Aid to the Church in Need
The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (formerly ACN / ACN ) is a foundation of pontifical right. Pope Benedict XVI. raised the former factory of pontifical right on 7 December 2011 on a foundation. The Fund was established in 1947 in Tongerlo in Belgium.
Post-war period
After the Second World War, the Premonstratensian P. Werenfried van Straaten organized in Belgium and the Netherlands aid to the German neighbors. Fourteen million ethnic Germans from the eastern areas of Germany flocked to the four occupation zones in which there were too few homes, too little food and clothing. P. Werenfried called for reconciliation with the former German wartime enemies. He asked for food and clothing to help the Germans in their distress. That especially bacon he collected initially at the Flemish peasants, earned him the name " Bacon Priest ".
1951 was in Hilversum, the Netherlands for the first time a Congress " ACN " instead, which was held from 1952 to 1995 in Königstein im Taunus. Representatives of the oppressed and persecuted Church - especially behind the Iron Curtain - reported here on the situation of the Church in their countries.
1952, the aid for the persecuted church in Eastern Europe. Today, the plant helps in more than 140 countries where the church is persecuted or does not have enough funds for their pastoral duties.
Church in Need is a pastoral charity. It helps especially in the education and training of seminarians and priests, in the construction and renovation of schools and churches, in translating and publishing the Bible and Christian literature and in the broadcasting Christian radio programs.
Radio station in August 1991 coup in Moscow
On August 19, 1991 Boris Yeltsin spoke in front of the White House in Moscow by a tank out to the citizens. Back in Parliament, he told the deputies " Now I need a radio ." As the spokesman and leader of the resistance against the communist coup he needed to reach as many people as a mouthpiece for the democratic movement. To the astonishment of all announced the deputy Viktor Aksiutsjik that he owned the equipment for a radio station. ACN had smuggled for the establishment of a joint radio station of the Catholic and Orthodox Church the necessary equipment to Moscow, although the Communications Ministry had denied the license. With a truck the cafeteria of the Parliament, the transmitters were taken from a warehouse hidden under food in the parliament building and installed by engineers. So Boris Yeltsin was able to ask the people of Moscow for help by private radio. He thanked her by the broadcasting license was issued as early as next month.
Recent history
In 2011 the church received 9.2 million euros in donations in need. Since the existence of the work, the pastoral care of the church worldwide church was in need of more than three billion euros to support (as of 2007 ). Thus P. Werenfried belongs to the great work of charitable organizations in Germany. The German Central Institute for Social Issues ( DZI) has given the Church in Need donation seal. ACN also provides pastoral duties, his staff and donors over. Thus, the circular "Echo of Love" as an organ of spiritual connectedness and intense prayer community now appears in a print run of more than 600,000 copies in seven languages. The Fund supports the online magazine kath.net with 10,000 to 20,000 Euros per year.
Seat the international headquarters is Königstein im Taunus. There auxiliary requests from around the world are tested and awarded the donations. With the conversion, Pope Benedict XVI. Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, President of the Foundation. Executive President is since December 1, 2011 Johannes Freiherr Heeremann of Zuydtwyck, spiritual assistant is Father Martin Barta. Previously, the Chilean Schoenstatt Father Joaquin Alliende had been President of the complete work.
In currently seventeen countries the work is represented by national sections. Inform you about the location of the church where she is in need, and call for help. The German section has its headquarters in Munich. Your Managing Director is Karin Maria Fenbert, their longtime chairman of the general secretary and niece of the founder, Antonia Willemsen. 2007 celebrated the Church in Need 's 60th anniversary. The German section celebrated this anniversary with several events, including a church service in Cologne cathedral with Cardinal Joachim Meisner and a joint ceremony at the Maternushaus at which Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also and Israeli Archbishop Elias Chacour participated.
Beichtmobil
ACN operates since 2004 the world's only " Beichtmobil ". It was first a to the confessional converted VW bus (T4, built in 1996 ), whose interior has been equipped as a space for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. In 2013 it was replaced by a newer vehicle (T5, built in 2012 ). The mobile is under the patronage of the Bishop of Eichstätt; it is available to parishes and spiritual communities free of charge and is also used in large-scale events are used.
Also mobile is floating churches that have arrived in Brazil on the Amazon or in Russia at the Don and the Volga used. The aim is to enable the faithful to the sacraments or to speak with a priest and seek pastoral advice.