ACN News

A Message from National Director Mr Bernard Toutounji

Dear friends,

Greetings to you in Holy Week. Thank you to many of you who have (and still are) supporting our Easter catalogue that came out with Mirror 2. The sale of religious and devotional items is something that ACN Australia has been doing for decades and I am so grateful at the response to the current catalogue; this avenue is another way we are able to raise funds for those who share the same faith but have vastly different challenges in practicing it.

In Pakistan Asia Bibi is finally free after being acquitted of blasphemy – we are overjoyed that justice has been done. Thanks for all your prayers and solidarity. At the time of writing, Asia is still under protective custody and we pray that she can start a new life with her family in a safe environment very soon. Sadly, Asia Bibi has suffered enormously for her faith in Christ. She has endured nearly 10 painful years in solitary confinement following a false accusation of blasphemy. Aid to the Church in Need – with your help – supported her and her family who were forced to live in hiding during her imprisonment. We appealed on the family’s behalf, both in the media and with government ministers. We did all we could to ensure a favourable outcome for her case. 

Vehicles for God: Aid to the Church in Need has been getting things rolling for 70 years

Seventy years ago, the organisation founded by “Bacon Priest” Werenfried van Straaten (1913-2003), Aid to the Eastern Priests (today Aid to the Church in Need or ACN, initiated the campaign “A vehicle for God”. So-called “rucksack priests” were given vehicles so that they could dispense pastoral care to the displaced Catholics of the German diaspora after World War II.

"Vehicles for God": The rucksack priest, Father Joseph Schneider from Freisenteinau, with his motorcycle. Copyright: Aid to the Church in Need.

Morocco: Find out first-hand information about the country Pope Francis will visit at the end of March

The universality of the Catholic Church becomes palpable in many places where Christianity is in the minority, including Morocco, a country with 37 million inhabitants, 99.9% of whom are Muslim and only 0.08% are Catholics. A small, but great Church carries out its pastoral work among the Catholic faithful of the country. Primarily, however, the Church supports the most disadvantaged among the Moroccan population and the thousands of young people who cross the desert from sub-Saharan Africa looking for a future in the idealised Europe. Pope Francis is planning to travel to the region situated at the border between Africa and Europe on 30 and 31 March and, in response to an invitation issued by King Mohammed VI and the bishops in the country, visit the cities of Rabat and Casablanca.

       Image: Logo for the Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis to Morocco March 30-31 2019.

Missing Priest: Father Joël Yougbare may be the Victim of Kidnapping 

A priest has disappeared after Sunday mass celebration in north Burkina Faso. He is the parish priest of Djibo and fidei donum from the diocese of Fada N'Gourma. Rumors are circulating that the kidnapping of the priest is an act of a jjihadist group looking for money.

Please find below the appeal for prayers sent to Aid to the Church in Need by the bishop of the area.

Image: Father Joël Yougbare went missing after Sunday Mass and rumours are that he has been kidnapped. Copyright Aid to the Church in Need.