On October 11 the Year of Faith will for-mally begin. October is the month of theHoly Rosary, and so we are beginning thistime of grace with Our Lady. For un-doubtedly the Rosary is a key that unlocksthe door of faith to us. In this prayer Maryherself takes us by the hand and intro-duces us to the Mysteries of our Faith.She teaches us to follow Jesusin every situation in life and toentrust ourselves uncondition-ally to his Word. Through theRosary we can become morethan ever conscious, in thisYear of Faith, that we belongto Christ.

Cardinal Meisner of Cologne relates thestory of an encounter with a group of eth-nic German Catholics from Russia whomhe met in Erfurt in the former communistEast Germany in 1975. They had come astourists and were able to attend a CatholicMass for the first time in 53 years. “AfterMass a man from the group asked me,‘What truths of the faith must we pass onto our children for them to gain eternal

life?’ I wanted to give them each a Bibleand a catechism, but he said, ‘Taking reli-gious books back to the Soviet Union ismore dangerous than taking weapons.’ SoI asked if they were allowed to take aRosary back with them. He replied, ‘Wecould take a Rosary back as a souvenir,but what has that got to do with my ques-tion?’ I showed him the Rosary. ‘At thebeginning of the Rosary there is the cru-

cifix. The crucifix is like a book that wecan study and never come to the end of.On this we pray the Creed, the summaryof our entire faith. Then there are the firstthree small beads. Here we pray for thethree theological virtues of Faith, Hopeand Charity – our entire teaching for life.Then on the remaining beads there follow,as it were, the mysteries of the life ofJesus, they are the Gospels, so to speak,in secret language, or Braille – they canonly be touched with our hands and

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hearts. That’s something no secret policecan decode. There’s nothing more weneed to believe or to live in order to cometo the Kingdom of God.’ The mangrasped the Rosary firmly in his hand andsaid, ‘The entire Catholic Faith in onehand!’”

Dear Friends, let us pray the Rosary witha new zeal and entrust the renewal of our

faith to the Mother of God.She will help us to make ourfaith into a testimony of livinglove. For faith is proved inworks of love. And in thissame trust we also turn to youfor help for those who are

being oppressed, persecuted and evenkilled for the sake of their faith. They arean example for us of faith and loyalty.

In gratitude,my priestly blessing on you all,

Fr. Martin M. BartaEcclesiastical Assistant

“The Rosary isa key that unlocksthe door of faith.”

“The Holy Rosary is not a piouspractice banished to the past,like prayers of other timesthought of with nostalgia.Instead, the Rosary is

experiencing a new Springtime.Without a doubt, this is oneof the most eloquent signs

of love that the young generationnourish for Jesus and His Mother, Mary.”

Benedict XVI (Santa Maria Maggiore, May 3, 2008).

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mary: Help ofChristians, Consoler of the afflicted,Queen of the Most Holy Rosary …

Stand firm in the faith,

be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)

No. 7 – October 2012Newsletter

Published eight times a year

ED/2/5/13www.churchinneed.org

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More than mere basic subsistence

demic formation and that intensive, ongoingstudy promotes the development of a maturepersonality. This presupposes good teachers.The only problem is that in Uganda, for

example, a secularuniversity lecturer canearn around $1,500 amonth whereas alecturer at a Catholic

seminary only earns about $150. Moreover,the seminary staff are under so much pres-sure of time that they cannot even devotethemselves to parish work or any other kindof job, since the formation of future priestsdemands great care and a degree of commit-ment that goes far beyond the mere commu-

Ethiopia.“The Body of Christ” – withoutthe priest there would be no Mass.

Egypt.“Let the little children come tome…”– religious instruction for the young.

Tanzania.The Bishop of Morogorablesses the vestments of the new priests.

Syria.“My Body… which will be given up foryou”– Homs before the suffering began.

Ghana. “This is my Body” – every HolyMass is a universal event.

Brazil. Diocese of Caraguatatuba –everything begins with Adoration.

