Where God Weeps - the suffering church in focus
How you can help
- Prayer: Show your prayerful solidarity for the persecuted Church. It is the spiritual bond which unites us in faith, love and solidarity with persecuted and suffering Christians around the world.
- Information: Spreading the message via Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Email about the persecution and oppression of millions of Christians around the world.
- Action: Supporting Aid to the Church in Need's work is your personal pledge of solidarity with the persecuted and suffering Christians and the worldwide family of the Church. Visit the websites of our offices to learn more.
Successfully concluded projects
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Karamles lies close to the famous city of Niniveh in northern Iraq and has suffered a chequered history. This traditionally Christian town, around 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Mosul, was inhabited for 5,000 years by Assyrians. It was here that Alexander the Great inflicted a crushing defeat on the army of Darius III. Read more >>
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Sulaimaniyya, Northern Iraq. A photograph sent to ACN by the Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk shows a priest sitting together with a married couple on a sofa. The plaster is crumbling on the wall behind and there is darkness around them. Read more >>
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Albania: Repairs to the church roof in Fier
High in the upper corners of the church, the plaster was crumbling, and visible cracks were extending across the walls. Last year, in the southern Albanian town of Fier, the people were struggling with the headache of a church in need of renovation and with a leaky roof. In the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of communism in Albania, ACN helped for the building of this church. Read more >>
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Two German Franciscan nuns, Sister Gratias Ruf and Sister Bernadette Ebenhoch have been working since 1997 in the mountains of northern Albania, more precisely in the small town of Fushe-Arrez, around 85 miles (130 km) north of Tirana. Even during the warlike years of the 1990s the sisters stayed on bravely here, following the collapse of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, when almost everybody carried a weapon. Especially between 1997 and 1999, Albania was enveloped in crisis, when the banks collapsed and the population reacted with explosive aggression. Read more >>
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„We are asking for a car for the pastoral work of our congregation in and around Lubango“, writes sister Maria Pereiea Veloso from Angola. She is the Superior of the congregation the Servas Franciscanas Reparadoras de Jesus Sacramentado, which was established in 1941 and which today has 73 sisters in Angola, in five different dioceses. One of these dioceses is Lubango in the southwest of the country. Read more >>
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In Saurimo, in Northwest Angola, the „Irmas de Coracao de Jesus Sacramentado“ (Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) are in charge of the local parish. Poverty and illiteracy are widespread among the largely rural population of this area. The sisters are trying to improve the situation by teaching the adults to read and write and by helping the children from six local state schools. Read more >>
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Bosnia-Herzegovina: Help for the congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Banja Luka
The diocese of Banja Luka in northwest Bosnia still suffers today from the consequences of the Balkan war in the 1990s. Some 98% of the churches and convents in the diocese were damaged or destroyed. The bishop of the diocese, Bishop Franjo Komarica, reports that in many parts of the country there were scarcely any Catholics left, almost all of them having fled or been expelled. Read more >>
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Bosnia-Herzegovina: Rebuilding the parish house in Nova Topola destroyed during the war
From 1992 to 1995, following the break-up of Yugoslavia, war raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some 243,000 people lost their lives, while around two million were made refugees as a result of the war and the redrawing of the map of the republic. Among them were many priests and religious. Read more >>
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Lay pastoral workers are of great importance in supporting the work of the priests, especially in a country like China, which has far too few priests in proportion to the number of Catholic faithful. In one diocese in the southwest of China, the laity are particularly active and by their involvement help to keep the parishes running. Their training operates on three levels. Read more >>
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In China there is a new generation of younger sisters, who have entered the religious congregations since 1980. This young generation is now taking over from the older one, whose training dates back to before the communist era. In almost all the convents today responsibility now rests in the hands of younger women. Read more >>
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One might well imagine the town of Abou Qurqas, around 2 hours drive from Cairo, to be a peaceful place to live, were it not for the events of 18 April 2011, That day the people of the town, Muslims and Coptic Christians alike, set out as usual to go to work or open up their shops, while the little children hurried off on foot to school. But this peaceful image was soon shattered by the events that followed. As if from nowhere, islamists appeared in front of the Coptic church and announced their intention of shutting it down. Read more >>
