Keeping the Faith Alive

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Keeping the Faith Alive

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Offer a Mass
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We thank you for your generosity and prayers

About Us

Under the guidance of the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need provides pastoral and humanitarian assistance to the persecuted Church around the world. Since 1947, our donors have reached out to the suffering, the distressed and the poorest of the poor in over 145 countries.

Each year, we fulfill more than 5,000 projects through our spiritual and material aid programs. Our shared goal: To help strengthen the Church and keep the Faith alive. Please click here to view our Activity Report.

Where there is darkness and despair, we provide light, hope, and a constant sign that the Church is a dynamic, single, universal body in Christ. By reaching out to the discarded and the desperate, we help keep the Faith alive.

"Their martyrdom continues to spread the Gospel in a world marked by hatred, violence and war. It is a hope filled with immortality because, even though they have been killed in body, no one can silence their voice or erase the love they have shown."

— Pope Leo XIV

History and Timeline of Aid to the Church in Need

1947

At Pope Pius XII’s request, Father Werenfried van Straaten founds ACN (then “Aid to the Eastern Priests”) at the Premonstratensian monastery in Tongerlo, Belgium. In a unique reconciliation campaign, donations are collected in Belgium and the Netherlands for displaced Germans, including 3,000 priests.

1950
To provide pastoral care to displaced Germans, 35 buses and trucks are converted into “chapels on wheels” as part of the highly original “chapel truck campaign”.
1952
ACN comes to the aid of persecuted Christians behind the “Iron Curtain”. The projects range from helping to renovate churches and train priests to funding radio broadcasts and the book apostolate.
1956
After the bloody suppression of the Hungarian uprising against the Stalinist system, ACN helps the local Church get through the crisis.
1961
We launch our aid projects for the beleaguered Church in Asia. Following this, the first meeting between Father Werenfried and Mother Teresa takes place in the Home for the Dying in Calcutta.
1962
We step up our aid for persecuted and threatened Catholics in the “Catholic continent” of Latin America.
1965

Petitions also reach us from the Church in Africa, which we proceed to assist with the same commitment as on other continents.

1966
ACN is consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima. The following year, a large international pilgrimage takes place to mark the 50th anniversary of the apparitions.
1970
We launch our aid campaign to assist the Church in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries.
1975
ACN relocates its international headquarters from Rome to Königstein/Taunus.
1979
With the Children’s Bible, we launch a major project for boosting evangelisation efforts worldwide. To date, the book has been translated into 191 languages and printed and distributed over 51 million times.
1984
ACN is recognised by the Holy See as a Universal Public Association of Pontifical Right.
1989
Following the political turning point in Eastern Europe, ACN provides aid for reconstruction and new evangelisation in the former Eastern bloc countries.
1992
By order of Pope John Paul II, our aid organisation begins to work towards a dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.
1997
The 50th anniversary of ACN’s efforts on behalf of the Church in need worldwide – an occasion that is celebrated fittingly.
2003
Father Werenfried van Straaten, founder of our aid organisation, dies on 31 January at the age of 90 in his place of residence, Bad Soden/Taunus.
2007
The Middle East conflict causes more and more difficulties for the Church in the region, prompting Pope Benedict XVI to ask ACN to intensify its activities for Christians in the Middle East.
2011
An eventful year for ACN: our aid organisation is re-founded as a Foundation of Pontifical Right by Pope Benedict XVI and subsequently restructured. When the Syrian war breaks out, ACN begins extensive aid and solidarity campaigns, including the “Light a Candle for Peace in Syria” initiative.
2014
ACN initiates an emergency campaign to allow Christians in Iraq to remain in their homeland. The project is still going strong to this day, with more than 5,000 houses having already been renovated. ACN also becomes the sole shareholder of the YOUCAT Foundation and therefore its publisher. The work is very popular in Catholic youth work all over the world, with translations into no fewer than 58 languages. ACN opens its first Asian office in South Korea. This is followed by further offices in Mexico, Malta, Colombia, Slovakia and the Philippines up until 2019.
2017
To mark the 70th anniversary of our aid organisation, ACN invites benefactors from all over the world on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Fatima in Portugal. In the same year, Aid to the Church in Need assumes responsibility for the annual One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign.
2019
With the Safeguarding project, ACN is helping the church to introduce measures to prevent abuse and is encouraging safeguarding courses for priests and religious worldwide.
2020
Our foundation helps the Church worldwide in their efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and grants special assistance to cushion the impact of the coronavirus crisis for local churches. Following the explosion in Beirut’s harbour, ACN is launching a major aid campaign for Lebanon.
2022

Immediately after the start of the war in Ukraine, our aid organisation launches a large-scale relief operation to enable the local church to assist those who had fled their homes, suffering people and to continue pastoral care.

Today, ACN continues working to counter the persecution and killing of Catholics and Catholic religious by Islamic fundamentalists, and reaches out to millions of displaced persons, especially in Africa and the Middle East. It also remains prepared to come to the aid of those who suffer when natural disasters occur.

Thanks to the generous support of our ACN family of faithful, Aid to the Church in Need continues to reach out, wherever the need is greatest, bringing spiritual and material aid to countless poor, forgotten, and persecuted faithful. Read more about our active projects here.

(800) 628-6333

725 Leonard Street Brooklyn, NY 11222

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