During 2011, thanks to your generos-ity, we were able to provide 1,189,916Mass Stipends to needy prieststhroughout the world. That corre-sponds to a total sum of $13,702,638:32% of the stipends went to Africa,23% to Asia and Eastern Europe re-spectively, and the remaining 22% toLatin America.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the foun-dation of Christianity. Hence, helping prieststo survive, materially and spiritually, is liter-ally a matter of life and death for Christians.In many countries, such as the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, priests cannot even af-ford clothing or books without your help, tosay nothing of the shared retreats and meet-ings for priests and the cost of traveling tothem. The Bishop of Miarinarivo in Mada-gascar would like to be able to give his 51priests, all of whom he lovingly lists by name,the chance to finally meet together for a fewdays of spiritual reflection in order to“recharge their batteries” ($10,000). And theBishop of Mongo inChadwould like his 15priests to have a deeper encounter with theScriptures, in word and witness, by invitingVietnamese FatherJoseph Doan, who,after enduring nineyears in the commu-nist jails, wrote an in-ternationally acclaimed translation of theBible, before taking up a teaching post at thePontifical Biblical University in Jerusalem, tocome and visit them. But he can’t afford hisplane fare ($1,300).Pope Benedict reminds us again and againthat priests need a solid cultural and aca-

nication of knowledge. Mass Stipends pro-vide them with just enough breathing space.No one knows this better than Father PaulOredipe. He is director of the seminary inEkpoma, Nigeria. He is urgently asking usfor Mass Stipends for his 11 priests and lec-turers ($11,200) who are helping to assure thefuture of the Church in this strife-torn land.Your Mass Stipends are a source of new vi-tality for the Church – and for the prieststhemselves, who feel the bond of love thatunites us all together and carry that withthem into the celebration of Holy Mass.When they pray during theMass: “You nevercease to gather a people to yourself, so thatfrom the rising of the sun to its setting a puresacrifice may be offered to your name,” theyare at the same time proclaiming the univer-sal community of the Church.Mass Stipendsare more than merely subsistence help. TheBishop of Kandi in Benin thanks you on be-half of his priests and writes to say that you,our benefactors, are “actively participating inthe sanctification of our priests.” The num-ber of priests is rising worldwide – yet thenumber of Mass Stipends is falling. Let ustry to reverse this fall! Our priests are worthit! •

MassIntent

ions

The Mass is the lifeof the Church – and of

her priests.

Any donation you kindly give will go to support these, or similar projects, and enable the pastoral work of Aid to the Church in Need.

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Fewer priests, fewer baptisms, fewermarriages, emptier churches, aweakening influence in society, in-creasingly blatant attacks on thePope and the faithful in the media –such is the sociological perspectiveof the Church in Europe. A theolog-ical perspective sees things differ-ently, however, focusing on trust inGod the Father.

This trust is a matter of faith, a matter forthose who pray. Christ gave Peter a guar-antee when he said, “The gates of hell willnot prevail against her” (Mt. 16:18). Whilethe Church in Europe suffers an apparent

“Daily opening our hearts to the Lord”decline, elsewhere she is oppressed. Here,too, what matters is trust in the Father. Andprayer – learning to pray again, spiritualrenewal for priests, religious and laity. Tothis end, days of recollection and week-long retreats are being organized for priestsand catechists, for young people and mar-ried couples in the Dioceses of Imphal andKerala in India. Similarly, there are train-ing sessions for prayer group leaders inYendi,Ghana, and in-service training pro-grams for priests run by the Franciscans inAddis Ababa, Ethiopia. Faith is always apersonal thing, and the study of the faith isoften a matter of circumstances.

In Ukraine, there is already a novitiateschool for the Sisters of the Eastern-riteUkrainian Catholic Church, with trainingcourses to prepare for their permanentvows, ongoing courses in administration,and even a program for course leaders ofboth the Latin-rite and Eastern-rite com-munities – a program we were able to sup-port, thanks to your generosity. Now thehead of the Conference of religious Sistersof the Ukrainian Catholic Church hasasked our help for a three-year ongoingtraining program for the religious superi-ors of their convents. The traditional basictraining is no longer adequate, given thegrowing indifference and even hostility to-wards the Church. They have to avoid thetrap of becoming preoccupied with every-

Like all his predecessors in the last cen-tury, the Holy Father draws lastingstrength from the prayer of the Rosary.Speaking of this prayer, he says, “TheRosary is a contemplative, Christocentricprayer that should not be separated from themeditation on Sacred Scripture. It is theprayer of Christians on the pilgrim way offaith upon which Mary has preceded them.”This was Blessed John Paul II’s favoriteprayer, just as it is for the Cuban peopletoday. One factor that has undoubtedly con-tributed to the new enthusiasm for the Rosaryon this communist island has been the 400thanniversary celebrations marking the dis-

The prayer of Christians

“The Rosary is also, and always has been, aprayer of and for the family … a spiritualaid, which should not be underestimated.”

