ACN’s plans for the month of April
ACN is a pontifical foundation, that was created after the Second World War to help German and East-European refugees. Today, its work is to help Christian communities in need. Every month, it presents a plan outlining the projects that will be supported by ACN, paid for by the donations collected by the foundation.
This month, as can be read on the Australian internet site of ACN, help is needed to complete the new church and community centre in Abnee Baitak, Egypt.
Abnee Baitak is a new satellite suburb of the town of Madinat as-Sadis min Uktubar, the “Town of the 6th of October“, which itself is a relatively new satellite town, close to the capital Cairo. Abnee Baitak was built by the Egyptian government primarily to provide living space for young families.
What this new suburb still lacks, however, is a Catholic church. At present, the nearest Catholic church is over 20 km (13 miles) away.
ACN Australia writes:
“In 2015 the Egyptian Prime Minister granted a building permit for the construction of the Catholic Church here. Since it is far from easy to obtain such permits in Egypt, work began immediately on its construction. ACN helped at the time with AUD $53,000 and now the building work on the new church and attached community centre for the various pastoral and social activities of the parish is well advanced. But in order to complete the work as quickly as possible, we have been asked again for help, and so we are stepping in again with a further contribution of AUD $53,000.”
In Brazil, ACN helps with the training of seminarians of the new spiritual community Opus Mariae.
A particularly attractive feature of its work is the growing number of priestly vocations it has produced. Currently, there are 50 young men from the community training for the priesthood in the archdiocese of Olinda and Recife. They include young men from Brazil and the African countries of Togo, Benin, and Mozambique.
However, it is a challenge for this still-young community to cover the cost of the formation of these seminarians, since it has to pay for their board and lodging and their study fees as well. So the leaders of the community have turned to ACN for help. The papal foundation has already helped in the past, with $14,500 AUD for the formation of 23 of its seminarians. And they are planning to help again this year.
Besides these two charitable actions, ACN is planning to contribute to the finance of a car for pastoral work in the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to the mass stipends for the 114 priests of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, Russia.
If you wish to donate to any of these projects, you can do so by clicking here.