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Faith comes from hearing. Radio and TV are becoming ever more important, not just for entertainment but also as purveyors of knowledge and information. The role of Christian programming in the context of the New Evangelisation is an aspect that should not be underestimated, given that it can reach such a vast audience, including among others the sick who could not otherwise participate in parish life but who can for example join in the great prayer of the Holy Mass while watching it on their TV screens. Read more >>
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The clinic run by the Camillian Fathers[1] in Tbilisi does not have any wealthy patients. Instead it is the extremely poor and the refugees who come here, because they cannot afford expensive treatment and are grateful for the treatment the brothers provide free of charge. The Camillian Fathers have been running the clinic for 10 years now; it was a gift from Pope John Paul II. Read more >>
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The activities on the roof of the church in Tskhaltbila looks very dangerous. There are several men standing up there, with very little in the way of safety. The noise of their hammering echoes far across the land. Read more >>
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The Haitian Bishops conference has embarked on a major project, one that it believes will be a source of hope for the suffering people of Haiti. On a new site they are planning to build a brand new major seminary. The old seminary of „Notre Dame d’Haiti“, together with the two departments for theology and philosophy, was destroyed in the earthquake. Read more >>
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When the earthquake struck, Rafael Mendez, the technical expert for the Catholic radio station „Radio Soleil“ acted immediately. At the time he happened to be in the Dominican Republic, and was thus able to bring in some essential equipment from there to Haiti and so patch up the damaged radio station. Thanks to his quick thinking and with the help of a generator and inverter provided by the Vatican nunciature, „Radio Soleil“ was able to continue broadcasting a message of hope. Read more >>
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The Regional Commission for Family and Laity organises regular training programmes in Sagar, one of the major cities in the heart of the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, not far from the state capital Bhopal. The focus of these programmes is one of pastoral and spiritual guidance for families and lay people in the nine dioceses of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The work of this commission is important for the Catholic Church in India, for although religious freedom is enshrined in Article 25 of the constitution, in reality it is not respected in all the states of India. Read more >>
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The Vincentian congregation of Malabar is a home-grown religious congregation within the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. It was established in 1904 in Kerala. Currently the congregation has 381 priests, two brothers and 209 major seminarians and is active worldwide in the missions, although mostly in India and Africa. Read more >>
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Ever since the introduction of an anti-conversion law - contrary to the principle of religious freedom enshrined in Article 25 of the Indian Constitution - in the state of Orissa in northeast India, there have been repeated outreaks of anti-Christian violence in the region. Hundu extremist groups in particular view Christians as a potential threat, fearing they will undermine the existing caste-based social order with its built-in priviledges for the higher castes. They accuse Christian missionaries, who care above all for the poor, the Dalits and the members of the ethnic tribal groups, of seeking to convert them with money, trickery and force. Read more >>
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India is a multi-ethnic nation. Over 8% of the population consists of indigenous tribal peoples, with well over 600 different tribes. For the most part they are outside the Hindu caste system and are thus severely disadvantaged. Read more >>
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The Christians in Iraq have little left but hope – hope for an end one day to the madness in their country. Anyone who can leave does so. Church sources estimate that over 200,000 Christians have left Iraq so far. Read more >>
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This was one of the worst outrages against the Christian community in Iraq. Seven armed men, fitted with explosive belts, stormed the Syrian Catholic cathedral of Sayidat-al-Nejat in Baghdad, while Holy Mass was being celebrated, and shot the two priests, followed by many of the faithful. When the police arrived, the terrorists blew themselves up, killing many more of the faithful as they did so. Read more >>
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Israel and Palestine: Support for the work of the Al Liqa Centre in Jerusalem
„I believe that this group of Christian and Muslim believers who are working for peace and dialogue are a shining example of a religious necessity which will strengthen the faith of every believer", writes His Beatitude Archbishop Michael Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. "Al-Liqa", an Arabic word, means "encounter". It is an Association founded in 1982 in Jerusalem by Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Read more >>