“I would like to invite you during thismonth to recite the Rosary, in the family,in the community and in the parishes.”

Guatemala. One Mystery of the Rosaryis always offered for you.

It began in Venezuela... and once againon the 18th of October this year, a mil-lion children around the world unite topray the Rosary, as they do every year.

covery of the image ofOur Lady of El Cobre– another is the 250,000 rosaries that we aresending to Cuba at the request of the bish-

ops. It is a major project, and we need yourhelp for it ($380,500). And of course yourprayers. •

day life and all its restless busyness. PopeBenedict has wise advice here:“Often our eyes are caught, our gaze re-mains trapped by the visible world with allits limitations. God wants us to open oureyes wide to the grandeur, the fullness oflife that only He can give. He himself de-sires to be our happiness and joy. Let ustherefore open our hearts to the Lord in ourdaily prayer, so that His love may growever more within us.” •

TheYear of F

aith

Any donation you kindly give will go to support these, or similar projects, and enable the pastoral work of Aid to the Church in Need.

©L’OsservatoreRomano

©L’OsservatoreRomano

Congratulations!Thank you for sending me the ACN 2011annual report with details of your help forpersecuted and threatened Christians. Inever cease to be amazed at just howmanypeople can be helped through yourcampaigns and at how impressive the do-nations of 82 million Euros are. I congrat-ulate you for helping such a wide range ofprojects. Your annual report is a powerfultestimony to the way you support the poorand are such a symbol of encouragementfor them in their lives.

Abishop in Austria

Masses for the familyWe have decided that the proceeds fromthe sale of a book about our family historyshould be used in the form of Mass Inten-tions, to be celebrated for our living anddeparted family members. Enclosed is acheque for 300 Dollars.

A family in Canada

Thank you!I just wanted to thank you for the catechismthat I received. It is a jewel that I have hadan immense joy to read. Our HolyFather has been evidently heavenly inspiredto have such pearls put together for youngpeople and for people of all ages (I am 43)!Thank you again for the Mirror whichshakes us out of our complacency and self-ishness. So much persecution but so manyseeds watered by the tears of these martyrs.

A benefactress in Australia

The Rosary for persecuted ChristiansWhen we sold our house five years ago, wewere able to remember ACN as well. We willcontinue to support you whenever possible.We always remember the persecuted Chris-tians in our daily Rosary. Thank you for yourcommitment. It must be an honor to be ableto continue the work of Father Werenfriedvan Straaten.

A married couple in the Netherlands

Need, love and thanks – Your letters

Far out in the Pacific Ocean lies the is-land nation of Kiribati. It is spread outover more than 600 miles (1,000 km)of widely scattered islands. “Thebiggest problem in our diocese iscommunication,” reports Bishop PaulMea, unsurprisingly. Each priest isalone on his island and thrown on hisown resources; only twice a year canthey come together for retreat daysand fellowship.And global warming ismaking life harder for the islanders.Gone are the stable seasons of sixmonths of rain and six months of sunshine. “Everything has been turned up-side down.Even the coconut harvests.We have to import more andmore food-stuffs, yet at the same time transport is becoming ever more expensive,” thebishop writes. In this situation your Mass offerings are a saving grace and asource of hope. “They enable our priests to survive, and their pastoral workwith them.”Bishop Paul thanks you all and gives you his heartfelt blessing.

