EUROPE/GERMANY - 2004 Aid to the Church in Need funds almost 6000 pastoral projects all over the world: "The first task of the Church is to spread the Word of God" says outgoing secretary general who worked with ACN Founder for over 40 years

Wednesday, 13 July 2005

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Königstein (Agenzia Fides) - In 2004 Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) supported 5,900 pastoral projects in 137 countries according to a 2004 report sent to Fides. Donations sent to the International head offices in Königstein (Germany) from national offices ammounted to 66.2 million Euro with France, Germany and Gt Britain in the first three places and also more generous offerings this year from Chile, Ireland and Australia.
After the presentation of the report, retiring Antonia Willemsen, who worked with the founder Fr Werenfried as secretary general since 1960 said goodbye. She was replaced on June 1 by Dr. Norbert Neuhaus. Antonia Willemsen underlined the importance of support for the formation of priests, building of churches, supplying catechetical material and supporting the apostolate in the media and she said “it is much easier to collect money for social works” and many organisations do this “but the first task of the Church is to spread the Word of God”.
In eastern Europe in 2004 ACN donated 4.6 million Euro for the Church in Ucraine and 3.3 million Euro to fund Catholic Church activities in Russia. Aid also went to the Church in Croatia and the Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Africa, aid went to Sudan and Democratic Congo, Angola and Ethiopia where church structures destroyed in war must be rebuilt. In Latin America projects in Cuba and Haiti were given a priority, in Asia ACN helps mainly China, Myanmar and Vietnam.
In terms of the kind of projects supported, the largest share (27%) went to construction projects. This was followed by 17% in support of the theological training and further studies of priests, religious and lay Church personnel. Mass stipends for the support of needy priests accounted for 14.7% of the total, while the promotion of media projects amounted to17.3%. ACN gave 13.2% for religious and spiritual literature and 4.7% for vehicles in the service of pastoral work. Support for religious sisters came to 3.8% of the total given. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/7/2005, righe 27, parole 382)