Aid to the Church in Need brings Lenten appeal to Rock

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has been chosen as the charity for Lent by the Bishop of Gibraltar, Carmel Zammit, on behalf of Gibraltar’s catholic community, with the charity’s representatives having recently visited the Rock to put a spotlight on the work it carries out.

ACN supports Christians around the world where they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need, with any funds raised in Gibraltar going to the charity.

The charity aims to advance the religion by supporting and promoting the Church, especially in countries where Christians are suffering persecution or discrimination, and to further the other charitable work of the Church by providing practical assistance and pastoral care for persons in need, especially those who are living in, or are refugees from, such countries.

It also makes grants to help fund over 5,000 projects which includes the provision of catechetical material and books, broadcasting the Faith, help with church buildings, and support for the training of seminarians.

Projects funded also include grants for the formation of religious and catechists, subsidies for priests through grants and Mass stipends, emergency aid to refugees, and provision of transport for those involved in the Church’s mission.

John Pontifex, ACN's head of press and public affairs, spoke to the Chronicle during his visit to the Rock after recently returning from Nigeria where he was on the frontline, witnessing the challenges faced by Christians first-hand.

“We're here to share with the people of Gibraltar the scale of the challenges facing persecuted Christians, particularly focusing on Nigeria, which is the focal point of the fundraising for this particular Lent,” Mr Pontifex said.

“They [the funds] are the difference between life and death for many of our communities in northern Nigeria.”

“What we are just so humbled by is the degree to which the people of Gibraltar, are promoting our cause, giving us a voice.”

He thanked Charles Gomez and Angela Perera, ACN'S co-ordinator’s in Gibraltar for their support towards the charity.

“I arrived back from northern Nigeria on Wednesday evening [last week], and therefore I can report basically from the front line in north and northwest Nigeria, where you've got the twin problems of oppression and institutionalised resistance to the Christian presence,” he said.

“That's the one pincer and the second pincer is a sustained cycle of violence in which Christians are being targeted, are being attacked, not always because of their religion, but by bandits who are essentially kidnapping for money, for ransom.”

“These communities have been uprooted in large number from their homelands, from their villages. Most of the communities attacked are in the interior.”

During his visit, he was taken to the affected villages and met many of the people affected.

“So, what Aid of the Church in need is doing is to enable them to withstand the persecution, to find a way through this terrible time where there's been an upsurge in banditry, an upsurge in attacks where people just don't feel safe.”

“Our priorities are providing help so that the priests can continue to minister.”

“We went to a number of places out in the interior, out in the worst affected, the most dangerous villages and other rural regions, where if the priests were to get up and leave, everyone else would leave, and this would mean the chances of these Christians going back to their homelands are very remote.”

Mr Pontifex gave an insight into what it is like to witness the struggles of Christians in danger for himself.

“The danger is there, it’s very real,” he said.

“We don't know what exactly we're letting ourselves in for when we arrive in a place like Katsina, a city 10 miles south of the border…we're taking risks but those risks are offset by the determination of our host to give us the best possible level of security.”

He said ACN hopes that people can eventually return to their homes.

“The reason they're so desperate to go back is because they're farming communities. So, they use cattle to plough their fields and to plant their crops, be it maize, be it corn, be it beans, be it rice.”

“They belong to the land and the objective is to enable them to eventually go back.”

“At the moment they're under enormous threat of a kidnap. They have the risk of their cows being essentially seized confiscated, stolen.”

Mr Pontifex issued a rallying call for people in the community to get involved and help the charity out.

“Lent is a time where we in the Christian tradition we think of prayer fasting and abstinence,” he said.

“It's a time where irrespective of our religious background we think about those who are in particular need and we offer up our own, we forsake our own things that we enjoy in order to help.”

“So, to mark that it's a wonderful opportunity for people especially of faith to gather around this great appeal for Nigeria.”

“If you are not of faith, the point of access for all of this is the degree to which human rights are being violated.”