once said: “When a million children pray the Rosary, the world will change.” Since then, the campaign has spread rapidly to become a worldwide phenomenon.
Please “Help us support those in Need” thank you
Prayer to the guardian Angel
Angel of God who in His goodness, God gave me to watch over me, enlighten my mind, watch over me, guide me and lead me every day. Amen.
One M illion C h ildre n p r ayin g t h e R os ar y
One M illion C ildre n p r ayin g t h e R
F o r un i t y a n d pe a c e
F o r un i t y a n d pe a c e
O n t h e 18 t h O ctobe r
O n t h e 18 t h O ctobe r
www.m i ll ion c h ildren p r a y in g. o r g
www.m i ll ion c h ildren p r a y in g. o r g
