Michael Kelly
Pope Francis participates in a memorial prayer on March 7, 2021, at Hosh al-Bieaa, the church square, in Mosul, Iraq, for the victims of the ISIS war. Syriac Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Chaldean Catholic churches were all destroyed in the war between 2014 and 2017. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring
Despite the challenges facing Christians in many countries, we need to keep hope alive writes Michael Kelly
Some of you will be aware that last week it was announced that I will soon take up a new appointment as Director of Public Affairs for the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland. It is a wonderful charity that works with some of the most vulnerable communities in the world supporting them both materially and spiritually. Part of the wider ACN International family, the Irish office works to express concrete solidarity with Catholics in difficulty in every part of the world.
In my new role, I hope to do what I love most: tell these stories. Readers of this newspaper will be acutely aware that solidarity with Christians in parts of the world where the Church is suffering has been a key theme of my journalism. It is something that I have returned to time and again in columns.
Perhaps because of our history as a Church that endured suffering and persecution, Irish Catholics are naturally empathetic to their brothers and sisters in troubled parts of the world.
Connection
Through our missionaries, our parishes and communities have been connected with the Church in developing countries.
It is both a rich legacy and a noble cause – and one that recent Popes have been keen to emphasise: that the Church is a ‘family of families’ that stretches the globe.
While sometimes in Ireland, we’re too used to reading stories that point to decline in the Church – fewer vocations, not as many people attending Mass – the rapid growth that the Catholic Church has experienced in the 20th Century has been phenomenal to witness. And it is a story that we need to repeat over and over again, particularly to a form of secular thinking that would consider Catholicism a thing of the past.
In 1950, there were 437 million Catholics in the world, a figure that grew to 650 million by 1970, and to around 1.4 billion today.
Think about it like this: the number of Catholics in the world has more than doubled since 1970, as the population of the world has increased. This growth has also been marked by the fact that we are increasingly a global Church, with much of the growth happening in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
It is about helping people find an encounter with the God who loves them and coming to know, love and serve God”
Not that any of this is about market share. The Church is about evangelisation, not proselytism – it is about helping people find an encounter with the God who loves them and coming to know, love and serve God.
This is the sort of work that Aid to the Church in Need has been doing from the dark days after World War II when much of continental Europe lay in ruins. ACN understood then – and understands now – that people have both material and spiritual needs and sets out to try to nurture these dual realities.
It works to support and promote the Faith, especially in countries where Christians are suffering persecution or discrimination.
Each year Aid to the Church in Need makes grants to help fund over 5,000 projects, primarily in the following areas:
- provision of catechetical material and books.
- broadcasting the Faith.
- help with church buildings.
- support for the training of seminarians.
- grants for the formation of religious and catechists.
- subsidies for priests through grants and Mass stipends.
- emergency aid to refugees.
- provision of transport for those involved in the Church’s mission.
Persecution
Sadly, the issue of the persecution of Christians is one that has come more to the fore in recent decades. Pope Francis has used the term ‘ecumenism of blood’ to describe the situation facing some Christian communities in troubled parts of the world.
At an ecumenical evening prayer ceremony in Rome in 2015, the Holy Father said: “In this moment of prayer for unity, I would also like to remember our martyrs, the martyrs of today.
“They are witnesses to Jesus Christ, and they are persecuted and killed because they are Christians. Those who persecute them make no distinction between the religious communities to which they belong. They are Christians and for that they are persecuted. This, brothers and sisters, is the ecumenism of blood,” he said.
So Red Wednesday – held in November every year – has become an important feature in the ACN calendar to remember and call attention to the plight of Christians who are persecuted for their Faith.
One of the other areas where ACN is particularly engaged is around the area of religious freedom. Published biennially, the Religious Freedom in the World Report informs on incidents gathered over the period, revealing where the individual can freely choose and publicly express his or her faith without being discriminated, oppressed, or persecuted.
“As the Book of Proverbs reminds us, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”
The ‘red’ category, which denotes the existence of persecution, includes 28 countries which are home to 4.03 billion people who altogether make up more than half (51.6%) of the world’s population. The ‘orange’ category, which denotes the existence of discrimination, includes 33 countries, home to almost 853 million people.
The challenges facing the Church throughout the world are immense. But, as the Book of Proverbs reminds us, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
Support
I hope in some small way with ACN Ireland to be able to help shine that light in difficult circumstances and with the many friends, supporters and volunteers of ACN Ireland and in communion of mind and heart with ACN International try to make a difference.
I will be grateful for your prayers, dear readers, and please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me if you have any suggestions, ideas or would like your parish to become involved in the vital work of ACN Ireland.
Michael Kelly is incoming Director of Public Affairs for Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland and can be contacted via info@acnireland.org calling +353 1 837 7516 or writing to Saint Joseph’s, 151 St Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, D09 HC82.