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Israel and Palestine: Help for the sisters of the Carmel of the Child Jesus in Bethlehem
In January 2005 ACN received an urgent appeal from the prioress of the Carmel in Bethlehem, Sister Lucyna of the Cross. „Very recently", she wrote, "the shocking news has reached us that our convent precincts are being used as a refuge by Islamic militants. This is being dealt with at the highest levels, the patriarch, the Nuncio, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military. Read more >>
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In the run-up to the presidential elections in 2007/2008 Kenya was struck by political unrest and ethnic violence, and an estimated 600,000 or more people were forced to flee from their homes. At the time the "Live with Hope" centre, a care home for victims of HIV/AIDS, run by the Franciscan Sisters of the ImmaculateConception in Kericho near Kisumu, took in many of the refugees. The opposition party, the ODM, had refused to recognize the reelection of President Mwai Kibaki, since they believed the elections to have been rigged. Read more >>
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The Franciscan Brothers came to the diocese of Meru in Kenya in 1984, at the request of Bishop Silas Njiru. In 1989 they moved to the Archdiocese of Nairobi, where they opened a formation house. This formation house became known throughout the African continent and also internationally. Read more >>
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Over the past 30 years Islamic fundamentalism has steadily increased in Lebanon. This fact has led Christians to reflect increasingly on their own faith. The number of vocations among Catholic and Orthodox Christians is growing and, given the immense importance of Church life for the Christian population in the country, it seems increasingly necessary that we should support them. Read more >>
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Lebanon is seen in the Church as a bastion of Christianity in the Middle East. Unlike other countries in the Arab world, the country has a wealth of Catholic universities, and many priests from other countries are trained here. However, given the clashes between Shi'ite Muslims and Israel in recent years and combined with the current institutional crisis, there is a need in Lebanon for people who can rebuild the country again. Read more >>
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In their history they have overcome many difficulties – the Sestri Evharistinki, the "Eucharistine Sisters" of Skopje. The special charism of the congregation combines the two ideas of "Eucharist" and "service" in a special manner. The sisters especially venerate the Blessed Sacrament, and at the same time they help the needy, caring for orphans, giving religious instruction and working actively in the youth apostolate. Read more >>
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It is pitch dark. 13-year-old Monica is sitting alone on a bench in her classroom. Her friends and school chums are already sleeping on the floor above, on their bast-fibre sleeping mats, squeezed in side by side. Read more >>
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Myanmar: Rebuilding after Cyclone Nargis
It was 2 May 2008, round about midday. Father Andrew and three of his catechists were travelling by boat through the delta of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwaddy) to visit some of the remote communities in the diocese of Pathein, which can only be reached outside the rainy season. It was then that Cyclone Nargis struck with full force. Read more >>
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The apostolic vicariate of Kontagora lies in the north-west of Nigeria. There are an estimated 50,000 Catholics living within this area. The original apostolic prefecture was founded by the late Pope John Paul II in December 1995 (and raised to a vicariate in 2002) in order to bring the Gospel to the indigenous tribal peoples of the region. Read more >>
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Father Raymond Nandem is a priest of the Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria. In 2007 he requested ACN's financial support to enable him to complete five village churches. His parish currently covers some 36 villages. Read more >>
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"They are trapped in a net of fatalism, despair and fear and exist on the very lowest rung of the social and economic ladder", writes Father James Kajoo, currently the parish priest in Kunri, describing the situation of his parishioners. By way of explanation he adds, "For the most part they work for big Muslim landowners, to whom they have become indebted and hence dependent." He is speaking of the people of the Parkari Kohli and Punjabi tribes. Read more >>
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Pakistan: Help for the flood victims in Hyderabad
It was the worst flooding this region has experienced since 1929. Worst affected was the province of Sindh, in the south. The flooding cost the lives of 1,650 people, over 1,100 of them in Sindh province alone. Read more >>
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On 25 December 1989 the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was brought before a military tribunal and summarily executed, together with his wife. Shortly before this, over 1000 people had lost their lives demonstrating for freedom and democracy. But finally, as throughout the former Eastern Bloc, the Communist regime fell here too. Read more >>
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"In view of the situation and the historical circumstances, the Greek Catholic Church in Tirgu Mures holds a particular position. We beg you to support this project if it is at all possible." So writes Archbishop Lucian Muresan, Major Archbishop of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia. Read more >>