DDeeaarr FFrriieennddss,,

The Bishops’ Conference of Bosniaand Herzegovina has invited us toBanja Luka. The country does not actually have any ethnic problems,but three religions and deeply en-trenched positions. During the warfrom 1992 to 1995, most of theCatholics were forced to flee or wereforcibly expelled. Their churches andmonasteries were destroyed, and onlya few faithful have since returned.Both within the country and also out-side it, there are political and reli-gious forces that would rather see thefew remaining Catholics forcibly re-settled. Again and again, in the heartof Europe, “peace plans” are beingdreamt up which are rooted in thecrime of ethnic cleansing!

There is only one road to peace: that ofreconciliation. This is the road beingtrod by the Catholic Church in Bosniaand Herzegovina. She is building carehomes for the elderly, the dying and theseverely handicapped in which over-whelmingly Orthodox and Muslim pa-tients are being cared for. Therebuilding of churches and religioushouses is giving new hope and securityto the Catholic faithful. Great heroismis shown by the priests and religiouswho, in the strength of their faith, havecommitted their lives to this ministry ofreconciliation. They also draw strengthfrom the solidarity you show them byyour generosity. Thanks to yourfaithful support, we are able to assurethem that we will not abandon them.

Baron Johannes Heereman, Executive President

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Publisher: Kirche in Not/Ostpriesterhilfe, Aid to the Church in Need, International Headquarters,Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany; www.acn-intl.org;Editor-in-chief: Jürgen Liminski De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae Printed in the USA – ISSN 0252-2535

Leave a legacy of your love when writing or changing your will.

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He is tired, unbelievably tired. Fordays he has been on the road, cele-brating Mass, giving catechismclasses, leading parish activities. Nowhe sits, his head droops, he nods off.He is at a meeting of priests in theArchdiocese of Sucre, Bolivia. Datesare discussed; the priests have beenable to talk and exchange ideas. Butmost of them are simply too weary.

Many of them spend several hours travelingevery day. Father Freddy works 10,000 feetup in the Diocese of Coroico. A short andstocky man, he has to serve four small com-munities. Two of them he can only visit oncea month. In the rainy season, it is almost im-possible to drive a car. In his absence the pas-toral work is taken care of by catechists;sometimes it is just a single family that holdsthe parish together. Bishop Juán VargasAruquipa of Coroico has had four chapelsbuilt, so that Holy Mass can be celebrated forthe Catholic faithful in these isolated dis-

tricts. “Wherever chapels have been built, thefamilies are very committed. Many havewaited years for their church,” he tells us.Now he is hoping for help, as a hurricane hastorn the roof off one of these chapels($20,500).He continues, in his quiet voice, with anotherrequest. He wants to strengthen the forma-tion of his seminarians – a concern he shareswith every other bishop in Bolivia. FatherCristobal, who has organized this meeting ofpriests in Sucre, explains: “We need to makean effort to encourage vocations. 10 yearsago there were still 530 seminarians; todaythere are just 192.” Part of the reason for this

problem is the political situation. “For sevenyears now we have had a socialist govern-ment. There is a violent attack on the Churchin the basic communities.” Now, in everydiocese, there is an annual “Week of Voca-tions,” in which priests, religious and cate-chists go into the schools and parishes,giving testimony and engaging the youngpeople in conversation. The life stories ofsome of these young people are quite alarm-

ing. Many are growing up in broken homes,living on the streets, not infrequently slidinginto drug and alcohol addiction, or into theclutches of one of the sects.Father Andres is familiar with all these prob-lems. Originally from Belgium, he has beenministering since 1984 to one of the mostisolated parishes in the Potosi region. Lifehere is extremely hard, the landscape harshand austere. The wind whistles across end-less dry plains, while fine dust assails thenostrils. Potosi is known for its mining. Min-ers die here almost every day, and every manknows that he himself may be the next one.Even boys as young as 15 risk their livesbelow ground. Many of the young people

