As Pope Benedict XVI embarks on his first trip to Africa, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a leading Catholic charity, has underlined its commitment to promoting Gospel values, saying that the Church’s role is critical in the continent’s desperate search for peace.
ACN’s project support has grown more in Africa than almost every other continent – especially over the past three years – as the charity responds to a vocations boom and growing numbers of Catholics. With increasing demand on ACN’s resources, the charity’s project work is concentrating on education in Christianity as well as religious and human formation for clergy and lay – which the charity believes are crucial in the bid to break the cycle of violence and other forms of conflict.
ACN projects director Regina Lynch said, “The Church in Africa – with growing numbers of priests and a more committed laity – is undoubtedly the best hope for a continent that for some people represents nothing but injustice, bloodshed and despair.” Her comments come as the Pope sets off today (Tuesday, March 17th) for Angola and Cameroon in a landmark trip in which the Pontiff is expected to set out his vision for the Church in Africa – especially in the context of worsening conflict.
The latest audited reports show that annually ACN has given over $574,000 for Angola and $716,400 for Cameroon – just part of a total of over $18 million for the whole of Africa. Miss Lynch said ACN’s priority for Africa comes amid reports of renewed growth in the Church there – a sign of hope in a continent where fundamentalism, poverty and famine have worsened.
ACN renewed commitment to Africa also comes after Vatican statistics out earlier this month showed that vocations to the priesthood in Africa had increased the most – a rise of 27.6 percent over the course of 2007. Miss Lynch said that ACN had responded to the vocations growth by increasing its commitment to helping both seminarians and religious Sisters. She added, “Support for vocations is crucial – especially at this time of growth in numbers – but for ACN it is not only a question of quantity but of quality, and we are working with religious superiors in vocations discernment and formation.”
Miss Lynch went on to emphasize ACN’s work with lay people – promoting Christian family values, AIDS prevention and other pro-life initiatives. She said, “ACN’s increasing work in Africa is a response to the amount of life and energy in the Church – its struggle to rebuild respect for human dignity, develop paths towards reconciliation and give young people a chance for a better life.”
She went on to say that inculcating Christian values such as love and forgiveness from an early age is critical, emphasizing ACN’s Child Bible which has now been distributed across 46 African countries in 64 different languages. Reconciliation initiatives, Miss Lynch said, are also key, and she underlined ACN’s support for the Marian shrine in Kibeho, Rwanda, a project seen as helping the country to heal the wounds of civil conflict.
She went on to underline the charity’s help in parts of the continent affected by the spread of Islam – especially in countries such as Sudan – emphasizing projects such as the Save the Savable schools for displaced children in Khartoum. Miss Lynch said: “Sadly, fundamentalism is reaching deep into the continent and in some countries the future of Christianity is on a knife-edge.”
Miss Lynch continued by saying, “Violence, poverty and extremism in regions such as eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Sudan have fundamentally assaulted the dignity of the human person – their values, their sense of right and wrong, their sense of community and their trust in God. If these scars are to heal, the Church needs our support.”