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"God is rich in grace", says Pallottine Sister Marta Litawa. It is a phrase that might fall easily from the lips of someone living in material comfort in the Western world. But Sister Marta lives in Rwanda, where the murderous civil war in the 1990s between Hutu and Tutsi claimed somewhere in the region of 800,000 human lives and left a trail of misery, trauma and sickness in its wake. Read more >>
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Like their fellow Rwandans throughout the country, the people of Kibeho have been deeply traumatised by the consequences of the bloody Civil War between Hutu and Tutsi in the 1990s. Together with her 40 or more fellow Pallottine Sisters, Sister Marta is doing everything in her power to ease the suffering of the thousands of refugees, of sick and hungry people whose plight has been virtually forgotten by the Western world. And indeed, the presence of the Pallottine Sisters greatly helps to ease the burden of their daily lives. Read more >>
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Father Werenfried van Straaten, the founder of ACN once told a congregation to whom he was appealing for help, "I would gladly renounce the entire collection if there were just one young man in this church who was willing to give his life in the service of our Lord and proclaim the Kingdom of God as his priest". It is above all in such crisis torn countries as Sudan that soundly trained priests are needed as pastors to the people and as role models for young people who may one day opt for the priesthood. It was in the year 2007 that the minor seminary of the diocese of Rumbek returned from its war exile in Kenya. Read more >>
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14-year-old Emma wants to become a doctor one day. But she lives in a country in which such an ambition seems almost foolhardy, especially for someone like her - a refugee child. She attends one of the schools run by the archdiocese of Khartoum, in the Mayo refugee camp. Read more >>
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In 70 countries around the world, the 5,000 religious sisters of the congregation of the Good Shepherd Sisters are caring for women and children who have undergone great suffering and are seeking shelter from oppression and exploitation. They set up convents, establish educational programmes, sponsor self-help groups and endeavour to gently influence the political climate. In Syria the Good Shepherd Sisters are very much concerned with the spiritual and material needs of young families, and particularly of lone mothers and their children. Read more >>
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"Once again we are knocking on your door; it is the only door that has been opened to us, since there is no other organisation that will help us", writes Father Jabra Mrad of the local congregation of the Brothers of Saint Simeon Stylites[1]. It was five years ago when the brothers turned to ACN for the first time for help to build a monastery. They had to wait a long time before they had secured all the necessary permits and sufficient funds to start the work. Read more >>
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One of the most widely printed Bible-based texts has now been published in a special edition in Ukraine. It is a version of the renowned ACN Child's Bible "God speaks to His Children", this time illustrated with icons. This latest edition of a book which has now been printed in over 47 million copies worldwide was formally launched on 10 December in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Read more >>
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Burshtyn is a small town in West Ukraine. It lies southeast of Lviv, on the road to Ivano-Frankivsk. Burshtyn is equivalent to the name Bernstein. Read more >>
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Sister Rosalie belongs to a local congregation. She works in a clinic, which welcomes many poor and needy patients who do not have the financial means to pay for standard medical treatment. There are some 225. Read more >>
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Vietnam: Training of 18 novices in Vinh Phuoc
Vinh Phuoc lies in the south of Vietnam, in the region of the Mekong Delta. Here too is a contemplative convent, which currently has 18 young novices still undergoing their formation. The first Catholics to settle in the region of Vinh Phuoc came here towards the end of the 17th century after fleeing persecution in the central and northern regions of the country. Read more >>
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Zimbabwe in Africa is a country in a state of permanent crisis. Millions are suffering from hunger and food shortages and some are actually dying of starvation. It is impossible for the Church and the local missionaries to organise food aid on an adequate scale, and indeed it was not until the political compromise, negotiated in 2008 between President Mugabe and the MDC opposition movement that many NGOs were even permitted to supply food aid in this ravaged country. Read more >>
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In 2008, faced with the catastrophic situation in Zimbabwe, the diocese of Bulawayo decided to embark on a self-help project in order to provide food, especially for the children of the surrounding area. And so they set out a vegetable garden and drilled a borehole with a hand pump. It provided them with enough water to fill a 5000 litre tank -- enough at least to quench the thirst of the needy children in the diocese. Read more >>