have drug addictions and steal things fromthe churches. Father Andres himself hasoften received threats. He, too, is near theend of his strength, yet he is not giving up.“When I first came here, no one knew Jesus,”he tells us. So the first thing he did was totranslate the Bible into the local Quechualanguage. Then, since “scarcely anyonecould read or write,” he devized a series ofpamphlets with lots of pictures. These con-tain stories based on the lives of the localpeople, which at the same time attractivelyexplain the teachings of the Church. To thisday they are a success, and the Catholicfaithful can also learn to read through them.Now Father Andres would like to republishthem. Father Joselino is asking us for catechismsand Bibles. His parish covers 42 small ruralcommunities, inhabited by peasant livestockfarmers. “We even get shepherds, completewith poncho and staff, in the church,” he tellsus. To strengthen the community’s sense oftogetherness he has introduced a sharedlunch, after Holy Mass. He, too, is constantlyon the road. ACN is helping the Archdioceseof Sucre for the training of its catechists, sothat they can take some of the weight off theshoulders of priests like Father Joselino($5,100). Father Andres has in fact trained anumber of students to become catechists, andalready some of them have discovered a vo-cation. For them, priests like him, FatherJoselino and Father Freddy are an inspirationand example. There is no shortage of God’sgrace here but rather, more often than not,there is a shortage of material resources. •

Teresa Engländer

Bolivia

In the Diocese of Coroico – BishopJuán and Father Freddy, with catechistsand children.

Vocations Week. Follow Me – a posterin Sucre Cathedral.

Bolivia. Corpus Christi procession in Sucre, led by the seminarians and altar servers.

Working to the point of exhaustion – Priests in the Andes

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For the great Saint and Doctor of theChurch Francis de Sales (1567-1622)humility holds the first place along-side charity among the Christianvirtues. Many Salesians live this hu-mility without even thinking about it,including Father Deivid Martins Ro-drigues in Angola.

All the other virtues, St. Francis teaches inhis ‘Introduction to the Devout Life,’ arebound up with love and humility. Anyonewho does not possess these two virtues, hewrites, “has absolutely no genuine and solidvirtue.” When the soul does possess themboth, however, “then the other virtues willfollow almost automatically,” he continues.

In the war-torn Diocese of Lwena, Angola,Father Deivid has no lack of opportunitiesto practice humility, following the longcivil war here. Landmines continue to be aconstant danger. And the vast distances are amajor challenge, too, which he often has toface alone. Hence itis an occasion forcelebration when an-other priest comes tovisit – but it is painful to say goodbye. Butdespite this, his work in this vineyard makeshim happy. He writes to his friend, a formerbishop in Brazil, “My greatest joy? With-out plunging into big theological questions,I am simply happy to be a priest! I amhappy to be in Angola! I lack the resources,but it makes me happy to be a small lightof Christ, to be Church.”This 26-year-old priest still finds it hard toget up at 5 a.m. Celebrating Holy Mass at 6in the morning is for him “a daily sacrifice,

albeit one filled with love. I still cannotmanage to get to bed early enough,” headds. Once his old car got two flat tireswhen he was giving a lift to a religious Sis-ter who had just had an operation and couldnot walk. Fortunately some young peoplewere also in the car, and they went to fetch

help. But, instead oftaking seven hours,the journey took 20.“We got home at

3:30 a.m. The next day was Sunday Mass.But the only thing I was sad about was thefact that I had been unable to celebrateHoly Mass the day before – for the firsttime since my ordination.” Now he is waiting for new tires – and hasbeen for months. But the car itself can nolonger cope with long journeys. It is onlyFather Deivid’s modesty that stops him ask-ing for a new one. His bishop, Jesus TirsoBlanco, has done so for him. For FatherDeivid has to be kept mobile; he has so

much to do. For example, his “roadwayapostolate.” The idea is to give catecheticaltraining to taxi drivers and truck drivers, sothat they can converse “evangelically” withtheir passengers. There is no chance of es-caping during the journey, so people aregoing to listen... “We also have a water taxito Zambia – three days downriver and fivedays upriver. An ideal opportunity to meetfor prayer.” Then there are the children. “Atthe moment I am teaching five mums everyweek,” he tells us. And then the Month ofthe Bible. “The people in the parishes arethirsting for knowledge; all we lack are themeans,” he says. By which he means a car.One is still needed, and we have promised$16,900 for it. •

So much to do, so few resources…

Angola

Happy in the midst of his parishioners:Father Deivid and some of the people

of St. Boniface Parish.

Guidance – a last piece of advice before he sets of.

Proclamation – for God’s Word has tobe explained and understood.

Blessing – with Holy Water and withlove, for the people and their homes.

“I am happy to be a priest”

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